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Attendance Still Ahead Of Last Season

November 30, 2009

The fifth-largest crowd in Bakersfield history and the fourth sellout of the season in Toledo helped the ECHL average 4,355 per game which is up more than seven percent from the first seven weeks of 2008-09.

The only minor professional hockey league to increase average attendance each of the last two seasons, the Premier ‘AA’ Hockey League has averaged more than 4,000 fans each of the last five seasons and 17 times in the last 19 years while drawing more than 3 million fans for 16 straight seasons.

To purchase tickets for any ECHL game go to ECHL.com/tickets.shtml.

Six returning teams are ahead of their average attendance from last season led by Cincinnati at 63.1 percent. The Cyclones are fifth in the league with 5,064 per game which is up more than 174 percent from 2006-07. Cincinnati led minor professional hockey with a 36 percent attendance increase from 2006-07 to 2007-08 and ranked second with 23 percent from 2007-08 to 2008-09.

Elmira leads the league with six sellouts and ranks second among returning teams and third overall with a 14.0 percent increase. The Jackals are averaging 3,799 per game which is 100.4 percent of capacity at First Arena. Elmira has had 25 sellouts since joining the ECHL and tied for the league lead in 2008-09 with five sellouts after leading the ECHL the first season in 2007-08 with 14 sellouts.

Toledo moved back into the league lead with 6,111 per game which is up more than 55 percent from 2006-07 when the team played its last season in the Toledo Sports Arena. Stockton is second with 5,995 per game and Ontario is third with 5,761 per game. Stockton has led the ECHL in attendance each of their first four seasons and is trying to tie the league record of five years set by Florida from 2000-05.

Utah’s average attendance is up 7.7 percent from a year ago while Kalamazoo is averaging 3,357 per game, an increase of more than five percent from last season when they competed in the International Hockey League, and Alaska’s average is up more than 2.5 percent from a year ago.

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