April Yields Best Attendance for NHL

With one more long day to go before the fight for the toughest championship in sports begins, I wanted to update as many graphs as I could with the final attendance statistics. First, what the title describes, the NHL average attendance by month (click to enlarge):



Granted, April clearly had the least amount of games, but at the same time it was a good measuring stick for playoff tickets. The max number of games the NHL playoffs could complete (7 game series for every match up each round) is 105. With April having a great average at around an accurate number of games the playoffs might represent, I think playoff ticket sales will be fine this year.

Now, the NHL average capacity (click to enlarge):



Much of the same here, as an average NHL game in the month of April enjoyed a 97% capacity crowd.

Next, the NHL average attendance by "Round" (click to enlarge):



I anticipated the spike back to a near-league sellout for the final weekend of games, and it happened. What this graph tells us is that basically average attendance will always rise over a successfully financial season. Say I run the same graph next year, and the attendance is flat, I think then there is serious cause for concern.

Finally, lets take a look at the final Second Half Boost Numbers. First the average attendances:


Colorado is at -2% and should be in red, my bad.

Then the average capacity percentages:



As much as Carolina, L.A., and Columbus are the success stories of the second half, I'm more interested in the bottom of the list. Tampa Bay, St. Louis, and Ottawa all gained ground after falling heavily in the beginning of the second half. What this means to me is that there are hockey fans who will support the game just as much as they support their selective teams. I was very please to see Tampa Bay make such a large jump in the past two weeks considering they have been out of the playoff race since basically February.

I might have some division statistics later, but I'm not sure because of some school work. Like I said before, I'm getting into crunch time for school, so please excuse my absences until May 1. Then its all summer. Thanks for reading as always.

Bruins Attendance Up 10%; Others Drop

These days are gone in Boston, for now.

No daily memo today, I am traveling for a job interview. Sorry.

Ahh, the smell of fresh Attendance statistics. Eight teams finished off their seasons at home last night, which gives us the final attendance (announced, that is) stats on their seasons. To the chart (click to enlarge):



In alphabetical order; Boston, Carolina, New York Rangers, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Tampa Bay, and Vancouver finished up their home games for this season Tuesday night. A couple of thoughts before I hit the road...

• I hope we don't see as many teams dropping in attendance this year as the ones thus far. 5 out of 13 thus far.
• How much affect did the Second Half Boost have? Carolina enjoyed a ridiculous 2,300+ Second Half Boost with a first half average of 15,135 and a second half average of 17,942; wow. Boston also enjoyed a boost of over 700 spectators per game; while Ottawa's average attendance dropped in the second half.
  
• Boston is the closest to the ridiculous numbers the Capitals put up this season, coming in up 10% from last season. The B's have been trending up for a bit the past two or three seasons, as well.
• Pittsburgh and Carolina have made enormous strides since before the lockout; a very encouraging feeling if you are Gary Bettman. A little blip for the Pens this season though, as they slip a bit from their Cup Final appearance last season.
• San Jose staying very constant the past couple of seasons, but at the same time have really stepped it up from before the lockout.
• Are Senators fans only fair-weathered ones? Wheres the Canadian dedication?
• Finally, it is no surprise that the attendance in Tampa Bay has dropped significantly since the Cup win; but really? By double digits % each year? Wow, apparently you need two cups to keep fans around in Florida.

Thoughts? Concerns? Sorry for the rough and quick analysis, but the real life calls. Thanks for reading as always and have a nice weekend. I'll be back Sunday or Monday.

The Battle of Florida: Part III

I figured I would run this one more time before the end of the season. Here is the first part, and the second part.

The Lightning out-average the Panthers by about a 1,000 per game (16,435 to 15,448), but this difference shrinks to about 100 if you just solely look at the second half figures (16,111 to 15,998) as of today.

Here's the big graph (click to enlarge):



Both teams benefit from their similar opponents travel schedule. For example, the highs on the graphs for both teams are Northeastern clubs such as Montreal, Toronto, Boston, and New York (Rangers, that is). But, with Florida in the Eastern race while Tampa Bay preps for next season, it will be interesting to see if Florida can find any sort of base to work off of. Tampa Bay should still out-average Florida in the end though, with more of a fan-base due to their Stanley Cup history along with the bigger capacity of the St. Petes Forum compared to the BankAtlantic Center.

Come on back tomorrow.

The Wednesday Memo (3 PM Update)

News and Notes from around the Business World of Hockey...

- The St. Louis Blues come out with a season ticket offer that if you renew by April 10th by putting as little as 10% down the season ticket prices will remain the same (Blues.com). If not, all season ticket prices go up by 10% for next season. And with the Blues only three points out of a playoff spot as of this morning, management is offering a "pay as we play" program if the Blues make the playoffs.

Up 10%? That sounds like a big jump to me.

- Tampa Bay Lightning Players, Coaches, Broadcasters, Owners, and Management visited homes and business throughout the Tampa Bay area on Monday to push their season ticket renewal packages along with delivering gift bags to season ticket holders (Lightning.com).

"The reclassification of 1,300 seats in the upper-portion of the terrace level creates a decline of up to 80 percent to only $239 for the season or just $5.69 plus tax, per game. Some of these seats cost season-ticket holders up to $1,199 for the 2008-09 season. When combined with those that were available at that price in 2008-09, almost 4,000 (about 20 percent) of the Times Forum seats will be available for $239. Half-season packages will be just $149 in the same area.

The remainder of the terrace-level seating will decrease by 20 percent. Many of the lower plaza and club-level seats will decrease 6-12 percent for the season and fans can sit in the plaza level for as low as $35.69 per game plus tax, per seat."

Good deals and great marketing getting out of the "office" and into the public. If you click on the article, a couple of the business apparently had a lot of memorabilia around their offices (naturally for the story, right?).

- In serious government Visa immigration rules that affect business, visa's for pro sports players have changed a bit (The Calgary Sun). Take a read:

"Foreign athletes participate in pro sports such as baseball, basketball, hockey and golf. They can come to the U.S. and play under what’s known as a P-1 visa, which is for internationally recognized athletes or members of internationally recognized entertainment groups.

Under the old regulations, recipients could get five years on the visa and extend it once for another five years, not to exceed a total of 10 years.

The new policy will require foreign athletes, at the end of 10 years, to leave the country before applying for a new visa. That’s not expected to be much of a burden for the athletes, many of whom return to their home country in the off-season."

The difference this could make is that at the end of their visa the player could be inclined to not return to the U.S. in favor for playing in their home country.

- The Blue Jackets "Nationwide Night" on Friday February 13th was apparently a huge success. The club partnered for the night with NASCAR to put on a cross promotional event (Partnership Activation).

- The Scotiabank Fan Fav award gives fans an opportunity to have an immediate personal connection with the league (Sponsorship Insight Group).

- Finally, this was arguably last years best NHL promo commercial; I think it was the best too:

- NHL to ESPN next season? Not so much, says Bob McKenzie (Puck The Media).

- The NHL has always, oh whats the word, struggled with creative fan merchandise. So as they put out their annual St. Patrick's Day gear, Greg Wyshynski asks, "wheres a beer mug?" (Puck Daddy).

"But missing from the T-shirts and sweatshirts and the jerseys is, perhaps, the most popular aspect of the holiday in North America: the consumption of alcohol. No beer mugs, no pubs, not even a single reference to booze on the clothing.

Can the NHL make St. Patrick's Day an unofficial hockey holiday without also embracing its inebriated spirit?...

...Haskins said the NHL has produced this line of green gear at the request of its teams

Friday Morning News and Notes

Plenty of news today.

- According to Paul Kelley, the NHLPA Executive Director, the Salary Cap will remain the same or drop next season (Slam):

"He figures the salary cap will be between $54 million and $57 million next season, but he can't say what will happen in 2010-11."

- The Dallas Stars released some ticket pricing information (Dallas Business Journal). Highlights:

• The reduction of the price of 1,303 lower-bowl seats at American Airlines Center, dropping 519 seats in the lower bowl from $55 to $40 and the remaining 784 seats from $73 to $55.

• All of the other season ticket prices are frozen for fans who renew by March 18.

• Fans will get up to $250 credit for food, beverage and merchandise.

• Season seat holders will not pay for this year’s playoff games until the Stars’ 2009 playoffs are over.

• Those renewing season tickets will be eligible for rewards such as double season tickets, tickets to the NHL All-Star Game or Winter Classic, delivery of tickets by a Stars player, and even road trips to an away game on the team plane.

Good deals. One thing that puzzles me is if a season ticket holder does not renew by March 18, does that mean there prices could be going up? Also, its risky, but I really like the credited playoff games. The Stars had a 92% season ticket renewal rate from last season to this season, along with cutting upper bowl tickets by almost 40%, so we will have to see if this plan works out down in Big D.

- The Lightning hack at season ticket prices (Tampa Bay Online):

"The Tampa Bay Lightning are slashing season-ticket prices by an average of 10 percent for next season, with almost 4,000 seats available at the St. Pete Times Forum for only $239...

Almost 1,300 upper-level seats have been reclassified to be included in the $239 season-ticket package that averages out to $5.69, plus tax, per game. Nearly 20 percent of the arena's seats will feature that $239 designation and half-season packages in the same area will cost $149.

The remainder of season-ticket prices in the terrace level will decrease by 20 percent and some season tickets in the plaza level will average as low as $35.69 per game, plus tax."

Those are really low. Along with this, the club is offering an 8 month payment plan and a 3% rebate (in Forum dollars, money you can use at the St. Pete Times Forum) for season ticket holders who renew by March 27.

- Apparently, the Islanders could get off Long Island if they really wanted to, as there supposedly is a release clause that centers around the Nassau Coliseum renovations (KansasCity.com)

"Once the county executive submits a lease for the 150 acres of county-owned property, the legislature has 120 days to approve it. If it doesn’t, the team can leave...

Nassau County loses between $1 million and $2 million a year on the upkeep of the Coliseum, and Wang loses about $20 million a year operating the Islanders."

Charles Wang also had a candid comment before the Town of Hempstead meeting this week:

“Ultimately, if you don’t want to go to an (Islanders) game because the arena is a dump, I lose, the county loses, everybody loses,” Wang said. “I want this thing to proceed. We can talk and talk, but we’ve got to get off our butts. Let’s get it done.

“It’s a Long Island team. They belong where they are.”

All sorts of news swirling on the Island.

- Finally, Nick at Let There Be Light(house) has a fantastic post on some of the issues that surround the Lighthouse Project. Today he dealt with financing, the delay up to now, transportation, and the Islanders situation with Kansas City. If you want to understand Charles Wang and the Islanders situation and all, take a look at the article.

More later.

Wednesday Afternoon News and Notes

Relatively slow day after a big one yesterday...

- The NHL Network is providing a free preview for six days starting March 2nd through March 7th (Puck The Media).

"The NHL Network will offer a free preview to more than 34 million subscribers of multiple distributors in the United States, such as DIRECTV, DISH Network®, AT&T U-verse, Verizon, Cox Communications, Grande Communications and TVMAX, beginning Monday, March 2 through Saturday, March 7."

Can you say perfect timing with all-day coverage on Wednesday, March 4th; AKA this seasons Trade Deadline? Damn I wish I was home for that...

- After yesterdays step forward for the Lighthouse Project on Long Island, Tom Suozzi, the Nassau County Executive, wrote Nick at Let There Be Light(house) saying;

"...I would like you to know that I am fully committed to the Lighthouse Project and in keeping the Islanders in Nassau County..."

Always a good sign when the top guns support the cause.

- Finally, another NHL Promo, this one featuring Brad Richards and Vinny Lecavalier playing some NHL video games:



I must say, that is how some of my brothers' and mine NHL games finish up...

More later.

Battle of Florida: Part II

A slow news day led me to re-visit the attendance battle between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers (Click here for first part). The two teams are now very much on the opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of playoff, as the Panthers push for its first playoff appearance in seven seasons. However, Tampa Bay is out-averaging the Panthers by about a 1,000 spectators per game, and fills the St. Pete Times Forum to about 85 % while the Panthers are filling the BankAtlantic Center to 79%.

Let's take a look at the Game by Game attendance for each team (click to enlarge):



As you can tell without even enlarging the graph, the red line (Tampa Bay) easily out-sold the blue line (Florida) in the first half of the season. But, as possible playoff fever takes hold in Sunrise, Florida; the Panther's attendance has actually begun to somewhat stabilize and, to an extent, rise.

Florida is up 1.5% from their first half average, and 10.5 % in the past two weeks (6 game homestand). Meanwhile, Tampa Bay is down 5% from their first half average, but up 1% in the past two weeks as they also finished up a 6 game homestand Sunday.

Now, last time I did this I "concluded" three points about these two southern markets:

1. The smaller fan bases the two teams enjoy will most likely be much more willing to attend weekend games rather than weeknight games.
2. Retired diehards that shipped themselves to Florida from anywhere above the Mason-Dixon line will gladly spend their savings on seeing their team.
3. If there is an promotional event going on, the ticket holders are most likely one and done consumers.

During their recent homestands, Florida and Tampa Bay each played host to four weekend home games ("Weekend" to me (and to sports marketers, most likely) mean Thursday through Sunday afternoon). This undoubtedly aided to their recent attendance figures, along with the fact that a couple of great northern markets came swinging through the retirement state in the shape of Toronto, Boston, and Chicago. That covers the first two points.

I think Florida will win the second half battle of attendance against Tampa Bay because of point 3. Florida can benefit from a great playoff race with ticket offers and bandwagon fans; especially if they make the playoffs. After the season/playoffs, I will take another look at this and we will find out if Tampa Bay hung in there or if the Panthers overtook them.

Playing Below Capacity, Florida Panthers edition, comes tomorrow around noon.

Rumors Go Where Bettman Goes

Wednesday it was Phoenix, Thursday it was Nashville, and yesterday was Carolina. That was the route of Commissioner Gary Bettman, and each day he was in each city stories broke on different NHL franchises and their financial concerns.

Bettman stated yesterday to the Tampa Tribune that the Lightning are fine financially. A little tidbit of detail was shed yesterday by the Tribune:

The team also recently announced that all building employees must pay to park starting March 1 and paychecks to the players - normally direct deposited - were live checks withheld until after 1 p.m. during the past two pay periods. Those situations help churn the talk of financial instability, which Bettman said is unfounded.

Naturally, that might cause some rumors, Commish.

Commissioner Bettman in a press conference you can watch here had a some business news to relay:

- "Real" growth, which was projected earlier at around 7%, is now being projected from 4-5%.
- The test for the economy and the NHL will be the sale of playoff tickets.
- Carolina will get an All-Star game, but he did not say when. (Sporting News, for a link)
- "We're not thinking about an NHL Division in Europe" - Good, to me.
- Bettman would like to see the number of games in the NHL Prmier increase.

Monday Afternoon Roundup.

- The Tampa Bay Lightning are accused of giving thousands of tickets away a night.

Numbers provided by Hillsborough County, which owns the 13-year-old facility, show that through December (the latest data available) the team sold an average of 14,119 tickets for 16 dates. Announced crowds, however, averaged 16,698.

NHL teams announce attendance based on tickets distributed, which means Tampa Bay gave away an average of 2,579.

Oh boy, that's not a good sign.

- An overview/update of the Atlanta Thrashers troubles off and on the ice.

Welcome to Blah-land — formerly Blueland — where the ownership is fighting itself, the team is in the cellar and angst grows over the very future of hockey in Atlanta.

Yee-haw.

- Puck The Media has the 2010 Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament Schedule posted, and Hockey Weekend Across America seemed to be a success as 13 out of 15 games in American markets sold-out on Saturday and Sunday night.

If something else breaks, I'll cover it, but I'm not sure there is anything more to come today.

I'll leave you with a great commercial from FSN in 2004:

The Week's Stats and the Battle of Florida

The Average Spectators for each game this week? 17,296. OK, about 200 below the 17,500 mark that would be considered a success. Along with this, out of 44 games this week, only 17 sold out. Not that bad, but below the 50 and 65% marks I think the NHL should be shooting for.

In an earlier post using the graphs to determine the most stable division, the Northeast came out on top. It came down between the Northeast and Northwest, and I gave a slight edge to the Northeast because of Bostons attendance slowly calming down and rising at the same time. Well what happened this week in beantown? Two sellouts when the Leafs visited on Thursday and the Canes visited on Saturday. Maybe I do have a knack for this stuff.

Moving on... to the Battle of the Sunrise State, Tampa Bay v. Florida. Lets have a look (click graph to get full view):



If I had to describe this graph with one word, it would be volatile. I bring you this graph for a couple of reasons. First of all, I was never a fan of southern expansion to begin with. One or two teams would have been OK, but Hockey and the term "Southeast" don't mix well to me. I refer to such division as the Redneck Hockey division. But back to the graph...

Neither team has a very solid fanbase to begin with. The graph fluctuates so much because:

1. Attendance heavily depends on what night the game is scheduled for.
2. Attendance heavily depends on who is in town on such night.
3. If there is any promotional event going on.

Now look, I would be willing to bet that half of NHL diehard fans are fans of their specific team first before the NHL. Hell, if the Rangers are on and a TV is in my viewing distance I will do anything it takes to get them on the screen. Would I do it for any other game? Most likely not. I might ask for hockey to be put on, but if there is gonna be a big problem, its not worth it.

So, Tampa Bay and Florida experience such fluctuations because:

1. The smaller fan bases the two teams enjoy will most likely be much more willing to attend weekend games rather than weeknight games.
2. Retired diehards that shipped themselves to Florida to die from anywhere above the Mason-Dixon line will gladly spend their savings on seeing their team.
3. If there is an promotional event going on, the ticket holders are most likely one and done consumers.

As I hinted in reason 3, almost all of the fans going to these games are one and done consumers to the franchises. I'd also be willing to be that there are very few season ticket holders that attend every game (I'm guessing somewhere between 1,000-2,000). The retired folks are there to see their team, not the Bolts or the Panthers. And finally, the college couple that had nothing to do won't be going back to the next game unless they completely fall in love with one of the teams.

Now I titled this the Battle of Florida because I think, within 5-10 years, one of these teams will be out of the state and somewhere else. If I had to pick which one to move, it would be Florida. As the graph shows, Tampa has a slight edge on attendance. Also, I'm a firm believer that if a franchise has won a cup, it would be very very hard to move them in this day and age.

Finally, it wouldn't hurt if both teams could get a solid GM that could build a team. Remember in '96 when the Panthers went to the Finals? Miami Arena was packed all throughout the playoffs with 15,000 Floridians. A great way to build a fan base is by winning.

That's all for tonight. Check back tomorrow.