Dose Having a Radio Broadcast Affect Teams Attendance

[AttackSound]

Always had this question bubbling in my head for years for all the teams across the league. Does having a radio broadcast in your team's city change your team's attendance from year to year depending on what stage of your team development is in?

Myself from an Owen Sound standpoint has always believed that having CFOS AM 560 and local sports reporter Fred Wallace calling the team's road games for the past 3 decades has been a key to local success and exposure to the team's and local support, with some of the team's key points as a franchise.

• Saving the team from relocation in spring of 2000
• Celebrating the championship in 2010/11
• Celebrating a decade of hockey in 2009/10
• Celebrating 25 years of hockey in 2013/14
• And currently celebrating 30 years as a franchise this season 2018/19

With 3 decades upon Owen Sound and the Attack/Platers franchise thus having a radio broadcast has been a key to not just celebrating hockey in the area for the first 30 years as the team continues to approaches 35, 40, and 50 years to come.

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[From Up Top]

I think this is an interesting subject but I'm not sure if there is a way to prove if radio broadcasts work or not for attendance.

There was a time when the Sudbury Wolves wouldn't allow home radio broadcasts because ownership felt it reduced the number of tickets sold, and they also limited the number of televised games for that reason.

Then you look at a team like Barrie who has no radio and no full time newspaper coverage, but the team still attracts fans.

I personally like hearing the games on radio if I can't be at the game, but that's because I don't have cable television and I would never spend money to pay to watch the OHL online.

 

[rangersblues]

I'm of the opinion the better the all around media coverage, the more marketable the team will be. That includes all media - radio, tv, newspaper, and social. That includes broadcasting games live.

 

[three dog night]

I think radio and tv helps with the crowds Niagara draws quite well even better again this season and up even from the first year Meridian Centre opened.

 

[ohloutsider]

I'm of the opinion the better the all around media coverage, the more marketable the team will be. That includes all media - radio, tv, newspaper, and social. That includes broadcasting games live.

This^^^^
Studies have been done and this is a proven point - Exposing people to something repeatedly will invoke interest in it. Commercials use the repeat it 3 times to ensure people latch onto something. The more people here or see something about a team the more it perks their interest.

 

[barclayplager]

read about Bill Wirtz and his dinosaur policy of no home TV.....before he was in the ground his son Rocky reversed the policy and crowds blossomed...

 

[PhlyerPhanatic31]

London has arguably the best play by play man in the CHL in Mike Stubbs...they get 9000 every game. So I'd say in some markets the answer would be not negatively

 

[Hammer9001]

I honestly couldn't tell you. I think when dealing with sports, in most scenarios, more broadcasting is better, be it radio or television. Apart from giving local fans an avenue to check out games while they are away, it raises the profile of the team and makes it more marketable. The only time in my eyes that a TV broadcast hurts, is when you are having issues drawing at the gate, but your ratings are great. However, the solution can't be to blackout your games, because that turns fans against your sport entirely. Only lower ticket prices that are followed by aggressive community outreach and marketing can fix that.

I'll say this, I have been nothing but impressed by Stew Kernan in Hamilton, and can understand why Sudbury fans speak highly of him.

 

[JetsColts13]

While the Colts have never had radio coverage as far as I know, I do think it would help the attendance. They had a peak of over a 3800 average in 2015-16 and it has continued to drop ever since. Part of that could be two rebuilds in 3 years, but in those 3 years the team has lost the newspaper coverage, CTV news coverage and the RogersTV brodcast quality has dropped significantly and it has had a noticable impact. So yes, I think radio would help quite a bit.

 

[LeftShot]

The more media the better IMO.

15 years ago you could make the argument that Radio & TV coverage of your team's home games wasn't for the best because it gave people that option to stay home. But in today's Live Streaming and Social Media you can't look at it like that anymore (no one needs to go anywhere to see or hear what happened).

With so many entertainment options out there now, the Radio & TV coverage are even more important for drawing in new/old fans, keeping them informed and keeping it on their radar.

 

[fishfan51]

It effects my attendance. The radio broadcast in Niagara is so bad I make sure I go to the game so I don't have to listen.

 

[tbkght77]

London has arguably the best play by play man in the CHL in Mike Stubbs...they get 9000 every game. So I'd say in some markets the answer would be not negatively

I love Stubbs. Maybe the best pbp guy around. The only one that I could put above him is Kevin Calabro, the long time pbp voice of the Seattle Sonics.

I would think TV/internet feeds would effect attendance more than radio, but for those of us out in the sticks that don’t get Rogers, don’t have unlimited internet and can’t make many games, a good radio broadcast is very much welcomed!

 

[Marj44]

If you have a great radio crew I think it affects attendance in a positive way. Here’s an example;
The guys in the Soo are pretty knowledgeable and fun to listen to on the radio. So when one is working they can listen in and keep up with the team. Then on their nights off if there’s a game they may be more inclined to attend since they’re caught up with the team and know what’s going on.

If you have a great radio crew some people will attend games and listen to the game on the radio while watching live to get a play-by-play. If there wasn’t a good radio crew idk if those same people would attend without the play-by-play.