Winnipeg Jets, Buffalo Sabres among NHL teams struggling with attendance

We’re only a week into the NHL season, but some teams are already dealing with the issue of low attendance. The Winnipeg Jets are only filling out 80% capacity at home so far, the Buffalo Sabres are only at 83%, and even the Washington Capitals saw their massive home sellout streak end on Monday night.

Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk talked about the attendance issues around the league and what may be causing the problem on Daily Faceoff Live.

Frank Seravalli: Yeah, I would say that there’s a lot to be concerned about. The Washington Capitals, that sellout streak ended at 588 games. That’s a big deal, they had a sellout on opening night, and then their next game was just 16,489. Winnipeg had their lowest attendance ever in a game in Winnipeg Jets 2.0 history, just 11,000. That’s a tough night. The Buffalo Sabres, lots of expectations this year, they sellout their opening night, and then the next night come back with 12,258. San Jose, their third game, only 10,000 in the building.

When you include Winnipeg and Calgary, that’s two teams that did not sell out their home openers, which two of the seven, that’s a pretty significant number, and I think for some teams it’s only going to get worse. You see that initial bump in opening night, and then things fall off. If you watched the Flyers game, they went head-to-had against the Phillies in the NLCS across the parking lot, which is always tough. There were huge swaths, almost whole sections, that had no one in them.

So, there’s a lot of work to be done. I know NHL owners and teams are always grumbling at this point that it’s hard to fill October weeknight games early in the season. There’s a lot happening. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, a lot on the sports calendar, but some unpromising numbers that are not very pretty to start.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Jimmy on the Facebook page says ‘Times are tough financially, money’s tight”. I also think that probably plays a pretty big role in it. The fact that prices just to get into the games, and once you’re into the games, you look at beer and food prices, they’re sky-high…

Frank Seravalli: Parking, it doesn’t end. I mean look at the Jets. I think that’s the one thing that stands out for me is, I don’t think anyone is suddenly not a fan of the Jets or this team is unlikeable. It’s just that maybe with such a small building, the premium that they were charging because it’s a small building for so long just doesn’t apply anymore that they need to have a price correction for some of these teams.

And some teams have done that. I know the Flyers, for instance, have had a bit of a price correction, and it’s still difficult in a time of rebuild or a time when the Caps or the Islanders or some of these other teams that don’t have true Stanley Cup aspirations, it can be kind of difficult to sell. And it’s another reason why a lot of teams avoid talk of a rebuild because that makes for some lean years.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Yeah, I think that makes a ton of sense, but also it’s probably time for some of these teams to look in the mirror and ask “Why is this happening? Is it high prices? Let’s knock them down.” I’ve always said, I think you’d prefer a jam-packed barn of people who’ve paid $25-40 to sit in the upper bowl than charging $100 for the upper bowl and hoping you get 40-50% in the upper bowl in the door.

We’ll see if the numbers turn themselves around, but this isn’t blaming the fans at all for not wanting to dish out hundreds of dollars to go watch their team on a Tuesday night.

Frank Seravalli: It’s hard. It’s a lot of money to take a family to a game. Even just to get two tickets to go to a game, you’re shelling out $500 including parking and food and drinks and everything else. I don’t know how many times people can do that in one season, let alone have season tickets.

You can watch the full episode here…