The fan base is the heart of every ice rink and arena. Without it, the feeling is sometimes like going to church on Sunday, writes Jussi Paasi.
The setting of the Tampere arena is lush. The media cube is the size of a large detached house (196 square meters) and has three million LEDs. There is more than enough sound from the audio equipment.
You can see the game and the media cube perfectly from every seat. There is an abundance on offer in nutrition shops. The corridors are cramped in places, but the ancillary services still work well.
One significant thing about the arena at the World Cup is missing. Fan viewer.
Sure, all the Finns who came to the Austria match on Saturday are Lions fans, but now I mean what you got to enjoy in the Tappara and Ilves games during the Finnish Championship league season. At the time, the brand new Arena had what it included: a fan sanctuary. Terrace.
The most loyal and vocal supporters always settle there. Those who stand through the match. Encourage, sing, live to the fullest at all times. And get other viewers into the mood.
The explanation seems to be quite simple. There are a huge number of famous people who have received a company ticket.
And there is nothing wrong with that. I’m downright impressed with the marketing ingenuity of a company that is constantly featured in the World Cup. Wherever you turn your head in the hall, you will see the shirts shared by that company. The same thing happens when you move around the city.
For their part, companies are making these races possible. Thank you for that.
However, company tickets do not give the atmosphere.
Following the match in Austria, I went back to my thoughts three years ago. At that time, the Lions dominated the Slovak World Cup bowl and Finnish fans did the same in the gallery of Kosice Hall. It felt like it had been in the Finnish home game.
The difference to these home races has been confusingly large on the spectator side.
The main stage of the World Championships in Tampere should look and sound the same as in the matches between Tappara and Ilves. The fan base might not even have to be very big. One of the ends of the lower stand would suffice. A few hundred passionate supporters.
The fan spectator would take care of the constant shouting through the match and would light up those who came to the game with the same company ticket.
The atmosphere of Tappara’s games was criticized in the finals of the Finnish Championship. However, there was a louder and better mood in the Ax Bust matches than in the Lions Preliminaries. The atmosphere of the lynx playoffs was not blamed. The difference to the World Cup is quite.
The fan base is the heart of every ice rink and arena. Without it, feeling is sometimes like going to church on Sunday.
It is to be hoped that by next week’s quarter-finals next week, the atmosphere in the stands would even approach that of Tappara’s final. At the end of the game in Austria, a good example of this was already given when fans showed signs of enthusiasm. The shout between the upper and lower stands was half-hearted to hear in the middle of the final batch.
That would be the case all the time, if at the other end of the arena you would be admired by Fanikatsomo, where tickets have been bought with your own money. In that case, however, ticket prices should be in line with that. And that is the place of the second comment.