Notice all the empty arenas this year?

Question

Have fans finally had enough of the terrible, biased officiating? What else is it?

Hey Judy, maybe you should realize that there is more than 1 game and 1 team??

Answer 1

Let the football and baseball finish up.I'm not saying it will make that big of a difference but you can't judge it properly now.

Answer 2

The officiating isn't terrible nor is it biased.

Attendance is actually up this year, as 50% of the league sells out and the other 50% of the league, 66.7% (2/3) of the league is above 90%

That's better than MLB, which has a median attendance of 64.1%, the NBA which has a median attendance of 90.2%.

Also, the attendance in the NHL is up this year from last year (median being: 98.4) and up from pre-lock out which had median of 95.6

Gary Bettman has done what he's said. He's making the game better. Traditionalists won't like the shooutout or the area in the corners where the goalie can't play the puck, or the non-two-line pass. But, the fact remains that the game is more entertaining. It's opened up the game dramatically. There is no more clutching and grabbing, attendance is up, revenue is up by almost $700 million. The problem with the NHL is their television deal and their lack of whiny babies, who kill people or stomp on peoples heads. They say, bad publicity is still publicity. The NHL isn't getting publicity, because they're not killing people and they aren't stomping on their heads.

Once the NHL learns to market itself, which includes doing advertising during primetime on every channel as well as offering a very discounted rate for its product in exchange for some favourable time slots to non-verus, than we might be able to talk. Also, have a face of the game (Crosby, Ovechkin, Iginla) and have a lot of talk show appearences and commercials and such... It's time the NHL got a chunky commercial, too.

Answer 3

sadly gone are the days of the good ol hockey game, lets face the music, hockey is not what it was 20 years, heck even 10 years ago, Since bettman has took over and changed hockey rules, the fan base has been in a decline and honestly dont know if it will ever recover, at least in the US, in canada it will always be there. Last season The Flames broke a attendance record, i believe it was 35 home games consecutivly sold out, and this season is looking much the same. Its the hardest thing watching a game in the US and see rows of empty seats, all i keep thinking is man i would love to be there, id fill those seats! Hockey is still in a sad state and until the reign of Gary the Greedy ends, we may never see the end.

Answer 4

Well, there's a few factors for this. First in some cities, hockey is at the bottom of the list in sport entertainment. When tractor pulling is the number one sports the officiating is not the problem trust me. In other teams the problem reside in how there team finished last year and what kind of changes they made during the summer. For the rest of them well, hockey is just not of interest. Here in Montreal, the HAB'S where sold out last year and they are sold out for the remaining of the year this year. But hockey and la SAINTE FLANELLE are a religion here.

Answer 5

Actually, I'm hoping that the reason this is happening is because of the ridiculously watered down product the NHL is putting on the ice. The new rules have not helped the game, Bettman is destroying the game and they need to do something to fix this. They used to say that the old game had no flow with its physical play. Now the game has no flow because there's a stoppage every 45 seconds for a called penalty.

Answer 6

I've noticed that the Arenas do look a lot emptier, point in case Anaheim, New Jersey and Chicago. Im sure there is more but I have not seen the other teams play yet. I say its the prices of tickets that is turning people away. I'm from Toronto so we set the bar lol.

Answer 7

Chicago arena has a capacity of 19,000 and their avg. attendance last year was in the 14,000 so you will really notice it in Chicago cause that's like 5,000 empty seats a game. Montreal has been all sold out from opening box offices day, but they have saved 200 extra tickets for people that didn't get a chance to get a ticket, in Toronto they are sold out to, but if you really look at the games they have had like 100 to 200 empty seats at the ACC everybody is wondering whats going on. yes they are sold out but to business men, and to the business men that come to town for a meeting or a weeks work they are given this tickets but don't show up at the game. WE NEED TO GET GARY BETTMAN OUT OF THE OFFICE, ITS HE THAT HAS RUINED HOCKEY, AND IS NOT HELPING IT GET BIGGER, JUST PUTTING HOCKEY WHERE THE RICH OWNERS ARE AND NOT WHERE HOCKEY CAN BE TRULY LOVED BY FANS.

Bell Centre capacity 21,273 (1st)avg. attendance 21,273 (1st)always SOLD OUT.

GO HABS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 8

What else is it?

How about gasoline prices being $2.xx per gallon? ( 4 weeks ago it was $3.xx per ).

How about a threat of a recession in the US?

How about the invasion of Iraq?

How about the approaching holiday season?

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I think people/families have to be more selective on how and where they spend there entertainment dollar.

BTW -- Other than the playoffs, have you noticed that baseball and basketball never sell out?

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Answer 9

I think for the most part that the NHL shot themselves in the foot with the "lost season."

A lot of fans became disgusted with the whole thing and have not gone back.

The smaller market clubs are hurting more now because of it. It will take a long time for this whole thing to mend.

Answer 10

In Toronto the only time you here about a sell out at the ACC is when there is not a sell out.