It appears the NHL’s goal of setting a Guinness record for attendance at a hockey game will fall short.
The league will not break the record set by 2010’s Big Chill at the Big House -- when 104,173 were in attendance for Michigan versus Michigan State -- according to sources of Yahoo’s Nick Cotsonika:NHL sold 105,491 tix, enough to break record. But fans were still entering in second because of weather. Not all tix were scanned. (2)
— Nick Cotsonika (@cotsonika) January 25, 2014
Guinness would certify only fans whose tickets were scanned, plus some media and league officials. (3) — Nick Cotsonika (@cotsonika) January 25, 2014
Michigan keeps record of 104,173, set at Big Chill in 2010. NHL still shatters its own record. (4)
— Nick Cotsonika (@cotsonika) January 25, 2014
Immediately following the ’14 Winter Classic, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed the league smashed its old record of 71,217, set during the first Winter Classic in Buffalo in 2008.
That said, various reports leading up to this year’s Classic suggested the league “expected” to break the official world record. Guinness officials were on hand in Ann Arbor on Jan. 1 to monitor the proceedings.
