The NHL set an all-time attendance record for the month of October

[Jaded-Fan]

NHL sets attendance record; one-win Pens still draw
Associated Press

The NHL set an all-time attendance record for the month of October, attracting an average of 16,820 fans and filling rinks to 91.2 percent capacity.

And despite winning only one game in October, the Penguins' attendance jumped 31 percent compared to the opening month of the 2003-04 season.

The Penguins averaged 15,902 in 16,940-seat Mellon Arena for their six home games, two of which drew standing room-only crowds.

Two others were within a few hundred tickets of selling out.

Pittsburgh won the NHL draft lottery and chose top prospect Sidney Crosby. The Penguins also signed veteran scorers Sergei Gonchar, Ziggy Palffy and John LeClair during the summer.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2210711

Click to read more...

 

[Muzza]

Out of all the suggestions that the league was doing well, this seems to be the most impressive. More than that I found this part of the attendance results most fascianting

"Twenty-three of 30 clubs are even or ahead of their 2003-04 performance, with six of the top 10 gainers located in the Sun Belt."

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/avalanche/article/0,1299,DRMN_39_4205248,00.html

 

[Tokyo Bucks]

So, it's not just that the league has scheduled more games in October than it ever has?

 

[hockeytown9321]

So, it's not just that the league has scheduled more games in October than it ever has?

Shhhh! No one's supposed to know.

 

[BAuldie]

So, it's not just that the league has scheduled more games in October than it ever has?

Thats got nothing to do with the average attendance.. if they were talking total attendance.. sure but not average.

 

[chiavsfan]

We shall see how long this lasts though, I saw empty seats in the first few rows at the Wings-Hawks game last night on OLN. Granted regular people can't probably afford them...but still, those are he seats that usually every stadium has filled

 

[hockeytown9321]

Thats got nothing to do with the average attendance.. if they were talking total attendance.. sure but not average.

You didn't read the article closely enough. It does not say the average of 16,820 is a record, just that a record was set, and that was the average. Trust me, if the average was a record too, the NHL would let you know.

 

[hockeytown9321]

We shall see how long this lasts though, I saw empty seats in the first few rows at the Wings-Hawks game last night on OLN. Granted regular people can't probably afford them...but still, those are he seats that usually every stadium has filled

Since I'm in with vast majority of Amercians who don't get OLN, I didn't see that, but it was a 7:00 start instead of Detroit's usual 7:30, and a lot of the STH's spend most of their time in the Olympia Club instead of in their seats.

 

[chiavsfan]

Since I'm in with vast majority of Amercians who don't get OLN, I didn't see that, but it was a 7:00 start instead of Detroit's usual 7:30, and a lot of the STH's spend most of their time in the Olympia Club instead of in their seats.

Oh, I am not putting down the fans...just was something I noticed that I usually don't when I tune into Wings games. I have to give Wings fans credit, they sure packed our stadium in Chicago on Saturday...it's a shame the Hawks can't figure out how to play better

 

[Resolute]

You didn't read the article closely enough. It does not say the average of 16,820 is a record, just that a record was set, and that was the average. Trust me, if the average was a record too, the NHL would let you know.

That's rather poor logic, imo. Under the same argument, if the NHL set a total attendance record, wouldnt the league let us know?

The article does not, at any time, even mention total attendance. It merely mentions average attendance, and % capacity.

Logically, those are the records, as they were the figures mentioned in this article.

% capacity is not a meaningful stat, as several teams list a "sellout" at below true capacity.

But the average attendance is, and that is the record they are talking about.

 

[IceKatsRHot]

Shhhh! No one's supposed to know.

The cat is officially out of the bag.

 

[hockeytown9321]

Oh, I am not putting down the fans...just was something I noticed that I usually don't when I tune into Wings games. I have to give Wings fans credit, they sure packed our stadium in Chicago on Saturday...it's a shame the Hawks can't figure out how to play better

Yep, I had ya, just wanted to clariy for anyone else reading.

 

[hockeytown9321]

But the average attendance is, and that is the record they are talking about.

Not the way the article is worded. You don't understand PR.

 

[ColoradoHockeyFan]

We shall see how long this lasts though, I saw empty seats in the first few rows at the Wings-Hawks game last night on OLN. Granted regular people can't probably afford them...but still, those are he seats that usually every stadium has filled

I'm surprised by this comment. Many--probably even most--NHL arenas have lots of empty seats in those expensive areas in the lower bowl, especially at the beginning of the game. And it doesn't mean that they aren't sold. In fact, they most often are sold. But this is hardly an unusual occurrence... it's the norm. Watch any game at Joe Louis on TV and you'll see tons of empty seats in the lower bowl within the regular camera scope. You'll see this at many other arenas as well (as I said, especially early in the game).

 

[Resolute]

Not the way the article is worded. You don't understand PR.

Judging by the fact that you argued that if they meant average attendance, they would have said it while claiming they mean total attendance, despite NOT saying it, I would suggest you dont have much of a clue about PR either.

 

[Troy McClure]

Not the way the article is worded. You don't understand PR.

The problem is a poorly written article. It has nothing to do with PR. You don't understand journalism.

NHL: NHL sets record average attendance in October

The NHL set an all-time attendance record for the month of October after averaging 16,820 fans per game in its return from the lockout.

The NHL averaged 16,205 per game in October 2003, 16,226 in 2002, 16,289 in 2001 and 16,212 in 2000.

 

[Gert B Frobe]

The problem with the NHL has never been attendance- it's always been poor television ratings in the US - and they still stink. Trick is - that's where the money is. That's why we watch OLN, Comcast, etc. Hockey will not expand beyond a regional sport in the US no matter what you do to the rules.

I love hockey but I won't watch any regular season games unless it's the Flyers or a good matchup like Ottowa-Toronto etc... That's a lot more than most Americans

 

[Crease]

The argument that was being made was that nowhere in the article does it say that the record that was broken was the average-attendence record. If you've ever taken a statistics course or a public relations course, you'd understand that you can take any set of data and spin it however you like based on the wording of the article it is presented in.

In this case, it is said that the NHL set a new all-time attendence record for the month of October. Then the writer of the article says that the average attendence of the league is 16,820. The reader is automatically going to associate the two pieces of information and assume that the league set a new all-time average-attendence rating. Sure the article could have been poorly written. But this article was written by the NHL. You'd think they'd specify. What I believe happened was that the league set a new total-attendence record, aided by unprecedented number of games played in October by the league, and then fed us information about how the league's average-attendence rating was above that of the last four years.

So you're saying that the league never had a better average-attendence rating than 2002's 16,226 before this year? That I'm not so sure about. It had to have beat that mark in the 90's. But of course that wouldn't result in a record total-attendence rating because there wasn't 30 teams 10 years ago.

Or the article was just written poorly.

 

[Captain Ron]

So you're saying that the league never had a better average-attendence rating than 2002's 16,226 before this year? That I'm not so sure about. It had to have beat that mark in the 90's. But of course that wouldn't result in a record total-attendence rating because there wasn't 30 teams 10 years ago.

What you fail to realize is that modern stadiums have higher seating capacities. With the building of new stadium's (that have a larger capacity) the average attendance went up. The addition of many expansion teams (with larger arena's) made the average attendance go up. Alot of the team's in the 90's did not have the seating capacity to go above the 16,226 average attendance mark. Get it now?

 

[Jaded-Fan]

What you fail to realize is that modern stadiums have higher seating capacities. With the building of new stadium's (that have a larger capacity) the average attendance went up. The addition of many expansion teams (with larger arena's) made the average attendance go up. Alot of the team's in the 90's did not have the seating capacity to go above the 16,226 average attendance mark. Get it now?

I actually had the same thoughts. Though it does not diminish the accomplishment in my book, especiallya fter the dire predictions by some during the lockout. It is a feather in the NHL cap that they should rightly be crowing about.

 

[Squiddy*]

The problem with the NHL has never been attendance- it's always been poor television ratings in the US - and they still stink. Trick is - that's where the money is. That's why we watch OLN, Comcast, etc. Hockey will not expand beyond a regional sport in the US no matter what you do to the rules.

I love hockey but I won't watch any regular season games unless it's the Flyers or a good matchup like Ottowa-Toronto etc... That's a lot more than most Americans

Actually the tv ratings for local broadcasts are quite good. Nationally is a different story, but who cares? Not like every city has a hockey team why should they care?

 

[Captain Ron]

I actually had the same thoughts. Though it does not diminish the accomplishment in my book, especiallya fter the dire predictions by some during the lockout. It is a feather in the NHL cap that they should rightly be crowing about.

Definitely not. Color me as one of the surprised about this. I think this will be the first time in history a major sport will have increased attendance after a labor dispute. I guess it just goes to show the "generic sports fan" that us hockey fans are more die hard than other "so-called" die hard fans.

 

[Geese_Howard*]

i question how many of those were free ticket give aways or buy one get one free.

 

[GSC2k2*]

Shhhh! No one's supposed to know.

How does the number of games in October affect AVERAGE attendance?

Brilliant ...

 

[GSC2k2*]

I'm surprised by this comment. Many--probably even most--NHL arenas have lots of empty seats in those expensive areas in the lower bowl, especially at the beginning of the game. And it doesn't mean that they aren't sold. In fact, they most often are sold. But this is hardly an unusual occurrence... it's the norm. Watch any game at Joe Louis on TV and you'll see tons of empty seats in the lower bowl within the regular camera scope. You'll see this at many other arenas as well (as I said, especially early in the game).

Every Leafs game I go to - in the most hockey-rabid city in the world - has wide swaths of empty seats, most usually in the platinums. In every city, those are bought by corporations; some go unused. That is and always has been the case.