There it was yesterday in big capital letters, an email from the NHL’s PR wing with the header: “Stanley Cup playoffs attract largest audience ever; Caps best biz year in NHL history.”
Indeed, the playoff ratings were great, and there’s optimism on that front (as long as two major U.S. markets make the finals every year). But it’s certainly worth noting – as former Hurricanes beat writer Luke DeCock did yesterday – that the league’s “best biz year in history” came in a season where attendance was down – and significantly so in many markets.
Here’s a comparison of the year-end announced attendance figures (as per ESPN) from the past two seasons:
| ………. | Rk | Teams | 2009-10 | 2008-09 | Diff. | %age | ||
| 1 | Kings | 17,313 | 16,488 | 825 | 5.0% | |||
| 2 | Bruins | 17,388 | 17,039 | 349 | 2.0% | |||
| 3 | Blues | 18,883 | 18,554 | 329 | 1.8% | |||
| 4 | Canucks | 18,810 | 18,630 | 180 | 1.0% | |||
| 5 | Capitals | 18,277 | 18,097 | 180 | 1.0% | |||
| 6 | Penguins | 17,078 | 16,975 | 103 | 0.6% | |||
| 7 | Sharks | 17,558 | 17,488 | 70 | 0.4% | |||
| 8 | Canadiens | 21,273 | 21,273 | 0 | 0.0% | |||
| 9 | Flames | 19,289 | 19,289 | 0 | 0.0% | |||
| 10 | Oilers | 16,839 | 16,839 | 0 | 0.0% | |||
| 11 | Sabres | 18,529 | 18,531 | -2 | 0.0% | |||
| 12 | Flyers | 19,535 | 19,545 | -10 | -0.1% | |||
| 13 | Predators | 14,979 | 15,010 | -31 | -0.2% | |||
| 14 | Maple Leafs | 19,260 | 19,312 | -52 | -0.3% | |||
| 15 | NY Rangers | 18,076 | 18,172 | -96 | -0.5% | |||
| 16 | Blue Jackets | 15,416 | 15,543 | -127 | -0.8% | |||
| 17 | Wild | 18,415 | 18,568 | -153 | -0.8% | |||
| 18 | Devils | 15,535 | 15,790 | -255 | -1.6% | |||
| 19 | Red Wings | 19,546 | 19,865 | -319 | -1.6% | |||
| 20 | Stars | 17,215 | 17,680 | -465 | -2.6% | |||
| 21 | Panthers | 15,146 | 15,621 | -475 | -3.0% | |||
| 22 | Senators | 18,269 | 18,949 | -680 | -3.6% | |||
| 23 | Blackhawks* | 21,356 | 22,247 | -891 | -4.0% | |||
| 24 | Lightning | 15,497 | 16,497 | -1,000 | -6.1% | |||
| 25 | Thrashers | 13,607 | 14,626 | -1,019 | -7.0% | |||
| 26 | NY Islanders | 12,735 | 13,773 | -1,038 | -7.5% | |||
| 27 | Hurricanes | 15,240 | 16,572 | -1,332 | -8.0% | |||
| 28 | Avalanche | 13,947 | 15,429 | -1,482 | -9.6% | |||
| 29 | Ducks | 15,168 | 16,990 | -1,822 | -10.7% | |||
| 30 | Coyotes* | 11,989 | 14,875 | -2,886 | -19.4% | |||
| Average | 17,072 | 17,476 | -403 | -2.5% |
Two things to note right off the bat:
(a) Chicago’s figures are only down due to decreasing the building capacity to put in a restaurant and the fact they hosted the Winter Classic in 2009. We can make an exception for their decline given they still sold out every game.
(b) The Coyotes’ messy ownership situation had a disastrous impact on their already modest attendance.
The majority of the NHL’s biggest attendance drops this season came in warm weather cities, with seven of the 10 “sunbelt” franchises among the 12 teams with a 1.6 per cent or more dip. The average sunbelt team had 15,371 fans per game this season, down an average of 5.2 per cent from 16,185 and well off the league average of 17,072.
The average Canadian franchise had 18,957 fans per game, with only the Senators down significantly (3.6 per cent). The average U.S. franchise outside of the sunbelt (basically Denver, Midwest and Northeast) had 17,480 fans per game.
The success stories this past season in the sunbelt were the Kings, Sharks and Predators, who all did relatively all right at the gate compared to a year earlier. The two non-sunbelt franchises struggling the most were the Islanders and Avalanche.
There's some reason for concern in Denver, too, given how well the team did.
Keep in mind that these are announced attendance totals only, and some underperforming teams have been known to inflate their numbers by as much as a couple thousand a game. The real divide between different regions is also much larger when you account for the difference in ticket prices.
