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ECHL Is Only Minor League That Raised Attendance

April 24, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - Bolstered by 51 sellouts and with 11 teams increasing their attendance, the ECHL celebrated its 20th season by being the only minor professional hockey league to raise its attendance in 2007-08.

The third-longest tenured professional hockey league behind only the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League, the ECHL averaged 4,174 per game. It is the fourth year in row and the 16th time in the last 18 years that the league has averaged over 4,000 fans.

The Premier 'AA' Hockey League welcomed 3,756,191 fans, marking the fifth straight season and the 11th time in the last 12 years that it has exceeded 3.75 million fans. The 51 sold out crowds are the most in the last five seasons and mark the fourth time in the last five years that the ECHL has had at least 40 sellouts.

"While we had hoped that the increase would be more significant, the fact that there was an increase is a credit to the efforts of management and the teams across the league," said ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna. "We look forward to continuing these efforts to increase in growth in attendance and revenues for the 2008-09 season."

Cincinnati and Victoria led all of professional hockey in attendance increase with 36.8 percent and 14.7 percent, respectively, while Augusta was third in the ECHL and ninth overall with 10.9 percent. Cincinnati had a capacity crowd of 9,615 for its last home game on Mar. 28 eclipsing the team record of 7,584 on Nov. 29, 2002. Victoria had its second sellout crowd in history with 7,006 for its final regular season game and the Salmon Kings set team records with 175,354 fans and an average of 4,871 per game.

In its first season Elmira led the league with 14 sellouts followed by Charlotte with 12, Idaho with nine and Florida with six. The Steelheads lead the league in regular season sellouts the last five years with 38 followed by Charlotte with 33, Florida with 31 and Alaska with 20. The Jackals averaged 93.2 percent of capacity (3,525 per game) at First Arena which was up 2.9 percent from the previous season. Elmira had sellout crowds for seven consecutive Saturdays from Dec. 15, 2007-Mar. 1, 2008 while Idaho, which raised its average to 4,389 per game, had standing-room-only crowds on Friday and Saturday for three straight weeks.

Seven teams set the record for their largest crowd: Bakersfield (8,895 on Nov. 24, 2007), Charlotte (12,256 on Feb. 23), Cincinnati (9,615 on Mar. 28, 2008), Elmira (4,187 on Nov. 9, 2007), Idaho (5,631 on Jan. 19), Johnstown (4,238 on Nov. 30, 2007) and South Carolina (10,565 on Jan. 19).

South Carolina's crowd of 10,565 broke the team record set Jan. 18, 1997 and was the second sellout in the last two years for the Stingrays, who have raised their attendance each of the last three seasons.

Stockton led the league in attendance for the third year with 239,337 fans and an average of 6,648 per game while Florida was second with 217,185 and 6,033. The Thunder, who have had 12 sellouts in three seasons including four sellouts in 2007-08, are the first team to lead the league in attendance three consecutive years since Florida which led the ECHL for a record five straight years from 2000-05.

Charlotte had three of the five largest crowds in the league and finished third in attendance with 215,215 and 5,978 per game. The Checkers had the second-largest crowd with a team record 12,256 on Feb. 23, 2008 and the third-largest with 11,879 on Mar. 8, 2008. In the last two seasons the Checkers have had six crowds over 10,000 and nine others in excess of 9,000.

Returning after missing two years in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi had its largest attendance since 2001-02 with 3,753 per game, an increase of 9.6 percent from 2004-05 when the Sea Wolves last played.

Gwinnett had four crowds of more than 10,000 and raised its average for the third year in a row to 5,656 per game. The Gladiators have now had a crowd of 10,000 seven times in the last two years and 11 times overall, including four sellouts of 11,355.

Alaska had two sellouts this season including a team record tying 6,451 on Mar. 29. The Aces have had 20 regular season sellouts in their five seasons including seven crowds of 6,451.

Dayton raised its attendance for the third year in a row while Reading raised its average and Fresno had the largest crowd of the season with 12,590 on Feb. 9, 2008 and the fourth-largest with 11,582 on Mar. 22 and the sixth-largest with 10,669 on Jan. 11, 2008.

ECHL
Celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08, the ECHL is the Premier 'AA' Hockey League and the third-longest tenured professional hockey league behind only the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League.

ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown to be a coast-to-coast league with 25 teams playing 900 games in 17 states and British Columbia in 2007-08.

The league officially changed its name to ECHL on May 19, 2003.

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 30 teams in the NHL in 2007-08, marking the 11th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL.

There have been 355 former ECHL players who have gone on to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, including 99 in the last three seasons. There have been 210 former ECHL players who have played their first game in the NHL in the past seven seasons.

There are 15 coaches in the NHL who have ECHL experience including former Wheeling coach Peter Laviolette, who is head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, and former Mississippi coach Bruce Boudreau, who is head coach of the Washington Capitals.

The ECHL is represented for the seventh consecutive year on the National Hockey League championship team in 2007 with Anaheim assistant coach Dave Farrish, players Francois Beauchemin and George Parros and broadcasters John Ahlers and Steve Carroll.

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey League in 2007-08 and for the past 18 years there has been an ECHL player on the Calder Cup champion.

In each of the last two seasons there have been more than 225 players who have played in both the ECHL and the AHL and there were over 800 call-ups involving more than 500 players. In the last five seasons the ECHL has had more call-ups to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined with over 2,000 call-ups involving more than 1,000 players since 2002-03.

Further information on the ECHL is available from its website at ECHL.com.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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