Do you like the idea of the World Junior Hockey Championship being hosted in Canada every second year ?
I don’t, but beginning in 2012, that’s the plan
I’m a believer in competitive rotation for an event of this magnitude, and furthermore, if you’re going to compete in this event, you should be prepared to host it periodically whether you’re Canada, the States, Sweden, Latvia or wherever.
Yes, I understand the World Junior Hockey Tournament is highly regarded in our country, and thus draws better, but my spider sense tells me frequent hosting duties, even spread across a large country, is risking overkill and depleted interest.
Plus for me, the mystique of the World Juniors has always been higher outside of the country than inside.
Many years, Christmas morning was spent watching Canada play a game on what was Boxing Day already in a foreign country.
But alas, I am naive.
When the World Junior Hockey Championship is staged on Canada soil; it’s big crowds and most significantly big bucks.
A Canadian hosted World Junior means the International Ice Hockey Federation, Hockey Canada, TSN, Nike, the Royal Bank, Rona and every other sponsor you can jam down your throat all stand to benefit from bigger exposure.
So while the money conceivably will roll in for the World Juniors in Canada every second year, a large amount of the previous lustre, for me, is disappearing.
I’m Fred Wallace