Heat averaging 3,445 fans, building base says president

[snowdude]

There's a good article out putting the Heat's attendance in perspective and how much they had to accomplish in a handful of month. Also, there's a note at the bottom of the article about how much AHL attendance is down overall.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_va.../70055352.html

In addition to hiring the rest of the Heat’s 15-member front office staff, Mauthe’s to-do list featured such nuts-and-bolts tasks as furnishing the offices with desks and phones, and ensuring the arena itself was ready to host an AHL game.
“We were really doing 12 months’ work in three, leading up to our inaugural game,” Mauthe noted.
“Until very recently, we’ve just been reacting. Now we’re getting to building that base.”

Through 203 games in October and November, AHL clubs are drawing an average of 4,383 fans per game – 17 per cent less than last year’s average of 5,115.
The Manitoba Moose, for instance, have dipped from 7,769 fans in 2008-09 to 6,433 in the early going this season. Another North Division rival, the Toronto Marlies, have seen a decrease from 3,728 to 2,456.

[TurnedTheCorner]

How does this compare to the QC team?

[dobbles]

good article. i have been really surprised with the lack of attendance for the heat. while throwing a team together quickly over the summer can be tough, i think that should have been balanced out by the novelty of a new franchise. i fully expected their attendance to be huge the first few games, and it was pretty unimpressive.

the hard thing for the heat is they need to draw more than most teams to cover their travel costs. i think so far its looking like they will have to rely on moose games to really boost their revenue.

it is worth noting that the QC flames actually had slightly better attendance after their first 8 games in 07.

[dobbles]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

How does this compare to the QC team?

the other day i was looking at the numbers and i think QC had about 100 more fans per game after 8 games than the heat have had.

[HOOT]

Move the Coyotes to Abbotsford! Lower Mainland is dying for an NHL team!

[Fernando]

There seems to be a lot of people here who very badly want the Heat to fail so they can say, "I told you so!"

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Fernando

There seems to be a lot of people here who very badly want the Heat to fail so they can say, "I told you so!"

It's just Dobbles.

[dobbles]

i assume that was directed towards me?

if so, you couldn't be more wrong...

edit: posted at the exact same time as you flameswin!

[CMPunk]

Originally Posted by Fernando

There seems to be a lot of people here who very badly want the Heat to fail so they can say, "I told you so!"

He's just pointing out that after all the hype about having a farm team in Canada, the Heat aren't drawing much better then they did in QC

[QuadCityImages]

I'm not going to say I want them to fail, but there will be a small amount of satisfaction if they do. I only became a Flames fan because they moved their farm team here, so my loyalty is shallower than most of you lifers.

The fact that there seem to be a couple of Abbotsford folks on this board at best says a lot to me. Within weeks of the announcement that they were moving to the QC you had 10 or more local people posting on here.

[PIMking]

Originally Posted by dobbles

good article. i have been really surprised with the lack of attendance for the heat. while throwing a team together quickly over the summer can be tough, i think that should have been balanced out by the novelty of a new franchise. i fully expected their attendance to be huge the first few games, and it was pretty unimpressive.

the hard thing for the heat is they need to draw more than most teams to cover their travel costs. i think so far its looking like they will have to rely on moose games to really boost their revenue.

it is worth noting that the QC flames actually had slightly better attendance after their first 8 games in 07.

What I find funny that both qc used as an excuse and abby so far is that they didn't have enough time to get the team ready. What more do you have to do? Calgary takes care of the coaching/rosters. Basically you wait for the league to tell you your schedule and set up ticket prices promotions and hire a front office. The way it sounded they had most of that stuff done before qc closed up shop last year.

[PIMking]

it has been stated before that some of the abby folks dont post on here. we had quiet a few qc folks on here talking about everygame. Taking photos and giving input on games.

It's sad that the flames couldn't hold up in qc but its flat out the ignorant fans fault. I feel kinda burned from some guys on this board that basically backhanded us saying that we dont deserve ahl and abby will have huge crowds so on. Hell wasn't it said by sweeting that they had something like 4k STH's?

I think abby is bad for the league but most part the people of abby that dont care that still have to pay for the team in taxes.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Originally Posted by PIMking

it has been stated before that some of the abby folks dont post on here. we had quiet a few qc folks on here talking about everygame. Taking photos and giving input on games.

It's sad that the flames couldn't hold up in qc but its flat out the ignorant fans fault. I feel kinda burned from some guys on this board that basically backhanded us saying that we dont deserve ahl and abby will have huge crowds so on. Hell wasn't it said by sweeting that they had something like 4k STH's?

I think abby is bad for the league but most part the people of abby that dont care that still have to pay for the team in taxes.

I'll see what I can do about posting about each game more often.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by snowdude

There's a good article out putting the Heat's attendance in perspective and how much they had to accomplish in a handful of month. Also, there's a note at the bottom of the article about how much AHL attendance is down overall.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_va.../70055352.html

It should be noted that AHL attendance is always slow in the early going. It picks up for the stretch run (February/March/April). Particularly with Manitoba, it's always been that way.

[Red_Baron]

There still seems to be a strong resentment to the fact that it's the Flames farm team and not the Cansucks. The Canuck fans in the region are close to their home team and are an easy drive to a canuck game several times a year. They have this 'aura' that they would be watching an inferior game because it's the minors and that people would think less of them for watching it, it's hard to explain but the area is a canuck stronghold and there is just no reasoning with a lot of them. Move the team to the Okanagan, we'd appreciate them much more.

[Jordan!]

Shouldn't it be an automatic sellout? since it is a pro hockey team in canada and all.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by dobbles

the other day i was looking at the numbers and i think QC had about 100 more fans per game after 8 games than the heat have had.

110 more, to be exact. 3555 to 3445.

Direct linking to specific teams is tough, but this site is great for attendance:

http://www.mib.org/~lennier/hockey/att.cgi

Putting aside all of the petty sniping in this thread, I have little doubt that the Flames and the owners in Abbotsford are disappointed with how things started. The short lead time to build the team is a bit of an excuse for them though. It will be interesting to see how things go if the Heat remain in playoff contention.

Interestingly, attendance in Quad Cities is up 75% for the IHL team compared to the Baby Flames last year. Only three games though.

AHL attendance definitely has taken a significant hit in some markets compared to the same number of games last year. The Moose are down 8%. Wilkes-Barrie is down over 10%. Chicago is down 17%. Providence down 10%. Portland down 17%. A lot of teams are down 6-8%. A few are holding even. A couple are up a bit. And then there is Hamilton: Up 45%, or 1800 fans per game after six games.

[Imported_Aussie]

well Hamilton is likely up with people in that market energized by the talk of an NHL team coming to town. More talk about hockey = more interest in the game.
On those numbers Abbotsford is only down 3% on QC from last year, which compares a little better than the rest of the AHL to date. It looks bad as moving to Canada was supposed to boost attendance, despite any other market effects

[cobra14]

Originally Posted by Bouw N Arrow

Shouldn't it be an automatic sellout? since it is a pro hockey team in canada and all.

i can sense the sarcasm

[dobbles]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

110 more, to be exact. 3555 to 3445.

Direct linking to specific teams is tough, but this site is great for attendance:

http://www.mib.org/~lennier/hockey/att.cgi

Putting aside all of the petty sniping in this thread, I have little doubt that the Flames and the owners in Abbotsford are disappointed with how things started. The short lead time to build the team is a bit of an excuse for them though. It will be interesting to see how things go if the Heat remain in playoff contention.

Interestingly, attendance in Quad Cities is up 75% for the IHL team compared to the Baby Flames last year. Only three games though.

AHL attendance definitely has taken a significant hit in some markets compared to the same number of games last year. The Moose are down 8%. Wilkes-Barrie is down over 10%. Chicago is down 17%. Providence down 10%. Portland down 17%. A lot of teams are down 6-8%. A few are holding even. A couple are up a bit. And then there is Hamilton: Up 45%, or 1800 fans per game after six games.

a few things of note for the qc IHL team... we only had 2700 yesterday so that will kill the average. also, we have been padding attendance a lot more this year in my opinion. while everyone pads to make things look better, i think they padding at least a 1000 a game since the opener. also our average is still high because of very few home games played. so our well attended opener still influences the average quite a bit.



as for only having 3 months, thats a bit of a cop out... sure they may have officially gotten the team at a late date, but sweeting started railroading our chances at least a year ago. if they were so confident about getting a team i am sure they could have at least ordered some furniture before the ahl board of governors gave them the thumbs up. along the same lines, qc even announced their intentions to fold well before the season was over. i think it was only logical to assume where they were going.

i think any problems getting started late are very much their own fault.