Attendance is definitely down. I took a look at TM before the game last night and there were a ton of unsold seats. Then out of interest I also took a look at the Toronto and MTL games and there are still many unsold seats which never happens.
I see a few reasons for this:
1. To Rage2's point I think the biggest factor is the economy. Although oil prices are up there is very little investment going on in Calgary/AB so although there are no layoffs there are also no new jobs.
2. The hockey team hasn't been good and GG hockey was horrendous to watch last year. It looked good at the beginning of the year but the last 3 games don't paint a rosy picture.
3. Ticket prices are way too high. Taking a look at Stubhub/TM many of the tickets are being sold under face value and even STH pricing (at least until they add their fees in) and they still aren't being bought. I can't imagine it'll be sustainable for STH holders to continually subsidize tickets for others when they can't attend so we may see a hit in STH participation (In another STH thread last year I believe the wait list is almost non-existent now).
4. The stadium situation - neither side is happy. The owners put a bad taste in people's mouth by messing with the election and the arena experience (long lines, poor selection, same old in game music/entertainment) is not very good.
5. There seems to be a downturn in attendance for many other sports leagues. Between pricing (tickets, beer, food) and getting to and from the venue it's just much better to watch from home on your HDTV.
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