GPF attendance

[skateflower]

It seems to me not many people are there. I think that the 'Skate Canada' in Mississauga, Ontario was better attended than this one.
Isn't figure skating still popular in Quebec?

 

[wallylutz]

It seems to me not many people are there. I think that the 'Skate Canada' in Mississauga, Ontario was better attended than this one.
Isn't figure skating still popular in Quebec?

Today was completely sold out, but because the senior men's event was in the afternoon, the crowd peaked at that time. Many left after that, the crowd was lighter in the evening but still busy.

 

[CoyoteChris]

I am watching the ladies long in High def on NBC and if it was sold out, lots of people stayed away cause there are pleanty of empty seats....I was just about to ask if the attendance was light cause there are only 6 skaters/pairs per disipline or what? The last worlds that was in Vancouver IIRC, sold out in six hours and you can tell that when you look at the crowds that it was a sellout...the men are next up now so I will see what that is like. I still suspect good seats will be like hens teeth to find at Worlds 2013....we shall see....
(OK, the men are on now....it does look like more folk showed up for the men than the ladies...still some seats but a good crowd.)

 

[lavender]

The ladies event isn't the big event it use to be so maybe that's why there's less people. They use to show the ladies last on NBC because that was the hot event but now they play it first.

 

[wallylutz]

I am watching the ladies long in High def on NBC and if it was sold out, lots of people stayed away cause there are pleanty of empty seats....I was just about to ask if the attendance was light cause there are only 6 skaters/pairs per disipline or what? The last worlds that was in Vancouver IIRC, sold out in six hours and you can tell that when you look at the crowds that it was a sellout...the men are next up now so I will see what that is like. I still suspect good seats will be like hens teeth to find at Worlds 2013....we shall see....
(OK, the men are on now....it does look like more folk showed up for the men than the ladies...still some seats but a good crowd.)

Some seats were seating reserved for the media, but unfortunately they walked around a lot and preferred to snag whatever angle they felt best. Some were reserved for officials & coaches but many chose to sit with family & friends anyway, including Alexander Mishin who was in the stands a lot. The source of my information is staff working at ticketing for the Pavillon de la Jeunesse, you can't judge an event by counting the number of open seat. Boston Red Sox Fengway Park has always been sold out since 2004, a fact they are proud of. But if you go by counting unoccupied seats, you'll be

 

[Dragonlady]

Canadians are not huge fans of Women's Skating. In Canada it's all about the Men. The Men's final at Canadians is like a rock concert. If you consider that, with two exceptions (Britten & Sandhu), all of our Canadian Champions since Brian Orser have been World Champions, it's easy to understand why.

 

[CoyoteChris]

OK, fair enough, and very interesting. So, do Canadians then purchase selective events, like the mens short and long, and forgo the all event passes? In that case, since the all event passes go on sale first, it might be presumed that us foriegners could get reasonalble seat all event passes....BTW, if I see Mishin sitting in my seat, I am going to walk up to him and say, "Plushy's mother wears combat boots!" and he will probably go away.
It was interesting that during SkateAmerica ladies final,I was going down to my seat when an usher stopped me cause I wear all these real and phoney ID badges, and , assuming I was actually SOMEBODY, said I could only sit in the five back rows.....I then showed her my real ticket and she laughed....

 

[skatinginbc]

In Canada it's all about the Men.

Sometimes it depends on who are competing. I attended the last two international competitions held in Vancouver. The women's events were much more popular than the men's. The reason: Yuna Kim was there. People were even selling Korean flags outside the arena. And the cheer sounded like thunder. One could hear it several blocks away from the stadium. Mao also drew a large crowd as well. I bet if Mao didn't withdrew, the crowd in the women's GPF this year would have been much larger.