As Poland left Romania empty-handed, there was a hockey celebration in one country over. Hungary rolled out the red carpet as Canada came to visit. The atmosphere outside and inside the arena was electric. Hungarian fans lined the entryway to the rink and met NHL stars such as Sidney Crosby, Macklin Celebrini, and Travis Konecny. Once the puck dropped, there were 16,394 fans in the building. This game wasn’t for a medal, or even part of any IIHF event; it was just a warm-up for both teams as they prepare for the 2025 World Championship.  

For Poland, the sting of failing to earn promotion this year will only hurt more as the dream of their match versus Canada fades away. Last year, during the IIHF World Championship, PZHL president Mirosław Minkina told sportmarketing.pl that they want a game with Canada for the 100th anniversary of the federation. The 100th anniversary of the PZHL came and went with no special huge game. 

With Poland stuck in Division 1 Group A for 2026, the Polish federation has announced its intention to host the event. The goal is to host the tournament at the Stadion Zimowy in Sosnowiec. They shouldn’t. 

The new arena in Sosnowiec opened in 2023 and has played a massive part in rejuvenating the Zaglebie Sosnowiec team. It is a great rink for a Polish club, but it is not where Poland should be hosting the World Championship. 

The arena seats a total of 2,545 people for hockey. The PZHL hosted an IIHF event at this rink last year with the third round of Olympic qualification from February 11th to the 14th. The national team would host three matches against Estonia, South Korea, and Ukraine. Poland’s games at the event averaged a poor 1,282 fans, with only one exceeding 1,800. All games failed to beat Zaglebie Sosnowiec’s THL average attendance of 1,836. The games without Poland were ghost towns, finishing with an average of 308 fans per game. 

Poland hosted two more games in Sosnowiec on its road to the World Championship against Italy. In those matches against a top division one contender, The PZHL pulled in 1,000 and 850 fans.

What I’m about to say next might sound crazy based on the numbers I just said. But if Poland is going to host this event, they need to do it in a bigger rink. 

Let’s go back a decade. Starting in 2012, the IIHF created a new format for World Championship divisions. Before, you had two parallel groups, but now there would be an upper Group A and a lower Group B. It would take Poland three tries, but in 2014, they would be promoted to Group A. 

As the newcomers to the group, Poland wanted to make a splash and put in a bid to host with Tauron Arena in Kraków as the location. They were chosen as the host, and now Poland had to pack a rink with a capacity of 15,328. As the newly promoted team, the Poles might have surprised people with a third-place finish. What may have been even more surprising was the attendance. Poland’s first game in Group A saw 9,456 fans pack the rink in Kraków. In total, Polish games would average 7,958 fans per game, with a peak of 12,632 for their final match against Hungary. It was a fantastic number for hockey in the country. Even though Poland didn’t win promotion, it showed the appetite for these big matches in the country. 

The next year, Poland was once again the host, this time using the slightly smaller Spodek arena in Katowice. Poland once again took bronze, and the stands were packed once again with an average of 7,500 fans in Katowice. 

Go back to last year’s World Championship in Czechia. Poland’s first appearance at the top in 22 years. Poland’s games finished with an average attendance of 8,656, good for third among Ostrava teams. I’m not going to act like it was the insane distance to travel or all the fans were Polish. But, Outside of the game versus Latvia, you can just listen and see what a majority of that crowd was. 

When these games are presented as significant events, Polish fans show up. Hosting it in Sosnowiec doesn’t make it a big event. It won’t bring out substantial levels of fans or sponsors. Before the tournament, you capped your attendance at below 3,000. If Poland wants to do these events, it has to do them right to succeed. If the dreams of the Canada match are still alive, which both sides reportedly talked last year, are you going to have that match in Sosnowiec? 

Poland has to invest even for hosting the Division 1 Group A level. They have to look at going back to the Spodek, Tauron Arena Krakow, or maybe invest in putting hockey in Gliwice’s PreZero Arena. The arena was initially brought up as a potential host for the Canada match. It would reportedly cost two to three million ($530K to $750K USD) to get it suited for hockey. With the PZHL’s murky financial situation, it’s unlikely they could front that cost themselves. It probably doesn’t make sense for the PZHL to do that, but it makes even less sense for the PZHL and IIHF to host Group A in Sosnowiec.

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