[Moncton] Centre Avenir Centre | 26.65m |~6 Fl | Completed

[SevenSquared]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Do you have any proof that it's one method over the other?

In this particular case, nope! Just what I saw with my own eyes.

I do know for a fact there are teams that count attendance using different methods from one another. Some teams even count (at least, counted) it differently during regular season than they do/did in the playoffs. But you won't find proof of that

[Reesor]

They are absolutely using "people in seats" for the attendance vs tickets sold. The Canada games in Halifax have been sold out, but attendances have been 10,030 Monday and 10,263 last night. Scotiabank Center seats 10,595 for hockey.

Both venues tend to release a few tickets the day of the game, so you can look right before the game on ticketmaster for Moncton and guestimate the amount of empty seats, then compare it to the actual attendance.

Moncton is doing better in the preliminary round with the non-Canada group than Montreal did at the Bell Center in 2017 for the non-Canada group. We know that the ticket sales have been much higher than the actual in-person attendance in both Moncton and Halifax, but comparing apples to apples, Moncton is doing extremely well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_W..._Championships

Those attendance figures will get closer together on New Year's Eve when Finland plays the USA. That and the two quarter-finals will be attended by everyone that has tickets. Why people would bother buying the entire package and then not attending all of the games, or at least selling or giving away their tickets, I will never know. This is a once in a generation opportunity to see some great international hockey in the Maritimes.

[q12]

Originally Posted by Reesor

They are absolutely using "people in seats" for the attendance vs tickets sold. The Canada games in Halifax have been sold out, but attendances have been 10,030 Monday and 10,263 last night. Scotiabank Center seats 10,595 for hockey.

Both venues tend to release a few tickets the day of the game, so you can look right before the game on ticketmaster for Moncton and guestimate the amount of empty seats, then compare it to the actual attendance.

Moncton is doing better in the preliminary round with the non-Canada group than Montreal did at the Bell Center in 2017 for the non-Canada group. We know that the ticket sales have been much higher than the actual in-person attendance in both Moncton and Halifax, but comparing apples to apples, Moncton is doing extremely well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_W..._Championships

Those attendance figures will get closer together on New Year's Eve when Finland plays the USA. That and the two quarter-finals will be attended by everyone that has tickets. Why people would bother buying the entire package and then not attending all of the games, or at least selling or giving away their tickets, I will never know. This is a once in a generation opportunity to see some great international hockey in the Maritimes.

Ticket Atlantic operates differently then Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster hides empty seats to make the consumer believe there are limited seats left to push sales. These "hidden" seats will appear later once other sections have sold.

Ticket Atlantic on the other hand puts everything available in the arena on sale. They will release some reserved tickets gameday that were released by the box office for various reasons. Last nights game had extra seats sold as they released partially obstructed seats behind the TSN main cameras in sections 32-34 for the first time in the tournament.

Attendance for the sold out games in 2003 was 10,594 because the added seats above the concourse to make up for those lost to the TV cameras as you can see in this old photo from 2003 on top right above sections 3 and 4:

2003 Sellout 10,594


2023 Sellout: 10,263

https://twitter.com/ScotianCanadien/...81831958274048

Interesting nugget: Scotiabank Centre seats roughly 10,500 for hockey but I was told that number doesn’t include luxury boxes. Attendance for the Memorial Cup in-game has been considerably higher than the nightly reported number.

Source: CTV Paul Hollingsworth on twitter
‏https://twitter.com/paulhctv/status/1131943940062699520

Scotiabank Centre's capacity is actually higher with it's 47 full capacity skyboxes. For hockey games when you include the skyboxes it's 11,200 For Basketball when you include the skyboxes it's 11,700

So their was approximately 11,000 in attendance last night in Halifax as the skyboxes were jammed.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by q12

So their was approximately 11,000 in attendance last night in Halifax as the skyboxes were jammed.

Except for the Scotiabank box, which has been purposely left empty and will remain empty for every game of the tournament as a boycott of Hockey Canada.

[q12]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Except for the Scotiabank box, which has been purposely left empty and will remain empty for every game of the tournament as a boycott of Hockey Canada.

They should have given the box to some local girls hockey teams. It's not much of a boycott with their name all over the arena.

[MonctonRad]

I wonder if the Avenir Centre capacity for hockey (8,800) includes the corporate boxes or not?

[SevenSquared]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I wonder if the Avenir Centre capacity for hockey (8,800) includes the corporate boxes or not?

It does include all corporate boxes.

edit: I just saw my post referenced on a hockey forum, and I just want to emphasize that this statement refers to Avenir's skybox seats being included as part of the 8800-seat total capacity. It doesn't refer to whether or not they're counted as part of the attendance.

[Reesor]

Originally Posted by q12

Ticket Atlantic operates differently then Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster hides empty seats to make the consumer believe there are limited seats left to push sales. These "hidden" seats will appear later once other sections have sold.

Ticket Atlantic on the other hand puts everything available in the arena on sale. They will release some reserved tickets gameday that were released by the box office for various reasons. Last nights game had extra seats sold as they released partially obstructed seats behind the TSN main cameras in sections 32-34 for the first time in the tournament.

Attendance for the sold out games in 2003 was 10,594 because the added seats above the concourse to make up for those lost to the TV cameras as you can see in this old photo from 2003 on top right above sections 3 and 4:

2003 Sellout 10,594


2023 Sellout: 10,263

https://twitter.com/ScotianCanadien/...81831958274048


Source: CTV Paul Hollingsworth on twitter
‏https://twitter.com/paulhctv/status/1131943940062699520

Scotiabank Centre's capacity is actually higher with it's 47 full capacity skyboxes. For hockey games when you include the skyboxes it's 11,200 For Basketball when you include the skyboxes it's 11,700

So their was approximately 11,000 in attendance last night in Halifax as the skyboxes were jammed.

I was in one of those seats. It looks like they only sold Section 33 Row J, because Section 33 rows E, F, G and H were almost empty before the game. Some people filled them to spread out a bit more when the score got lop-sided later on in the game.

Still, 4 empty rows over there is only 64 seats. Other than a bit of the sides in Sections 32 and 34, there aren't many other spots taken up by cameras. There is a spot on Ticket Atlantic now for "obstructed view" seats that wasn't there when the tournament began, so maybe their plan is to sell those seats now. A better way I guess of saying "sell-out" is to say "all of the available tickets were sold".

I know what you mean by releasing tickets later on, and Ticket Atlantic has done it for concerts and other events in the past. For events that they expect to draw 4000'ish people, they'll blank out the entire upper bowl except for a few rows at the very bottom. If the event sells well and they get close to selling all available tickets, they'll release more rows in the upper bowl. I imagine this is to control the crowd and ensure people aren't needlessly spreading out to the upper parts of the arena. Saves ushers from having to travel farther to do their job. That's what I picture Ticketmaster doing for the Avenir Center.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Reesor

That's what I picture Ticketmaster doing for the Avenir Center.

Ticketmaster will selectively release blocks of tickets depending on demand. Their seating maps aren't really a true reflection of what is or isn't sold. Similar to what you've described occurs in Halifax.

[SevenSquared]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Ticketmaster will selectively release blocks of tickets depending on demand. Their seating maps aren't really a true reflection of what is or isn't sold.

This is true. However the large blocks of tickets held back are very easy to spot; they tend to be the worst/farthest seats, and the block won't have a "single" available within it, which would be highly unlikely to occur naturally in a non-premium section.

For tonight's game, the 200ish seats in the top 3 rows of sections 120 and 121, and other smaller blocks in that end of the rink, would be quickly made available if sales are strong in the next couple hours, which I doubt will happen.

[q12]

Originally Posted by SevenSquared

It does include all corporate boxes.

edit: I just saw my post referenced on a hockey forum, and I just want to emphasize that this statement refers to Avenir's skybox seats being included as part of the 8800-seat total capacity. It doesn't refer to whether or not they're counted as part of the attendance.

So the seated capacity of Avenir Centre is 8,500 without counting private suites. When suites are included it's total capacity is 8,800.

Scotiabank Centre seated capacity is 10,595 without private suites. When suites are included it's 11,200.

The combined total capacity both venues is exactly 20,000 for this tournament when including private suites.

Here is photo of the USA-SLOVAKIA (28th) game in Moncton reported Attendance: 6,438:

https://twitter.com/McCanndyTweets/s...27502656294915

And USA-SWISS (29th) game in Moncton reported Attendance: 7,024

https://twitter.com/chrismpeters/sta...70638301818881

[PEI highway guy]

Is there any indication of which two QF games Moncton wll get. I know one will not be a Canada game.

[MonctonRad]

Based on standings. We won't know until after the round robin is complete. There are cross overs however. I think the Canada game will be in Halifax regardless.

[PEI highway guy]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Based on standings. We won't know until after the round robin is complete. There are cross overs however. I think the Canada game will be in Halifax regardless.

Another good crowd attendance wise for the first game?

The building appears full for the USA/Finland game.

[habs33]

Quarter-finals are set
12pm Finland vs Sweden
5pm USA vs Germany

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Based on standings. We won't know until after the round robin is complete. There are cross overs however. I think the Canada game will be in Halifax regardless.

[PEI highway guy]

Originally Posted by habs33

Quarter-finals are set
12pm Finland vs Sweden
5pm USA vs Germany

It appears the Swede/Finn GAME is close to a full house. Is anybody there to say how large the crowd is?

[SevenSquared]

Originally Posted by PEI highway guy

It appears the Swede/Finn GAME is close to a full house. Is anybody there to say how large the crowd is?

The official number was 7263. Empty seats were mostly in the club seat areas and at the very top of the sections behind the nets.

[MonctonRad]

Infinity Aerials is at it again. A few drone pics from last night showing activity on the Ian Fowler Oval, and people watching the Canada/USA game on the big screen on the stage next to the oval.

[lirette]

I wish they had a better way to set the screen setup. Itd be better for viewing if it would be pushed the front of the stage, and then have it so it can be moved up when a band is playing. Having pillars block the screen means everyone crowds up front and people skating or others behind the rink can't see anything.

Ultimately though I'm so happy to see the building and plaza but used to its full potential. I hope that the right people are taking notice of what this city, building and downtown is capable of. Seeing people pour out of all the new downtown hotels and into restaurants and the Avenir was such a great site after thinking back to social distanced games at just a year ago. I couldnt believe it when I was trying to find a place to go eat in between the 2 quarter final games at 2:45pm!! and everywhere was a 30+ minute wait to get in. Never thought I'd see the day.

[MonctonRad]

I think Moncton should make a (solo) bid for the Women's World Hockey Championships. I think we would be able to pull that one off with aplomb.

Maybe the next time we go after the World Juniors, we should make it a joint bid with Saint John, and try to get the Canada games and playoffs at the Avenir Centre.