NHL attendance so far – a breakdown of each word in regards to hope – The Athletic

Ticket sales continue to be a major theme for NHL team.

As a competitive league, NHL owners and teams have suffered financially during the 2020-21 season by being forced to play in empty buildings or in front of extremely limited crowds. The league missed out on nearly $3.6 billion in revenue, which makes the $4.37 billion national TV deal that began this season feel a bit smaller than the league would have liked.

The NHL is also still in its infancy in garnering additional revenue beyond portals, television and sponsorship, so for many team executives, moving forward as a league means attracting fans return to the buildings.

And in many key markets, that hasn’t worked out as expected by the teams.

So far, only two of the 31 teams have played in the NHL before this season – Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning – are attracting crowds the same size or larger than they managed before the pandemic ended in the 2019-20 season.

New York Islanders has yet to play a home game and is an outlier, so Seattle Kraken who are enjoying the benefits of the excitement surrounding their first season. But elsewhere, declining academic participation is causing varying degrees of concern.

COVID-19 has had an immediate and lasting impact on NHL attendance. In the short term, COVID regulations continue to be a hot topic of how teams enforce certain protocols.

“I think it’s space that’s going to be a big deal this year and hopefully only this year,” said one group executive.