Attendance and Revenue Down This Season in Carolina
by Bob Wage on Jan 22, 2010 4:10 PM EST
31 comments
When you follow the last place and the lowest scoring team in the league, a few things are to be expected. Not surprisingly, the Carolina Hurricanes are experiencing a downturn in gate receipts as well as ticket sales compared from last year, through the same time period this season.
After Monday night's game against Tampa Bay, the Hurricanes had played a total of 25 home games this season. Official attendance for those games totaled 369,248, which is an average of 14,770 per game, putting them at 25th in the league.
Through the first 25 games last season, the team registered an official total attendance of 385,844, which is a per game average of 15,434. The total difference is 16,596, seemingly just a meager 4.3% decrease from one period to the next. But if you attach a dollar figure to those lower numbers, the 4.3% becomes significant.
Assuming a nice, easy, round number of $100 average per person, (ticket, parking, food, etc), that makes a total gate related revenue loss of $1,659,600 from last season to this season, year to date.
While that is a significant number, the results over the next 16 games are what could really sour the mood over at Edwards Mill Road.
Last year, the Canes went on a winning streak during the last couple months of the season and fans responded in kind. The team had four sellout crowds in February, one in March, and three more in April.
Carolina has not sold out a single game this season since the home opener.
During the final 16 games last season, the team's total official attendance was 293,644, for a per game average of 18,353. If the Canes continue with their per game average this season, they will total 236,620, (14,770 average) which is a whopping 19.5% decrease over the same time period last year.
Using the same $100 average per person, the additional lost revenue would be $5,732,400 for the next 16 games, for a total of over $7.3 million of lost gate related revenue from last year to this year. And that does not include the playoffs.
The organization has reportedly laid off a couple of sales people, but has not made any public statement about present or future reductions in staff, yet.
Management must figure out a way to energize the fanbase and get them excited about watching hockey again. Too many seem to be reminded of the 2002-03 season, which was eerily similar to the present one.
The re-hiring of Paul Maurice served it's purpose last season as the team made a valiant run through the postseason, but his return certainly has not excited anyone this year. And while one can not put all the blame of this season's failures on his shoulders, some fans wonder if the coach with the most wins in franchise history, as well as the most losses, will be able to get a younger team to score more goals and play exciting hockey next year.
Will the crowds get any bigger at the RBC during the upcoming "rebuild"?
(attendance numbers taken from the Hurricanes Hockey Report published by The Whaler)
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I don’t really see the crowds getting any bigger the rest of the season. Trading away some fan favorites soon aren’t going to help either. I look more at it in a positive way being in 30th and playing like it for the most part but maintaining @14,000 says alot. Although its not my wallet its affecting. Maybe bringing in alot of young, skilled players will be exciting to watch and feel the seats in the remaining months.
Staal IS the next CAPTAIN........get over it!
From that same source (which is one heck of a good Canes stats site, by the way), the ‘02-’03 season attendance average was 15,607 (compared with 14,770 YTD this season).
But, there usually is some pick-up on attendance as the basketball season winds down. Maybe we’ll pick up some of the Carolina fans a bit earlier this year. :-D
Also, got to thinking about the ‘02-’03 season. Yes, it was comparable to this one in terms of number of injuries, winning record, and general suckiness.
But, we had a lot of season ticket holders that had jumped into the pool from the previous year’s Cup run, so that might artificially hold attendance higher than market forces would have dictated.
A more valid comparison might be attendance for the ‘03-’04 season that followed. There the consumer had more of a choice and the numbers pointedly declined to an average of 12,085 (!), or only 64.5% of capacity.
We look MUCH better than that wretched season.
Energizing the Fanbase
I think the fans who are avid supporters of the Hurricanes could help increase attendance. An average of 2,000 more people per game would make an enormous difference even if the Hurricanes are almost certain not to make the playoffs. Some of us have various personal and professional mailing lists or have newsletters. The team is much more solid now than during the doldrums at the start of the season.
Hopefully, a grassroots effort will begin. It’s been hard enough to see the Hurricanes play poorly at the start of the season. It would be a shame to have the loss of revenue result in the organization lacking the resources to rebuild quickly.
Any feel as to whether the entire league is down on attendance due to the economy? Seems like I saw something a while back that was talking about an average 4 percent decline for the league.
And, of course, the rebirth of the Chicago market is skewing things a bit league wide, as they went from rattling around inside their arena to selling the place out.
League attendance
Here’s where the league is on a team-by-team basis, both in raw numbers and percent of arena capacity.
And, to answer my own question above, as to how the entire league is doing compared to last season, here’s an article on that subject from Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal.
For the first time since the 2004-05 lockout, the NHL has increased both its attendance and ratings at the midpoint of a season.
Through 628 games this season, average reported attendance is up 1.5 percent from 2007-08.
The league increased its attendance in part because 10 of its clubs played to 100 percent capacity during the first half of the season. It also benefited from significant increases in average reported attendance in Chicago, Washington and Boston.
But take this out of the equation and I think the rest of the league would be down.
Staal IS the next CAPTAIN........get over it!
Very eye-opening article Bob, especially the part about cutting staff. You don’t really think about the struggles of a team on the ice affecting the off ice staff, but they do. Unfortunately, like canescup said, trading fan favorites is probably going to make things worse, even if young talent is brought in. I just don’t see the numbers getting any better unless the team gets better, especially with the economy the way it is. Perhaps the team needs to look at more ticket discounts to bring people in.
And as an aside, excellent choice for the picture Bob. It’s funny how superstitions start, but last season, if I didn’t see that guy (who has been dubbed double stick flag guy in my house) before warm-ups started, we were in for a loss. So perhaps this means we’re in store for a win tomorrow night?! :)
"This guy is as meat and potatoes as there is of a man."
Gleason for Emperor!
The salary cap doesn't help.
I think they should create a better salary cap. One that fluctuates. It would be nice to see cup condtendors come back the year after – but to me it would also be boring to see a hockey team be like the NY Yankees as well.
If Ray Whitney does not retire a Carolina Hurricane, I'll go egg Jim Rutherfords car and TP his house.
I think you’re referring to the soft cap used in the NBA to allow teams to resign their own free agents at a certain amount that can exceed the cap. Unfortunately, that’d never fly in the NHL, at least not in the current economic climate.
The NHL is a league that gets most of its revenue from ticket sales not TV like most other sports. If you want teams to have more money to sign players, it’s unfortunately tied to people going to more games and watching more games, which in turn would hopefully entice a network to actually pay a nice bit of cash that could help move the cap up. But until then …
Interesting article. 14,700 is not good, but based on the teams play and the economy still isn’t great; that number could be worse. From what I’ve been reading recently, the attendence has gone up over the past couple of games. Maybe that can continue and push our average attendence number up ever so slightly.
Where did you come up with the $100 per person value? I sit in the lower section and based on my ticket, beers, and part of parking – I’m not that high and my buddies are less than me. Just trying to figure that out because the higher value make the revenue difference higher.
The team’s season ticket holder base is still solid and reportedly is higher than last year, but what they have been lacking is walk up sales. To sit in the lower level at walk up price is from $70 to $200. In the club level it is $85 to $200. Of course the upper level is less.
$100 might be high, but for rounding sake on lost walk up sales, it’s probably close enough for this article.
and I agree, the numbers could always be worse. Hopefully, they will trend up.
GM of CanesCountry.com
I think the a big part of the loss in walk up sales is the change they made to how promotions are done. Having the 7 days before the game cutoff probably has made it hard for folks who decide the week of the game they want to go be able to get a lower priced ticket.
Agreed Cyn4Canes, the new promotions suck! They should go back to the day of game special; ie: Upper goal zone for $9.99 ( day of game ). Much better idea I feel. I hate the whole 7 days prior to the game idea!
Let the new era of Hurricanes hockey.... begin!
by 3yrsnoplayoffs? on Jan 22, 2010 6:38 PM EST up reply actions
I think the Canes should do a $5 ticket in the upper end-zone for the rest of the season. Get some people out to see the “new and improved” Canes. The ticket price in those sections would go down, but those people would buy beverages and food. You could get more revenue by having fans at the game and hopefully develop some more “hockey rednecks.”
by PackPride17 on Jan 22, 2010 8:10 PM EST via mobile reply actions
All sarcasm aside, " Apology Pricing " might not be a bad idea.
it always burns within
the downward spiral never ends
when driven into sin
your salvation's found in a sinner's deed
by Douchebag St John on Jan 23, 2010 10:41 AM EST up reply actions
CBA
The next CBA should allow a more flexible ability for management to release players they don’t want midseason at a percentage of salary and therefore cap hit. Maybe firing one Multi-million $ player improves team performance and/or financing and therefore saves Lots of staff from sales to parking. It would add more GM decision making. Not to mention improving my overall mood.
For every million dollars of salary dumped, beer prices rise by $1. Released players get a percentage of beer revenue. Not to exceed original salary.
by drifterscape on Jan 22, 2010 8:49 PM EST up reply actions
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