582 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

Score!

[VicHockeyFan]

Interesting article today in the News in conjunction with the return of the Cougars this weekend, even for non-fans, some nice history:

http://www.vicnews.c.../179991511.html

[Sparky]

Great game tonight. Victoria 4 Vancouver 1.....7006 bums in the seats.

Nice.

[drt]

Yep! I was there too. Good game.

[Mike K.]

To think that the original league was the ECHL and no matter how hard the marketers tried few people bought their "...but these are pros!" argument. We should have started with a WHL team from the get-go and by now the team would have had an even more loyal following.

[drt]

ECHL seems like a weird choice for Victoria aren't most of the teams in the ECHL American? Looking at the Wikipedia entry for it, it looks like there isn't a single Canadian team in the league right now. I didn't live here when the Salmon Kings where here; did they not do well?

[Mike K.]

No, they didn't do very well at all. The arena was rarely full with most games attracting only a fraction of its capacity.

[VicHockeyFan]

No, they didn't do very well at all. The arena was rarely full with most games attracting only a fraction of its capacity.

Slow down Charlie. The Royals are only averaging a few hundred more each game than the SKs, and the SKs were always in the top 30% for ECHL attendance.

And yes, drt, the SKs were the only Canadian team. But don't forget, there are often more pro hockey teams in Texas than there are in Canada. We don't seem to like minor-pro, we'd rather watch 16-20 year olds.

NHL: The Dallas Stars.
AHL: The Texas Stars, San Antonio Rampage and the Houston Aeros.
CHL: The Allen Americans, Amarillo Gorillas, Austin Ice Bats, Corpus Christi IceRays, Laredo Bucks, Odessa Jackalopes, Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees and the Texas Brahmas.

[drt]

Well, what I was driving at is that it's probably more interesting and exciting to watch more local teams play. Hard to get as excited about teams from Nevada and California come to town as opposed to other BC teams. Too bad we missed out on the AHL, at least they have another BC team and a few other Canadian teams.

[Mike K.]

Slow down Charlie. The Royals are only averaging a few hundred more each game than the SKs, and the SKs were always in the top 30% for ECHL attendance.

That's likely due to the fact many of the ECHL cities are smaller than Victoria.

The Royals are already averaging 15% more attendees than the Salmon Kings and they're still a new team. Give it a couple of years and they'll bring in well over 6,000 fans per game.

[VicHockeyFan]

That's likely due to the fact many of the ECHL cities are smaller than Victoria.

I dunno....

San Diego
Stockton 296k
Anchorage
Bakersfield 352,428
Boise 616k
Salt Lake City
Fresno 501k
Phoenix

The Royals are already averaging 15% more attendees than the Salmon Kings and they're still a new team. Give it a couple of years and they'll bring in well over 6,000 fans per game.

With most new teams, attendance usually goes down after the honeymoon period.

[Mike K.]

With most new teams, attendance usually goes down after the honeymoon period.

The Kings' average across seven seasons was less than 4,000. The Royals in their first year had them beat by 30% and continue to sell out games.

I'm confident the Royals will average 6,000 this season.

[Sparky]

Alright you two.

It was still a great game.

[VicHockeyFan]

The Kings' average across seven seasons was less than 4,000. The Royals in their first year had them beat by 30% and continue to sell out games.

I'm confident the Royals will average 6,000 this season.

The Royals attendance is down 13% this year from last, and will be under 5,000 for the year. 9th among 21 WHL teams.

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

The WHL is averaging 4420 while the ECHL is averaging 4560 this year.

[jonny]

The Royals attendance is down 13% this year from last, and will be under 5,000 for the year. 9th among 21 WHL teams.

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

The WHL is averaging 4420 while the ECHL is averaging 4560 this year.

Not sure what's up with the link you posted, but it's showing only 6 Royals' home games with a total attendance of 29k? That certainly doesn't make sense as I myself have gone to at least six games this year.

I just did a quick calculation off of the Royals website, and came up a home attendance average of 5,119 through 25 home games. Total attendance is 127,979.

Larger crowds will be present as we get closer to the playoffs and anticipation, marketing and excitement build up for the the playoff push. Average attendance for the first 12 home games was 4,814 and for the last 12 was 5,451. The trend is definitely up. Concluding that attendance "will be under 5,000 for the year" is more than a tad premature, it's invalid using data available today.

Edit: That link you posted shows average attendance of 4,961, which is correct for the first six home games according to the Royals website. There have been 19 home games since then; therefore, the data on that site appears to be invalid.

[VicHockeyFan]

http://www.timescolo...lt-skid-1.85043

Meanwhile, the Royals will not meet the Blazers or Rockets at their regular Memorial Centre home during the first round of the playoffs unless they want to skate over pebbled ice. Because of the world men’s curling championship taking place in the Blanshard Street facility, the Royals first-round home playoff games will be at Bear Mountain Arena.

“We are prepared to play at Bear Mountain,” said Royals president Dave Dakers. “It will be a small venue, sold-out environment and should be fun.”

In any event, the Royals are unlikely to move past the first round of the playoffs this year.

[jonny]

http://www.timescolo...lt-skid-1.85043


In any event, the Royals are unlikely to move past the first round of the playoffs this year.

Yes, the way they are playing now, with Gogolev out and with them playing Kamloops or Kelowna in the first round, I'd say things aren't looking good.

A damn shame they won't be playing downtown. The few times I have gone to Bear Mountain Arena for events parking and access have been tragic for not even sold out events. I doubt I'll be heading up there for a playoff game as a result, which is too bad.

[G-Man]

Shows a lot of faith by the owners of the facility and the team that they would make the playoffs.

[VicHockeyFan]

Shows a lot of faith by the owners of the facility and the team that they would make the playoffs.

If they ended up higher in the rankings, they would have home-ice, and they would be fine. So maybe they were optimistic.

Look, you can't move the date of the Ford World's, I think you take them regardless.

[jonny]

Isn't this the men's world curling championship? I'm no curling afficionado, but I think it's a big deal in the world of curling.

I would guess the curling event is a big financial deal for RG Properties. The Royals first round playoff series will likely be only two home games, whereas the World Curling event is nine days long with relatively expensive tickets compared to the WHL ($350 per seat for the week compared to $20/ticket for two playoffs games). It's probably a no brainer decision if you're RG Properties.

$20 a ticket for two playoffs games would be about $280,000 in total playoff ticket revenue. $350 per seat for the curling week would be nearly $2.5M. Not saying they will sell out every seat for $350, but this looks like a big revenue difference. Concession sales would also surely be much larger for a week long event than two nights of hockey.