Hockey Interest dying in Russia?
 

With the top 50 or more Russian talen playing NHL, has interest in hockey and is the soprt dying over there?

I keep hearing about KHL playing in front of many 1,000 - 2,000 fans.

A far cry from sold out games of the four Moscow teams of the Soviet league.

Check the figures of those two assertions then get back to us.

Yeah, Slitty, those numbers are...I'm assuming...made up

Stats are often unreliable. 36 percent of people know that.

are you a member of the Russian mob? :naughty:

Well those numbers were quoted by Igor Larionov in the Globe and Mail during his HHOF recently in Toronto...

No, but even then, it takes me less than two minutes to ascertain that there are only 26 Russian players in the NHL - a fair portion of whom don't belong to the "top Russian talent" category. Equally simplistic is determining that the average KHL attendance is, give or take, 5000ish. :help:

For reference to the discussion, here is a link to the Globe and Mail article on November 10 that I believe the OP is talking about. I have copied the relevant quote below...

So, where as the OP has said 'many', Larionov actually said 'some'. Larionov even seems to further qualify this by saying teams in Moscow. We can debate the semantics, but the OP seems to have overblown the problem (if there is one).

Also, I didn't see anything in the article about the number of top Russian players coming to the NHL.

1. No.
2. 1000 people at 1 russian match......how is that reflective of the entire league, through the whole season?

use your brain :teach:

whatd i do? i dont even remember :huh:

Does the KHL publish attendance records?

A little off the record, but here are my three cents: Its' the KHL's first year. Other European powers want to see if the league can survive before they join... Well two years down the road when the league gets some steam, and there are a few big euro non soviet teams in the league then these few week KHL teams will be dropped. Then you will have a powerful more stable league with full attendance around the horn. Give it time.

No, I would believe Igor Larionov though.

Announced attendances are deceiving in the NHL as well. I was recently at a game in Phoenix and the announced crowd was 15,500. It was half full or half empty, either way.

The attendance in Moscow and Saint Petersburg are not very good historically in the last 15 or so years. People in those cities are just spoiled, there are way too many professional teams, theatres, nightclubs etc, it is just very hard for hockey to compete with all of that, specially that Moscow is really a soccer city. There is actually somewhat a progress recently, some of the CSKA-Dynamo games do manage to get good attendance. If you look at some games in Moscow 7-10 years ago there were literally 50 fans in attendance, so compared to those years hockey interest is hardly dying in Russia, specially taking into consideration the hockey boom in Khabarovsk, Yaroslavl, Omsk and Kazan.

What are the top 3 most popular sports in Russia? Just wondering.

1.Soccer
2.Basketball
3. Ice Hockey

.....:help:

Seriously? I just can't comprehend what you're trying to do in this thread. Are you merely regurgitating some sort of wacky misinformation mixed in with your own delusions, or purposefully attempting to mislead people? :help:

that's funny how a canadian trying to make up a popular sports in Russia chart.

Wasnt it this guy who created a thread with something like "dear russians why are you so cocky?"

Yes, every official game protocol includes the attendance.

based on his post history, he is trying to take a shot at hockey in Russia and the KHL.

Hey, if you are talking at me, that is not true.

I am all for the european countries having strong home-based leagues.

I wouldn't want my countrymen playing in a foreign league and would rather watch them at home.

I've always had an interest in international hockey. The NHL is by no means the end all.

I've seen some KHL games briefly on web and the quality is quite good.

That said, if only 26 playing NHL, why has Russia fared so poorly lately in World Championships?

You are incorrect, unless you are referring to the World Juniors

2008 World Championships
http://www.iihf.com/typo3temp/pics/3cb229e6f1.jpg

who told you that? Igor Larionov:sarcasm:

Well done. :D

No that was me.:yo: