Quote:
Originally Posted by pspeid
Fun with stats! (FYI I rounded down all my percentages)
14,228 is roughly 92% capacity of the arena (seating 15,321 for hockey).
Average attendance in the NHL last year was 17,651. If the Jets sold out every game they would be at roughly 86% of the league average. Fourteen teams had an average seating above that mark. With 32 teams, that means over half (14) teams had below average attendance.
The NHL averaged 97.5% capacity last season, meaning Winnipeg average attendance was roughly 94% of the league average.
What does this mean? On the one hand it's impossible for the Jets to get near the average attendance of the league. On the other hand they have little "wiggle" room, which should come as no surprise to the owners or the fans. If we're going to compare ourselves to other NHL cities, I think Jets fans have an inordinate amount of responsibility for the continued existence of their team, possibly greater than anywhere else.
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I never understand when people make this argument. Why does percent capacity have any relevance at all? Should the jets just take 1500 seats out of the building and their attendance problems will be solved? The only number that matters is the number of paying customers.
It’s like saying I have a restaurant that runs at 90% capacity. That sounds great but if you only have three tables, you are probably going out of business.
If you have by far the smallest arena there is no excuse for 1500 empty seats every night.
I do agree that we have more responsibility than other cities because Winnipeg isn’t really a major league market. This is why it annoys me that so many of my middle aged, white collar friends have cancelled their shares in season tickets and are now die hard fans who rarely go to games.
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