Did the Winter Classic set a world record for hockey attendance? NHL says wait and see (original) (raw)
By
010114_NHL_winter_classic-C.JPG
Fans cheer during the second period of the 2014 Winter Classic Wednesday at Michigan Stadium.
(Courtney Sacco | The Ann Arbor News)
ANN ARBOR -- There weren’t a whole lot of empty seats at Michigan Stadium Wednesday afternoon when the Red Wings and Maple Leafs faced off in the 2014 Winter Classic at Michigan Stadium.
But was it the largest crowd to ever watch a hockey game? That won’t be known for days or weeks.
The NHL announced an attendance of 105,491 during the third period of the Maple Leafs' 3-2 shootout win, more than 1,000 more than the world record.
But that number includes all tickets sold, according to an NHL spokesperson. And to come to the Guinness World Record-verified number, each ticket scanned at a stadium gate will have to be counted -- a process that the league said could take days or weeks and will likely result in a number smaller than 105,491.
If the final number comes in below the world record, snowy weather conditions may be to blame.
“We know we sold 105,000-plus tickets,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said after the game. “We also suspected there were some no-shows because we heard stories of people taking more than two and a half hours to get here from downtown Detroit because of the road conditions.
“So I don’t know if we set the official Guinness attendance record. ...Based on tickets sold we should have, but again, since people were still arriving in the second period it’s hard to know.”
The world record for most spectators at a hockey game was set at 104,173 for The Big Chill between Michigan and Michigan State on Dec. 11, 2010.
There's a reason the NHL is taking its time in declaring a world-record crowd. For the Big Chill game, attendance was announced as 113,411 during the game, before Guinness revised the number downard nearly a month later.
According to Yahoo!, the NHL and Guinness agreed before the game that tickets scanned, media members and some team officials would count toward the official attendance. Alex Angert, a Guinness adjudicator, was in attendance Wednesday.
One record, though, that’s certain to fall when the final number is announced is the previous NHL attendance record: 71,217, set during the first Winter Classic in Buffalo in 2008.
Kyle Austin covers sports for The Ann Arbor News. E-mail him at kyleaustin2@mlive.com
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.