Despite reluctance in some circles to have such a tournament in Olympic years, three of the six most attended World Championships overall have taken place on years that coincided with the holding of a best-on-best tournament, either the Olympics (2010 and 2014) or the World Cup of Hockey (2004).
It should be considered that because of a changing pool-size of teams through the years, the number of games contested at the IIHF World Championships can range from 32 in 1979 to 64 in 2012 and beyond, therefore "attendance per game" is an equally important statistic to measure the success of a given tournament.
In an effort to broaden the sport's appeal, the number of top division teams was increased from a mere 8 (as late as 1991) to 16 (starting in 1998), leading to an influx of lesser teams that could negatively impact average attendance.
To combat this, some organizers have aggressively pushed the sale of day passes that bundle popular games with less sought-after ones.
Germany hosted three of the top 30 most attended tournaments, Latvia and Slovakia – two each.