When asked what the attendance would be like for non-India matches in the FIH Hockey World Cup, Vineel Krishna, Sports Secretary to the Chief Minister of Odisha said, "not only are India matches sold-out but all non-India match days are sold-out as well. The response of the crowd was amazing for the first international match ever in Rourkela. And Rourkela is known as the heartland of hockey. The amount of craze that is there for hockey in Rourkela has to be seen to be believed. That is why the CM decided to have the world's largest all-seater field hockey stadium built here."