Even big discounts on the tickets of the organizers did not help to fill the fields.
The Ice Hockey World Championship 2024 will be held from May 10 to 26 in two cities – Prague and Ostrava. Many NHL stars will participate in the tournament in the Czech Republic, which has increased the interest of fans in the upcoming games. But without Russia, tournaments under the auspices of the IIHF could fail miserably.
Recently, without our players, attendance at the World Cup was greatly affected.
Love the organizers
Eight months before the start of the 2022 World Cup, hosted by Finland, organizers said they were seeing huge demand from fans.
– Applications have already been submitted to buy more than 60,000 tickets for the matches of the Finnish national team, more than 100,000 tickets for the most exciting match days, which is many times higher than the capacity of the Tampere Dec Arena. Games without the Finnish national team also generated a lot of interest, noted World Cup Secretary General Heikki Hietanen.
In Finland, our team had to use the logo of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) as a flag, and instead of the national anthem the IIHF anthem would be played. However, on February 28, 2022, the international federation eliminated the national teams of Russia and Belarus, replacing them with Austria and France. In addition, the organizers of the tournament decided to move the games from the Hartwall Arena (13,349 people), which had ties to Russia, to the Helsinki Ice Hall (8,200), which was built back in 1966.
With the removal of our team, the reputation of the tournament in Finland dropped significantly, and fans’ interest in the World Cup decreased. However, for some reason the Finnish organizers decided that just the opposite had happened and raised prices on everything from tickets to games to food and drinks. Even the Finnish media criticized their greedy relatives.
– Paraphernalia and drinks are very expensive. Ticket prices for Finnish games are extremely high (for example, a ticket for the whole day in a group costs 65-355 euros, for the medal the price starts at 305 euros), so it could not for most ordinary fans to buy them. Instead, a bunch of VIP guests and sponsors will come,” said the Finnish publication Ilta-Sanomat.
The Indians’ problems would no longer bother the sheriff, but problems with attendance at the games began. The games in Helsinki and Tampere averaged 5,577 spectators – just over 50 percent of the arenas’ possession. In addition, not only fans and journalists began to criticize the organizers. Therefore, the head coach of the Danish national team spoke about the unsuccessful schedule for the tournament.
– The players are tired. It was a crap record, the IIHF did a terrible job. Slovakia had 66 hours of rest, and we had 17. It was unfair. We played against a very good team,” said Denmark head coach Heinz Ehlers.
Criticism from all sides and low attendance forced the organizers to give concessions to ordinary fans. Therefore, in Finland they came up with discounts and special promotional codes that made it possible to buy tickets for games without the prefix “top” at a special price. For example, to attend the Czech Republic-Great Britain match, fans only had to pay 20 euros. There were also promotional codes for big games, but the lowest price for a ticket was already 30 euros. Fans only attended games in Finland well.
At the same time, the publication Ilta-Sanomat noted that the activities of the organizers were limited. Efforts to fill the stands and attract fans did not produce the desired result. Even at the gold medal game between Finland and Canada, the arena was only 76% full! But the battle between the Czech Republic and the USA for bronze had almost no interest – 65%. The final average attendance was 5,577 spectators – the second-highest against since 1978.
The 2022 World Cup in Finland failed not only because of high prices and a terrible game schedule, but also because of the massive refusal of big stars to participate in the tournament. In this regard, the Russian team will improve the situation. Our team has consistently brought big name players to tournaments under the auspices of the IIHF. For example, Alexander Ovechkin always accepted a call to the national team only if he was not injured. Ovechkin alone would gather fans and make money for the organizers.
2024-05-09 15:59:12
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