The 2022 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship is currently being held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was originally scheduled to be held during the traditional Christmas/New Years holiday break. The tournament was attempted in Edmonton back in December, but a COVID-19 outbreak among players, coaches and referees made it impossible to move forward. So it was rescheduled for August. The timing of the tournament already posed some questions as with it being so close to NHL training camps, how many players would be available. As expected, a handful of big name players decided not to return to the tournament. But now it also seems like the fans aren't returning either.
During opening day of the World Juniors none of the three games broke 1,000 fans in attendance. Even a USA team with Gold Medal aspirations only drew 829 fans for their opening game against Germany. Then on Thursday Germany had an even worse turnout for their game against Austria.
There are a lot of things working against the World Juniors right now. Edmonton only gets a few months of good weather a year and people rather enjoy some sunshine then sit inside an arena and watch two teams they have no rooting interest for. There is also the fact of cost and with tickets prices the way they are it doesn't seem like a wise investment versus the cost of fuel. Most World Junior tickets are sold via «multi-game packs», so more tickets have been purchased for the game then people who are actually attending, they're just not showing up.
Finally, we can't mention the World Juniors without the on-going black cloud that is hanging over Hockey Canada right now. Multiple Canadian World Junior teams are now under investigation for sexual misconduct. People in Canada are having a hard time supporting anything attached to Hockey Canada's name right now. It will be interesting to see attendance numbers for the games going forward as they become more important. But right now, this is a bad look for this tournament.
