Quote:
Originally Posted by Resolute 14
Tampa: 18,474 per game, ahead of the likes of Boston, Buffalo and Edmonton.
Florida: 16,685 and Nashville: 16,600, both comparable to Edmonton.
Carolina: 15,489, ahead of Colorado.
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i don't want to drag this to far off topic, but stay golden and resolute 14 had an interesting exchange concerning attendance. attendance is a red-herring when it comes to arguing viability of a franchise in the nhl. the nhl is a gate-driven league and nothing demonstrates that better than attendance vs gate receipts.
yes, tampa has impressive attendance numbers, but they are papering the crowd with some of the cheapest seats in the league. tampa had the 4th lowest per-game gate revenue in the entire league last year. only atlanta, phoenix and the islanders pulled in less money per game. to compare, calgary generated 1.5 million usd/game from straight gate receipts in 2010/2011. tampa, with its impressive attendance, (17,285 in 2010/2011) generated a measly 440,000usd/game last year. calgary averaged 1,062 more fans per home date than tampa but pulled in almost three times the ticket revenue. you'll find a link to these numbers in this blog post from january of this year:
http://www.mc79hockey.com/?p=4102
all that being said, i would love to see an nba team back in seattle. an nhl team would be the cherry on top.