I take my monthly look at NHL attendance over at Globe on Hockey today, something that shows just how well hockey's being received in St. Louis these days.
by James Mirtle @ 5:41 PM
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A sportswriter at The Globe and Mail, James covers the NHL and the game of hockey. He is a member of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, a senior editor with McKeen's Hockey and was the NHL network manager at SB Nation from 2008 to 2010. A graduate of Thompson Rivers and Ryerson universities, James grew up in Kamloops, B.C. — one of Canada's great hockey cities — and was a season ticket holder in the Blazers' glory years.
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8 Comments:
It's difficult to read into attendance figures without corresponding price figures.
For example St. Louis prices went down by about 30% and their attendance went up by about 40%. Net ticket sales are stagnant (~$500,000/Game), although drink/food sales are likely up >40%
On the flip side Carolina has done very well, increasing prices by 45% and only losing 1000 customers. Ticket revenue growth of about $150,000/Game.
Also worth noting, early season ticket sales are lower than end season ticket sales.
Also worth noting, early season ticket sales are lower than end season ticket sales.
That is very true. To take but one example, Nashville at this time last year was averaging approximately 14,639, which makes their attendance dip a third of what it would otherwise appear to be. Since they increases prices by about 25% overall, their receipts are up significantly.
Javageek, do you have any source for your estimate of Blues price reductions?
As an aside, James, why would you infer that record attendance will not be achieved, when it is currently on pace to do just that? Given that the NHL's announcement is comparing apples to apples - unlike your numbers, as I am sure you know - your conclusion puzzles me.
For example St. Louis prices went down by about 30% and their attendance went up by about 40%. Net ticket sales are stagnant (~$500,000/Game), although drink/food sales are likely up >40%
Where are you getting that the Blues dropped ticket prices by 30%? My season tickets didn't drop a dime and from I remember no ticket dropped by more than $5 in price. According to this post they dropped 9.8%. That's quite a ways from 30%.
Just a couple weeks into the season the Blues announced that ticket sales for the year had already surpassed revenues generated by ticket sales from last season.
That said... I don't think the Blues attendance is that big of a story in general. It's no surprise that a team that was always in the top 5 in attendance has rebounded now that the sour taste left by previous ownership has worn off.
Ticket Prices
However, I made a mistake I assumed he had updated the webpage since last year with the new ticket prices this years so the last column I though was 2007-2008, turns out it's 2006-2007.
So dis-regard all the specific examples.
I've got a group of 30 going to friday's Detroit/Wild game. That should help.
FWIW, using ESPN for building capacity figures is highly unreliable. Both Calgary and Edmonton are playing to 100% capacity, not 112 and 98.5 respectively.
JavaGeek -- I'm not sure that link can be trusted. The Blues actually raised ticket prices between 05-06 and 06-07. The new ownership took a lot of heat here in St. Louis for doing that after the team finished last in the league in 05-06.
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