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[victorskid]

4CC & Jr Worlds teams announced:

Canadian Figure Skating Teams Announced for Two Upcoming ISU Championships

OTTAWA, ON (Jan. 12, 2026) – Skate Canada has named its [...]

skatecanada.ca

 

[victorskid]

That Figure Skating Show on the results of Canadians and looking toward the Olympics:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

 

[honey]

Not sure where to post this, but I’ve been thinking about how this nationals was reasonably well attended. I know the rink was not huge by any means, but at just over 4000 seats, it’s in the same realm as the venues in Mississauga and Kingston that hosted nationals in better skating times somewhat recently (2015 in Kingston, 2013 and 2020 for Mississauga).

Anyone have any idea what SC has done to turn things around from that dismal display in 2024 in Calgary? Did they lower the ticket prices? Market it aggressively? I’m just curious because I was impressed that the rink was decently full. I’m sure this being an Olympic year helped, but it’s a pretty good outcome to have been able to host a nationals that looked and felt like nationals again. Last year in Laval it was nice to see a full arena, but that was an extremely tiny venue that looked more like where they’d have hosted the novice events in the old days.

I begrudgingly say, good job SC. I don’t think they make great decisions all the time, but they clearly did something better in the last year to have been able to turn it around a bit.

 

[Sylvia]

Jan. 3:

The latest from Rob Brodie: #SCNats26: Some early thoughts on the road to Gatineau

Catching up on the rest of Rob Brodie's #SCNats26 articles:

Preview (Jan. 8): https://rwbrodiewrites.substack.com/p/scnats26-bonjour-from-la-belle-province

"Over my dead body is anyone else going to the Olympics.” (Jan. 9): https://rwbrodiewrites.substack.com/p/scnats26-the-roar-is-back-for-the

Men's & Pairs SP (Jan. 9): https://rwbrodiewrites.substack.com/p/scnats26-mugzy-makes-his-move-toward

Men's FP & Rhythm Dance (Jan. 10): https://rwbrodiewrites.substack.com/p/scnats26-gogo-going-all-the-way-to

Pairs & Women's SP (Jan. 11): https://rwbrodiewrites.substack.com/p/scnats26-the-future-is-now-for-canadas

Women's FP & Free Dance (Jan. 11): https://rwbrodiewrites.substack.com/p/scnats26-i-wasnt-going-down-without

Olympic Team named (Jan. 12): https://rwbrodiewrites.substack.com/p/scnats26-its-games-on-for-canadas

Final thoughts (Jan. 17): https://rwbrodiewrites.substack.com/p/scnats26-some-final-thoughts-from

 

[Karen-W]

Not sure where to post this, but I’ve been thinking about how this nationals was reasonably well attended. I know the rink was not huge by any means, but at just over 4000 seats, it’s in the same realm as the venues in Mississauga and Kingston that hosted nationals in better skating times somewhat recently (2015 in Kingston, 2013 and 2020 for Mississauga).

Anyone have any idea what SC has done to turn things around from that dismal display in 2024 in Calgary? Did they lower the ticket prices? Market it aggressively? I’m just curious because I was impressed that the rink was decently full. I’m sure this being an Olympic year helped, but it’s a pretty good outcome to have been able to host a nationals that looked and felt like nationals again. Last year in Laval it was nice to see a full arena, but that was an extremely tiny venue that looked more like where they’d have hosted the novice events in the old days.

I begrudgingly say, good job SC. I don’t think they make great decisions all the time, but they clearly did something better in the last year to have been able to turn it around a bit.

Wasn't part of the issue with Calgary 2024 the brutally freezing Arctic cold snap that engulfed Alberta that week?

 

[honey]

Wasn't part of the issue with Calgary 2024 the brutally freezing Arctic cold snap that engulfed Alberta that week?

I feel like that was totally overblown. I don’t think there were piles of tickets sold and people didn’t end up attending. Maybe that contributed 10% to the lack of attendance, but it wasn’t all of it. 2023 in Oshawa was also poorly attended, though not as bad as the next year in Calgary. If cold weather was that much of a problem then places like Winnipeg and Saskatoon would never have had a person in the seats at any nationals they hosted over the years.

From what I remember in the discussion in 2024 was that ticket prices were fairly high for what it was. I would be curious to know if they rethought the pricing this time.

I think it’s also likely that they were being a bit more strategic in picking their cities. Even back as far as 2006, Calgary wasn’t pulling in huge crowds. There was a ton of media noise at worlds in 2006 about the poor attendance. They got decent crowd by the end of the week, but for a worlds in Canada at that time it was pretty weak attendance.

Perhaps the Gatineau/Ottawa region is a bit more popular for skating and thus also made it a good choice. I’m sure it wasn’t just one thing that helped this event be more successful, but they clearly seem to have out some effort and thought into it and it worked well.

 

[fan]

Quebecers are very into athletics - it's cultural for them. I'd say that holding events in Quebec will naturally be better attended - this particularly so being the Olympic Trials.

 

[Sylvia]

Skate Canada Nationals 2026: Pre-Olympics Recap by Triple Point Skating (follows the Canadian Junior women closely; big fan of Anthony Paradis'; uploaded on Jan. 19): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OB1JkHaHSk