KHL attendance thread 2016-17

[Rigafan]

Things aren't terrible but again, some teams (Barys, CSKA) should really up their game. Barys is especially the case of flawed logic which is rampant in both KHL HQ (it seems) and on this board. They have a shiny new 11.5k arena and mostly ~4k people in the stands. Sure having new arenas is better than having old ones but its impact on attendance is very marginal. You can't just pop new arenas in every corner and expect attendance to get better.

Kazakh president said he's happy with Barys as it stands and expects them to become a middle table type team in the near future and the arena is obviously for them to expand into in the coming years.

 

[Go Donbass]

Another big crowd in Podolsk. Yes it was a Moscow derby, but still good to see the attendance climbing there. And they sent the fans home happy with the 3-2 win in the SO.

 

[TommySalo]

Well, the attendance for the last 2 days was very, very good.
Jokerit watched by 12 626 fans vs. Kunlun
Dinamo Minks had 14 620 spectators.
Magnitka had over 7000 fans
UFA with 8070 fans
Avangard watched by 9270 spectators
Sibir with full house - 7400 fans
Traktor with 7480 spectators
Vityaz with record 5500 spectators vs. SKA
Loko watched by almost 9000 against CSKA.

 

[hockeyMB89]

and.

Barys - Avtomobilist 5764 sp.
Dynamo Msk - CSKA 10115 sp

 

[SoundAndFury]

Weekends are always better.

 

[Acallabeth]

And Spartak shattered their attendance record, attracting 10571 fans who witnessed Mozyakin dismantle their team again. It's 1800 better than their previous record and, obviously, the 1st time the team was attended by 10k+.

 

[hansomreiste]

Fantastic! While I don't like teams from Moscow, I want them to be competitive. I mean, it's obvious we will not get rid of them. So it's better when they have great attendance and good games. I'm still wondering if CSKA's number would get better if they moved to a better place. I honestly don't understand it. Last year, they barely attracted 5K spectators in conference finals against SKA. In every Russian city from Murmansk to Magadan, I'm sure there are more than 5K people who would pay only to see Datsyuk or Gusev in action, let alone a game between SKA and CSKA. It's like people deliberately leave CSKA alone. And this is not a no-name team from a small city which was defunct for twenty times - it's *****ing C-S-K-A. Sure, it's always good to have a high attendance but when one of the most dominant, strong teams in your league play in a barn where it can't even attract 5K people... Can't complete the sentence, I'm angry again.

 

[mtngoat]

A record crowd of 3500 showed up for the KRS-SIB game... slowly but surely a growing trend.

Kunlun players acknowledging their fan(s).

 

[Go Donbass]

Near sell out in Podolsk for the game against Loko today.

 

[hansomreiste]

A record crowd of 3500 showed up for the KRS-SIB game... slowly but surely a growing trend.

Kunlun players acknowledging their fan(s).

KHL says it is 2035, which is still fine. Though the team is quite competitive and actually in play-off zone. I'm wondering what will be the level of interest if they, let's say, go full Amur.

 

[forp]

KHL says it is 2035, which is still fine. Though the team is quite competitive and actually in play-off zone. I'm wondering what will be the level of interest if they, let's say, go full Amur.

considering it's a small arena with a capacity of 5000, and the upcoming SKA and CSKA should see even better attendance.

wish KRS will still have some games in Shanghai the next year. i feel the KRS just doesn't care about attendance here in Shanghai, there was no to minimal coverage in media. in contrast, a local event called hockey night once a year will always have the whole arena fully seated.

 

[Stockyard]

These are from the last two Kunlun games.

 

[ermolli]

Hi guys, I like NHL stats and I like KHL also. So I make any charts about KHL attendance. I think its more interesting like only boring numbers and blind tables.

So, the first one is about correlation between attendance and numbers of wins:

You can see really bad situation in Sochi, Astana and Dynamo Moscow. This three clubs has new nice arenas and relative good results, but attendance is still low. On the other hand, we have several clubs with relatively crappy results, but good attendance (Nizhnekamsk, Avto, Amur, Sibir, Slovan). Number of this clubs is higher as clubs in the first group, so I think, this is evidence about hockey quality of this league - people like this hockey disregarding to succes for their teams.

Finally, this is support for opinion, that several clubs need new arenas and its will be really fully of fans: 1. Torpedo 2. Sibir 3. Traktor 4. Amur 5. Admiral 6. Nizhnekamsk 7. Medvescak 8. Spartak Moscow.

 

[ermolli]

And the second one is simple correlation between arena capacity and attendance:

http://

 

[Acallabeth]

This is great. Thank you.

 

[SoundAndFury]

This is great. Thank you.

Ditto.

 

[mtngoat]

KHL says it is 2035 ....

It could well be the local papers "volkswagon"ing the attendance figures

 

[ermolli]

Spartak Moscow Home Attendance 2016/2017

IMO, there are any interesting numbers about Spartak attendance. I am not Russian and I dont know moscow hockey fans specifications, but it looks like Spartak is team with strongest and biggest fans base in the capital. So I prepare any charts and tables about differents between VTB and Luzhniki, attendance in weekend and per day.

So, this is simple grapf step by step attendance. To this day is average attendance 7178.

Average home attendance at VTB is 8180 now.

In the Luzhniki there is attendance also good. AVG is 6715.

This is more interesting. Different between games at weekend and wordays. Weekend average att. is 7745, worday 6765.
There was 8 weekend games and 11 workdays. The lowest weekend number was vs. Barys - 5172, and the highest workday game was vs. Jokerit - 8739 (opener).

And the last one is average attendance per days. So, monday and sunday - only 1 game (vs. Torpedo and Barys), tuesday 5 games (Jokerit 8739, Minsk 7182, Ugra 5181, Avangard 7427, Traktor 6495), thursday 5 games (Admiral 7017, Avto 5874, Novokuzneck 5894, Ufa 8127, Medvescak 5781) and saturday 7 games (Riga 7134, Amur 7646, Dynamo 8173, Kunlun 8011, Sibir 7715, Sochi 7534, Magnitka 10571).

 

[vorky]

Great work, ermolli! Very appreciated.

Dont know how long you have followed the KHL and how closely. Chernyshenko introduced the project "Hockey Mondays", the day of a week when best matches (derbies) are schedulled & broadcasted by Russian (maybe foreign as well??) broadcasters. The league chose Monday because there is not strong/directs competition from other sports (Tue, Wen is UEFA Champions League, Thursday is UEFA Europe League, Friday & weekend is national football leagues like La Liga, Bundesliga, Russian League etc). What do you think, was choosing Monday a right decision?

 

[ermolli]

Great work, ermolli! Very appreciated.

Dont know how log you have followed the KHL and how closely. Chernyshenko introduced the project "Hockey Mondays", the day of a week when best matches (derbies) are schedulled & broadcasted by Russian (maybe foreign as well??) broadcasters. The league chose Monday because there is not strong/directs competition from other sports (Tue, Wen is UEFA Champions League, Thursday is UEFA Europe League, Friday & weekend is national football leagues like La Liga, Bundesliga, Russian League etc). What do you think, was choosing Monday a right decision?

This is interesting, thanks vorky. IMO there are only basic info about KHL in Euro medias, so for me its new informatiion. It looks like logical step - in each case, its good that League create matchday "politic" - its positive for marketing, media etc. Finally result? Maybe something like "Hockey night in Canada" - strong match from East at 17 CET, and strong match from west at 19,30 CET for example, and it will be full product for customer.

Finally you got me interesting idea - I will prepare monday attendance for 2015/16 regular season and 16/17, and we will see specific numbers in att. It will be good comparison per East vs. West, per each team and how it correlation with average attendance of the League/teams.

 

[vorky]

This is interesting, thanks vorky. IMO there are only basic info about KHL in Euro medias, so for me its new informatiion. It looks like logical step - in each case, its good that League create matchday "politic" - its positive for marketing, media etc. Finally result? Maybe something like "Hockey night in Canada" - strong match from East at 17 CET, and strong match from west at 19,30 CET for example, and it will be full product for customer.

Finally you got me interesting idea - I will prepare monday attendance for 2015/16 regular season and 16/17, and we will see specific numbers in att. It will be good comparison per East vs. West, per each team and how it correlation with average attendance of the League/teams.

You are welcome. I know there is little infomation about KHL in european/world media (basically only negative infos), but I follow russian media so I have more information than ordinary european follower.

Gazprom Media, which boss is Chernyshenko as well, launched new federal sport channel Match TV a year ago. It was a merger of public sport channel (VGTRK) and private one (NTV of Gazprom Media). They copied model of Hockey Night in Canada (pre game show + game/s + post game analytics). It is called "Continental Evening" (Континентальный вечер). For example this week´s Monday they broadcasted Continental Evening & Magnitka vs Dynamo Msc & SKA vs CSKA. The next Monday they plan Continental Evening & CSKA vs Dynamo Msc.

 

[ermolli]

They copied model of Night in Canada (pre game show + game/s + post game analytics). It is called "Continental Evening" (Континентальный вечер). For example this week´s Monday they broadcasted Continental Evening & Magnitka vs Dynamo Msc & SKA vs CSKA. The next Monday they plan Continental Evening & CSKA vs Dynamo Msc.

Great. This is the way. But it have to expand to Europe. Yes, the first step is established trademark in Russia, next one maybe will be expansion. For example, I am from traditional Euro country, but media infos about KHL are poor - only results. Missing short TV shots at news, analytics programs etc. IMO, there is a lot of people in Europe, who are boring with small domestic leages. KHL is absolutely adequate product for them - if you watch any game (yes, from Chanty-Mansijsk, or Podolsk too you feel, that this is big league. For example yesterday Ufa - Dynamo game... I am not fan of this teams, but was pretty interesting for neutral TV viewer. There was a tone interesting moments of this game, but in TV sport news in my country only silence about KHL.

 

[Finnpin]

1000 Jokerit fans today in away game @ Riga

All set in one section of the arena...

Could it be the largest fans road trip in KHL?

 

[hansomreiste]

Great. This is the way. But it have to expand to Europe. Yes, the first step is established trademark in Russia, next one maybe will be expansion. For example, I am from traditional Euro country, but media infos about KHL are poor - only results. Missing short TV shots at news, analytics programs etc. IMO, there is a lot of people in Europe, who are boring with small domestic leages. KHL is absolutely adequate product for them - if you watch any game (yes, from Chanty-Mansijsk, or Podolsk too you feel, that this is big league. For example yesterday Ufa - Dynamo game... I am not fan of this teams, but was pretty interesting for neutral TV viewer. There was a tone interesting moments of this game, but in TV sport news in my country only silence about KHL.

This is what KHL and to be honest most Russians in general suck at - marketing. I don't want to delve too deep into this and possibly draw wrong conclusions but I still feel like Russia has this USSR mentality where sports are generally controlled and financed by the government, which is still a common practice.It's way more different than how Americans think - for them, NHL is a product for which, in return, you are to get revenues. How so? Make people enjoy and watch it. For this reason, it's way more shiny than KHL because they never stop pumping and waxing their product. While KHL as an organization is a step towards that direction, they still lack this whole understanding of promotion. Moreover, it doesn't seem very suitable for Russian people, either. I mean, I've seen lots of Russians who could buys thousands of tickets for a hockey game yet none of them treat a hockey game like a "fun night out". They are not programmed to spend money for a hockey game - buy tickets and that's it. No fancy drinks, no sandwiches... As your babushka would say, just eat at home and then go watch the game. Why waste money? This is not about money but mentality. I'm by no means saying the Russians filling arenas throghout the country are too poor to buy two drinks. No way. I'm just saying that they would avoid it for most of the time because sports events are just sports events, not "entertainment".

Do I have a problem with that? For the sake of KHL's growth, kinda... Personally? No, not at all. Overly commercialized NHL games make me wanna puke. The product is better than KHL, for sure. However, it's... I don't know. To be honest with you, watching NHL makes me feel like a poor and therefore useless tool. When commentators say stuff like, "Stats brought to you by Hansom Pizza, the fresh pizza with best ingredients!" or just go on to say why Toyota is the best while talking about a goalie, it's ridiculous. I know how it all works. Yeah, sponsors bring in money and therefore keep the product as good as it is but I simply don't like it.

So overall, I think the reason KHL is not as good as NHL when it comes to marketing has something to do with Russian mentality. I don't want to judge a whole nation by labeling them with something but this is how I see it personally and I totally respect & understand their attitude. I don't want to be drowned in commercials and pay half of my salary on a game. Let KHL be "lesser" product, I'm fine with it.

Unless dramatic changes occur, I am not hopeful that KHL will delve deeper into EU market for the said reasons. It has been almost 10 years and the league surely develops but I'm not sure how strong they are to make business in whole EU market. I mean, maybe this example is too personal and argument is weak but,

1) NHL.tv has a couple of free games every week. Just go to their website and enjoy them. Even my mediocre internet connection is good enough to watch them in high quality. However, I know people who can't get KHL webcast to work even with fiber connections. It's a troubled product. Moreover, for most people who can't speak Russian, even "finding the way" is difficult.

2) NHL can be watched pretty much in every country on TV. When I was at highschool, NHL was broadcast on ESPN in Turkey and my 8yo brother would wake up 2hrs earlier for school only to watch San Jose & Anaheim & Los Angeles games, since they start at 05:30 and later than East Coast games. Look, this kid had absolutely no idea what ice hockey was - nobody around me had. Yet he could access the game and therefore, in time, grew fond of it. And let me tell you that: this kid is deeply interested in Russian literature and history, just like I was as a kid. Still, he prefers American product over Russian one, because he simply finds it too troublesome to access KHL and let's be honest; few people would pick KHL instead of NHL if they were given the chance.

My point here is that KHL is still too much "localized". I understand why they don't push for Turkish market, it doesn't make any sense for them to prioritize us but you get the idea. If you are to be "something like NHL" then you need to behave like something similar to NHL in order to improve and "suck" money out of your fanbase.

As I said... Personally, I'm fine with KHL. Actually, I wouldn't even mind if they kicked all foreign teams and made it all-Russian again. I'd still watch it as my main sports event. But if we are to speak of a Eurasian league that is on par with the best league in the world, an alternative to it... KHL really needs to make much more than what it's currently doing.

My post looks more like it would be suitable for business aspect thread but anyways, it's still somehow attendance related pretty much like anything else about the league - no attendance, no game.

 

[vorky]

Slovak TVs has only highlights of Slovan home games on Major Sport News in the evening. Czech TVs has no KHL highlights, but have NHL highlights every day (slovak Tvs as well). That is homework for KHL to propose foreign TVs these highlghts. Maybe problem is that slovak/czech TVs take NHL highlights (and NBA as well) from big US broadcasting corporations (not from Russian). For example czech tvs have highlights of basket Euroleague this season (you know that IMG has been involved in Euroleague since this season, I guess IMG is a reason why czech tvs started to have Euroleague highlights)