SPHL Playoff Attendance

[Mike4FireAntz34]

Is it me...do does everyone else notice the poor playoff attendance this year.... the League averaged over 3,000 but they playoffs is only getting about 2,000 the games...maybe they should keep the same prices that the Reg Season ticket prices were...and maybe more than 3,000 would come out every playoff game....

Discuss

[mitchg73]

I Truelly dont understand but this happens in almost every league

[Mike4FireAntz34]

Only College and Pro Sports get good Playoff Attendance ... Maybe next year each team should use the Reg Season ticket prices for playoff games...or have a buy 1 get 1 free playoff game tickets....it might help the attendance in the Playoffs

[osopa506]

Florida fan here... I know we are down a bit in average but one game was a Tuesday night which always draws low and the others were Fridays which are also normal working days. We tend to draw better on Saturday games since we are outside of the metropolitan area of Orlando and many people have a long drive here. I was listening to the Knoxville game last night and the broadcaster said that they were way down last night because it is school spring break in the area now...and after thinking about it I am sure this is the same problem around the league! Also here in Florida the pricing was actually cheaper on the season ticket holder playoff seats than the regular season!

[zerotollerance]

Unfortunately, in this league (and almost all minor pro) we have 3 or 5 game series and little advance notice for the next game. It is very hard to promote a game without a date. You may only have 24-72 hour notice to promote the next game. Plus like someone else said when you start getting Tuesday night games...good luck.

Personally, I think STH's should get FREE playoff tickets and everyone else should get two-for-one's. I don't necesarily think price is the only issue, but it would help.

Also, the barns aren't helping. PD basically got home ice as a 6 seed because of scheduling issues in Knoxville. I don't know how to solve this issue, but it is a problem.

[I Talk To Myself]

I was discussing this issue with the ticket guru from one of the teams. One big issue is the lack of GROUP SALES. As mentioned, with a 5-7 day heads up, most companies can't put together a big "group sales" package. No group sales means you are stuck with your season ticket base (generally between 1000 and 1500) some pregame sales, plus the walkup sales.

Unlike the NHL where the playoff ticket is the "trendy" ticket, in the minors, the playoff ticket is for the loyal fan. It gives the teams a good look at thier rock solid ticket base, however total numbers will be down.

Peace out homies
Dave

[#1 Guard Fan]

Never really under stood the jump in prices just for the playoffs. Not like the NHL where it will seel out no matter what. I think the teams try and take advantage of the "playoffs" and jack prices up plus you are also right about the weekend dates

[preeths]

Dave, good post. Your guru hit the nail on the head. We'll see articles questioning playoff attendance from experienced beat writers (see today's Lewiston paper), and I wish they'd just ask the head ticket guy instead of chastising the fan base.

[Frankie53182]

Talking with our folks here in Knoxville that is exactly it...GROUPS!!! I dont see price being an issue here either because playoff tickets only went up a dollar and if you look at the regular season attendance it shows pricing wasnt an issue then. Just my two cents worth.

[#1 Guard Fan]

I know here in fayetteville all seats were $15 so some seats went down but where most of the fans normaly sit went up $5 per seat. I know it the big leagues thats not much but when you are talking minor league (A league hockey) i think that jump really hurts

[Mike4FireAntz34]

I know here in fayetteville all seats were $15 so some seats went down but where most of the fans normaly sit went up $5 per seat. I know it the big leagues thats not much but when you are talking minor league (A league hockey) i think that jump really hurts


I bet next year that we will have cheaper playoff tickets!! hopefully lol...heck we need to talk to the GM about having regualer season prices for playoffs if they want a great crowd in the playoffs lol

[#1 Guard Fan]

Good luck talking to him. I wrote him several times this year and he never wrote back once. He is to busy for us small fish(aka the fans)

[slapshot_gurl21]

You e-mailed Kevin MacNaught? Did you try Lane Cody or Flemming? I dunno how much help Jason would've been but I have e-mailed him a couple of times......he did pretty well with responding. I would also try to e-mail questions or suggestions to Annie Taylor (since she deals with tickets) Like I said I don't know how much help they will be but it's just a suggestion. Anyways, I do agree with the pricing, but it is hard for people to know about the games on short notice like the playoffs tend to be.

[#1 Guard Fan]

Yes I wrote Kevin many times last year. I am a person that thinks he as part owner of the team should hear what the fans have to say. I wrote about the lack of restrooms for us tailgaters and other things like that. I never got one email back but from time to time we would have a port-a-john for the before game party. I got to were I would write coach booth because he would always answer back no matter what. What a great guy he is. I just wrote him and he wrote back within 15 mins. Now thats a fan and players coach right there. Kevin dig deep into those pockets and bring coach back