World Junior 2015: Montreal and Toronto fall far short of Ottawa's attendance record

TORONTO — A world junior championship in Canada sells itself, which obviously didn't happen in Montreal.

And come 2017, Hockey Canada and the International Ice Hockey Federation have the job of staging more games at the Bell Centre without Team Canada as a drawing card.

On Sunday, IIHF president Rene Fasel would not initially concede high ticket prices were the main cause for lower than expected sales for the Montreal games. Primarily due to the Montreal attendance, the first world junior split between Canada's largest two cities will not surpass the attendances of either Ottawa in 2009 (453,000) and Calgary/Edmonton in 2012 (444,000). Fasel also reached for a comparison with how the the tourney does when it's held in Europe, which doesn't really hunt. Fasel also stressed the prices were set by Hockey Canada.

Toronto, for the time being, is slated to host Canada's round-robin pool in two seasons' time while Montreal gets the other pool and most of the medal round. That might not be set in stone; the IIHF told The Hockey News it will look at "options" that might include relocating some of the 2017 games.

“Maybe we had really high expectations in Montreal," Fasel said at a press conference on Sunday in Toronto. "I’ve talked to a lot of Canadian people and they don’t think ticket prices had an impact. We don’t know. We’ll have to evaluate in the next few months. Confident can meet with Hockey Canada to put on a top event in 2017.

“Canada will not play in Montreal in 2017, so that will be a challenge," Fasel said in response to a separate question.

Marketing issue?

Fasel also said in response to a question asked in French that the Montreal attendance figures might have stemmed from a marketing problem. While it's valid that a junior hockey package tied with a flag-waving, nationalistic bow plays better in Ontario or Western Canada than in Quebec, there's no denying the pricepoint played a factor.

A much circulated tweet on Saturday by Jonathan Collin, a Foundation for Athletic Excellence in Quebec employee and former McGill University quarterback, showed that prices for 200-level seats for Canada-Team USA New Year's Eve games in Edmonton and Montreal were different by a factor of nearly three (admittedly, without adjusting for inflation).

This WJC will end up with a final attendance of 365,000 to 385,000, Fasel said.

“The expectations in Montreal were very high, which is a little bit of a disappointment," Fasel said.

“The average for Toronto will be around 14,000 not having Canada [for the preliminary round from Dec. 26-31]," Fasel added, "For Team Canada it was between 9,720 and 15,000.

"Montreal and Toronto will be No. 3 in history. It will be around 365,000, third in under-20 history ... It’s not too bad. If we had looked to Europe, we have eight times have many people. Last night, Germany-Switzerland, 8,000 people [for a relegation round game].

"If that game was in Finland [where the 2016 WJC will be played in Helsinki], what would you get — 400 people? You see, it’s a nice problem to discuss."

Be that as it may, using a NHL-style pricing structure for a junior hockey tournament clearly struck a nerve with many hockey fans in Canada. Ultimately, revenue takes top priority, but it is evident there will need to be an adjustment for the '17 tournament.

The fact remains that Ottawa, using a NHL building and a 10,000-seat (at the time) OHL building, far outdrew two much larger markets which have far more seating capacity. That one-city model could work in Toronto, where the Leafs' AHL team plays at 7,851-seat Ricoh Coliseum.

Calgary and Edmonton, which also have reasonably well supported WHL franchises that are owned by the big-league Flames and Oilers, also did better despite drawing from a much smaller population base.

"Everything will be evaluated in the next few months," Fasel said. "There will be discussions with Hockey Canada and the organizating committees.”

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.