On the main stage of the World Cup, already halfway through the Games, it has become clear why the tournament should be played in the Czech Republic.
741,700.
That’s a record that may soon be broken.
The World Ice Hockey World Cup audience record was set at the 2015 Games. Also then, the tournament was played in the Czech Republic. And the competition cities were the same as this year, i.e. Prague and Ostrava.
Minsk, where the games were held in 2014, ranks second in all-time audience numbers. In Belarus, a total of just over 640,000 spectators attended the games.
Less surprisingly, the combination of Prague and Ostrava from 2004 takes bronze place in the statistics, with a total of over 552,000 viewers.
The sight in Prague’s huge Arena has been magnificent since the beginning of these games. The fans have been bulging from game to game. More than 17,000 pairs of eyes can accommodate supporters on the main stage of the Games.
Of course, the matches of the host country have always filled the halls and arenas at the World Cup, regardless of which country the tournament was played in. But it is exceptional that even in the games of hockey’s lilliputian countries, the stands in Prague have been almost full.
On Friday, May 17, Britain and Denmark faced each other in the afternoon match. The arena wasn’t quite full, but visually estimated there were twenty thousand spectators.
That’s a confusing amount for a match between these countries. Typically, there are more empty seats than reserved seats in the stands of the World Cup in the games of small countries.
The record may be broken
On May 16, this tournament was at the halfway point in terms of the number of matches. The total number of spectators for the 32 preliminary series games played until then is 297,652.
The audience average per match in the games in Prague and Ostrava is handsome, 9301 spectators.
There are still as many matches left in the tournament, i.e. 32. And when the deciding games that start next week will surely attract much more audience than the matches of the preliminary series, it is possible to break the 2015 record.
From the semi-finals onwards, all matches are played in the Prague arena, which can accommodate more than 7,000 more spectators than the Ostrava arena.
The World Cup played in Finland has fallen far short of the Czech Republic’s 2015 record. Härmä’s highest reading is from 2003, when the tournament was played in Helsinki, Turku and Tampere. At that time, the total audience for the Games was 454,693. It is the 9th largest number of all time.
Almost the same was achieved in 2012, when Finland and Sweden hosted the World Cup. The venues were Helsinki and Stockholm. At that time, a total of 451,054 spectators arrived at the venue.
The Ice Hockey World Cup will be played in the Czech Republic from 10 to 26. May. follows the events in the app, on the website, on Sports Screen and on Sports Radio.