Our city’s reputation as a hockey town takes hit
Montreal’s reputation as a hockey mecca took a hit Wednesday after organizers of the 2017 World Junior Hockey Championships dropped tickets prices prior to a pair of semifinal games at the Bell Centre.
Ticket prices were slashed by $40 (from $75 to $35) for some upper-level sections in a bid to fill the 21,287-seat building prior to knockout games featuring Team Canada vs. Sweden and Team USA vs. Russia.
The price reduction came after a disappointing crowd of 10,215 attended Canada’s 5-3 quarterfinal win over the Czech Republic on Monday at the Bell Centre.
“The reason we did that is we wanted to create the greatest atmosphere possible for the athletes,” said tournament director Denis Hainault. “And obviously the Bell Centre is a very good building, a very big building and has an inventory of tickets that no other building in Canada has.”
“When you have 10,000 people at the Bell Centre, you still have 12,000 seats to fill,” Hainault added. “That’s one of the main reasons we tried to do a last push.”
Fans like Mark James said sluggish ticket sales suggest Montreal is not a true hockey town.
“It’s a Habs town,” said James, who is perplexed more fans are not coming out to see the National Hockey League’s stars of the future.
“I don’t know why they’re not coming to the games. You’re watching great hockey, you’re watching the future stars. Some of the Canadiens’ own prospects are out there.”
Although he believes the tournament could have used better promotion locally, James said ticket prices are simply too expensive for the average hockey fan.
James said he paid almost $3,000 for a tournament package, which includes a pair of tickets to all 19 games at the Bell Centre.
His prime tickets are in the reds (section 123) in the lower bowl. (The package also included pretournament exhibition games.)
“I bought the whole package — the gold medal, silver and bronze, semis, quarters, the whole thing — but I want to see good hockey,” said James. “It’s a blast to come watch this. It’s fun.”
However, James has witnessed fans in the nose bleed sections of the Bell Centre move down to better seats in the lower bowl once the games were underway.
“I found that really unfair,” James said. “We paid good money for our seats ... I didn’t get compensated.”
James said poor turnouts have tarnished Montreal’s hockey reputation internationally.
“I don’t think Hockey Canada will come back to Montreal,” he said. “It’s sad, but ultimately it comes down to the price of the tickets.”
Although Montreal and Toronto co-hosted this year’s event, James said Toronto hockey fans have shown more interest in the junior tournament. A crowd of 18,854 attended the New Year’s Eve game between Canada and the USA at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
“Look at Toronto two years ago, they had great crowds for the (2015) world juniors,” James said.
One scalper outside the Bell Centre said he’s taken a bath trying to unload tickets for this year’s world juniors.
“You can’t even sell the tickets at half price,” he said. “It’s brutal.”
Santana Enrique, a supervisor at the Sports Crescent retail store, still believes Montreal is a hockey town.
“No, no, it’s a hockey city,” he said. “I see people who are so happy to see Canada win.”
He said fans are buying Team Canada hats and T-shirts. Even Team Sweden jerseys are selling.
Hainault said a decision has not yet been made whether ticket prices will be reduced for Thursday’s gold-medal game.
He said about 12,000 tickets had already been sold for the tourney finale.