Empty seats were a staple at this month’s world junior hockey championship in Edmonton, and Canada’s hockey players say scandals surrounding the organization are partly putting fans off.
While the tournament typically draws thousands of die-hard hockey fans for each game, the average attendance for the tournament’s 20 preliminary round games was 1,319.
Hockey Canada said there were “a few reasons” why people chose to stay home for the postponed 2022 tournament.
“First, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed this tournament until August,” the organization said in a statement on Tuesday. “And secondly, there’s an understandable examination of Canadian hockey and hockey culture.”
When the 10-team tournament began on August 9, Hockey Canada was criticized.
The national sports body has been rocked in recent months by allegations of sexual abuse against two former world juniors.
The allegations led to a parliamentary inquiry and the federal government froze funding to the organization.
Watch | Bedard and McTavish lead Canada after Finland:
Mason McTavish Conor Bedard assisted on a first period goal in Canada’s 6-3 win over Finland at the World Junior Championships.
And major sponsors, including Telus and Canadian Tire, followed suit, leaving the ice at Rogers Place free of advertising and surrounding plaques without the usual slogans.
“We are focused on making sure the players who have been training over the past several months are able to compete at this important stage and that the fans have a positive experience,” said Hockey Canada.
The crowd grew as the tournament progressed
Three matches were played on the first day of the tournament, none of which broke a thousand fans. The biggest draw was the game between the USA and Germany, with 829 in attendance.
Canada played its first game the next day – defeating Latvia 5:2 – in the presence of 2,779 people. On the same day at 12 noon local time, there was no attendance report for the Switzerland-Sweden match.
The crowd slowly grew as the tournament continued as a crowd of 5,204 watched Canada beat Finland 6-3 in the final game of the preliminary round on Monday.
Hockey Canada is one of the organizations most likely to take a financial hit from the upset ticket sales.
Stakeholders of the event – [International Ice Hockey Federation]Hockey Canada and the participating federations all contribute financially to make the event possible,” said Hockey Canada.
Net proceeds from Junior World are shared between Hockey Canada and Hockey Canada members and [Canadian Hockey League] an IIHF”.
More than 1,500 tickets were available on Ticketmaster Tuesday for Canada’s quarter-final game against Switzerland on Wednesday.
The 2022 tournament was originally scheduled for December in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alta., but a surge in COVID-19 cases among players and officials forced the games to be forfeited just four days later.
