NHL Average Attendance Up

by Rob Luker on Apr 13, 2009 9:45 AM CDT Comment 2 comments

The NHL Average Attendance rose again this season to 17,458; up almost 1% from the all-time high last season. Take a look:

2008-2009 Regular Season Average Attendances

Chicago made the biggest jump from last season, being up over 22% and over 40% in two seasons. Washington follows behind making a 14% leap from last season, with Boston up almost 10% as well. The St. Louis Blues are also up 32% over two seasons, and the New Jersey Devils are up 10% in attendance since moving to the Prudential Center.

On the other end, Tampa Bay dropped almost 12% from last season, and Colorado followed suit while dropping over 8% in average attendance. The Atlanta Thrashers also slipped over 7% as well.

Overall, I think the NHL had a good year attendance wise. I think the outlook for next season is positive, but it will be tough to top this season.

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A Note...

I’ve had questions about how the Winter Classic average is counted in the statistics. I’m not sure how Buffalo worked, because I was not recording attendance last season. But as far as I know from my reading around and general knowledge, the Winter Classic home game for the Blackhawks counted as a sold out United Center crowd of 20,500 (which is what I have it recorded as).

Long story short, there is no 47,000+ number altering Chicago’s average in my books.

Puck Money - The Business of Hockey

by Rob Luker on Apr 13, 2009 9:51 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I think the opening games in Europe kind of alter the teams that start there for their averages as well, since each team that goes overseas plays one “home” game over there.

by Hooks Orpik on Apr 13, 2009 12:10 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs