Chicago Blackhawks fans are turning on the franchise and this stat proves it
The seating capacity at Mullett Arena is 5,000, so it is physically impossible for the Arizona Coyotes to have any more than that in attendance. The seating capacity at the United Center is 19.717 (for hockey). And yet, the Chicago Blackhawks continue to have the lowest attendance in the entire NHL. Last night's game, in particular, was the lowest of the entire season at 12,523.
Ben Pope has been doing crowd reports on every home game, and is understandably getting discouraged.
Even the players take notice.
In fact, it seems that last night's crowd was the smallest in the history of the United Center.
https://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph.php?tmi=5218
Now, as Kane said, the crowds get small when the team is known for losing. And as Ben Pope predicted, attendance will pick up for the special event of Hossa night. Will that be enough to keep people coming back? The Hawks are undeniably performing better this year than last, and yet, few are coining out to support. And sure, no one wants to spend the time or money if you already know the outcome. It's like buying tickets and all the expensive snacks to a movie, knowing full well how it's going to end, and that the entire movie is bad. Why would you do that? Ticket prices were lowered this year, in the hopes of luring more people back into the seats. And for the home opener, tickets were sold from the bottom, up, which helped fill the seats closest to the ice, creating the illusion of a bigger crowd.
The fact that it was a rivalry match-up helped, as well. But there really aren't too many of those.
The «higher-ups» don't seem too concerned, but low attendance is bound to have an effect on the organization, financially, let alone psychologically.
Maybe it's time the Hawks take some advice from one of their long-time rivals; after all, if Detroit can get people to continually attend Lions gamesanything should be possible.
| POLL | ||
What would get you to a Blackhawks game? | ||
| Lower ticket prices | 168 | 52 % |
| Lower concession prices | 20 | 6.2 % |
| Winning | 93 | 28.8 % |
| Bringing DeBrincat back | 42 | 13 % |
| List of polls | ||
