Early Attendance Figures

I have been hearing a lot of concern on the Team 1260 over the attendance records of some NHL teams this year. So I thought that I would take a look at the attendance through the league and found some interesting things. But, before we get to the points here is the break down ranked according to average attendance. (Note: I did not calculate the percentage of Los Angles or Anaheim because of the games played in London)

Rank	Team	Games	Total	Average	Percentage
1	Montreal	1	21,273	21,273	100.0
2	Philadelphia	1	19,714	19,714	100.1
3	Toronto	5	96,913	19,382	103.1
4	Calgary	2	38,578	19,289	112.4
5	St. Louis	2	38,300	19,150	91.2
6	Tampa Bay	3	57,214	19,071	96.5
7	Ottawa	4	75,721	18,930	102.3
8	Buffalo	3	56,070	18,690	100.0
9	Vancouver	3	55,890	18,630	101.1
10	Minnesota	3	55,704	18,568	102.8
11	Carolina	2	36,496	18,248	97.4
12	New York Rangers	3	54,600	18,200	100.0
13	San Jose	1	17,496	17,496	100.0
14	Los Angeles	4	69,948	17,487	-
15	Anaheim	2	34,585	17,292	-
16	Dallas	3	51,793	17,264	93.2
17	Detroit	4	68,848	17,212	85.8
18	Pittsburgh	2	34,138	17,069	100.7
19	Edmonton	3	50,517	16,839	100.0
20	Washington	1	16,741	16,741	89.7
21	Colorado	3	49,516	16,505	91.7
22	New York Islanders	3	47,763	15,921	97.7
23	Atlanta	3	47,064	15,688	84.6
24	Florida	3	45,898	15,299	79.5
25	Columbus	2	29,796	14,898	82.1
26	Phoenix	3	43,974	14,658	83.8
27	Nashville	4	54,749	13,687	80.0
28	Chicago	3	40,758	13,586	66.3
29	Boston	0	0	0	0
29	New Jersey	0	0	0	0

Being a couple games into the season I thought that I would do a preliminary report of the home attendance record of the teams in the NHL. Let’s look at a few key points from the chart that I have complied thanks to ESPN and Sportsnet:

1. The Oilers are off to a great start and really I expect them to sell out each of their home games this year. However, it really shows that we might need a new building because we are selling Rexall out and still are ranked 19^th in the league. Too bad none of the mayoral candidates want the new arena

2. A couple teams have surprisingly low attendance currently.

1. Detroit being one of them. I guess hockey is struggling in hockey town. Most sports writers chalk this up to a declining economy, however, when you look that the Michigan State Wolverines sell an average of 110124 tickets at an average of 58 dollars. That means there is more than enough money to go around. I think the real reason is fans are sick of losing in the first round and that the lockout really hurt hockey in established markets in the United States. All you have to do is look to the attendance before the lockout and Detroit was #2 right behind Montreal.

2. Colorado being another. At one point Colorado had a near 11 year and 487 game sell out streak. Now this year they are only selling 91.7% of their tickets. Again I would say this is due to the lockout and fans waning interest in the United States towards the NHL.

3. That three of the top four teams in the league attendancewise are Canadian teams. As well as, Canadian teams have sold out each home game and that half of the teams with a 100% attendance rate are Canadian teams.

4. I would have to assume that some of the American team’s attendance figures will start to drop soon as the home opener seems to draw better than the later games. However, that could work the opposite way if a team is in a playoff race.

5. Had the Balsillie sale of the Nashville Predators gone through we would have a 7^th Canadian team next year as there attendance is below 14,000 and I do not see how it will ever get above that mark.

With those points being raised I would not be disappointed to see a team located to Canada, where it seems a sure thing it would do well. I just hope that the NHL soon realizes that its bread and butter is Canada and stops attempting the relocated to places that are almost certain to fail. Just look, 5 of the bottom 6 teams to have played a home game are from the “recent” expansions or relocations.