I should say that’s just my assumption by the fact that Sky is paying for it all, they’ll probably be trying to rake back as much as possible, the rink might be getting a portion, or they might being paid enough as a flat rate to not be concerned about the gate. I don’t know how expensive tickets will be, but I presume they’ll be over $20 each. Australia just got bumped down to Division II, Ice Blacks are going to have to be on fire to come close to them if they bring a full strength team.

The rink is stoked that they’re going to be hosting the biggest ice hockey event in New Zealand since someone first played the game here. Live on national TV, tens of thousands watching, going to be good for all the clubs and the rink.

It’ll give them professional footage to showcase the rink to international audiences. It’ll be a test case for how events at the rink can be televised for a national audience. It would be massive if there was any flow on to some sort of TV coverage for the NZIHL. This happened to the NZ basketball league in the late 80s and it was very big for the sport – 13 years later NZ finished 4th in the world champs, went to olympics etc.

As we have more information about what we can and can’t do we’ll probably put together some people like Rhys to try and make the whole event as good as possible.

I’ve got some clarification on some things about the event. It’s been run by the NZ Winter Games. http://www.wintergamesnz.com/.

Sky are just broadcasting it.