The 1999 Memorial Cup set a record for attendance (since the round-robin format was first used in 1972) with a total of 84,200 people in eight sell-out games. It was the first Memorial Cup to be shown on CTV Sportsnet, having moved from TSN. The championship game was shown on the CTV network, where it had last been shown in 1989.
Background
At the beginning of the 1998–1999 season, Ottawa's new owner, Jeff Hunt vowed to bring home the Memorial Cup that season. The awarding of the Cup tournament to Ottawa was a big factor in the team more than doubling the attendance from the previous season. That was definitely taken into consideration when Ottawa was chosen as the host of the 1999 Cup, as every game would be sold out in the 10,525 seat Ottawa Civic Centre. Ottawa had previously bid for the 1996 Memorial Cup but lost the bid to the Peterborough Petes.
CHL All-time team
During the 1999 Memorial Cup, the CHL unveiled its "All-time team" at the Civic Centre, with notably two 67's on the team. Special banners were raised in their honour, and except for Parent and Lemieux, the team attended the event. The team was as follows;
