The big joke for the last 10 days has been the attendance numbers for the IIHF Under-18 World Championships. Let's say, the event wasn't well attended. In other words, the U18's looked more like a Big Ten Hockey Championship tourney. Very few hockey fans showed up to watch some of the best 17-year-old hockey players in the World.
Today, people are asking why didn't more fans attend IIHF U18 World Championships at the Ralph Englestad Arena? There are a number of reasons for this.
First, in my opinion, the ticket prices were too high. Especially in today's economy. Also, there was a long playoff run by the home team. I can imagine that the fans spent a lot of money on the Midwest Regionals and the Frozen Four. I wonder if the fans are saving their money and looking forward to summer and other things. Don't forget, UND hockey season ticket renewals come out very soon, those aren't cheap either.
Second, the food prices were way too high. In the Lamp Lighter Lounge, I saw extreme nachos for $10.00. That's three dollars too much. I took a look at their buffet and there's no way it was worth $10.00.
Think about it, there was a single UND recruit in the tourney, Tyson Jost, who set team Canada's record for points, was amazing during the tourney. UND is lucky to be getting him. From talking to other fans, I don't think they were interested in watching other team's recruits.
As for the Canadians not attending the U18's, there are probably a couple of reasons. I have a theory. The World Juniors is their measuring stick games. A lot of Team Canada's best players are playing in the CHL playoffs, so this might not be the best Canadian U18 team. I've heard this argument before, and I think there's some merit to it. Maybe, Canadians just aren't into the U18 World Championship. Something to consider.
To add on that point, why should they come to Grand Forks, all of the games are on TSN. They don't need to travel to watch the games. The exchange rate is a bit low, too. The same could apply to the low attendance numbers by USA fans. All of the games were on the NHL Network. Most of us get that channel.
It's my opinion, that if they had lowered the ticket prices from the start, maybe more people would have come to the games. It's just a thought.
