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ECHL Surpasses 3-Million Fans for 19th Consecutive Season

April 6, 2012 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release

PRINCETON, N.J. - For the 19th consecutive season, over three-million fans attended ECHL games during the 2011-12 season. The 20 ECHL teams welcomed 3,082,764 fans this season, for an average of 4,281 per game, marking the eighth straight season and the 20th time in the last 22 seasons that the per-game average has exceeded 4,000 fans.

The Ontario Reign led the ECHL for the third straight season with an average of 6,309 per game. Ontario, which finished second in the league in its inaugural season in 2008-09, has welcomed over 910,000 fans in its first four seasons.

Toledo surpassed the 6,000 fans per game mark for the second time in three seasons with 6,252 per game, an increase of 5.0 percent over last season. The Walleye set a team record with 8,250 fans for their home opener on Oct. 15 against Chicago.

Stockton went over the 200,000 mark in total attendance for the seventh straight season. The Thunder, which led the league in attendance for their first four seasons, have never finished below third in the league in final attendance.

In their first season in the ECHL, the Colorado Eagles sold out all 36 games at the 5,289-seat Budweiser Events Center, extending the team's minor-league hockey record to 347 consecutive sellouts.

In addition to Toledo, six other ECHL teams saw an increase in attendance over the 2010-11 season, led by the Trenton Titans, who saw a 26.1 percent increase over the Trenton Devils attendance last season. The Titans averaged 3,013 per game, exceeding the 3,000 mark for the first time since 2007-08.

Las Vegas averaged 4,339 per game at Orleans Arena, an increase of 10.1 percent, while Wheeling saw an increase of 7.2 percent, highlighted by a standing-room only crowd of 5,486 for the Nailers' final home game of the regular season on March 31 against Elmira.

Alaska increased its attendance by 2.3 percent, averaging 4,450 per game, and setting a new club regular-season record with 6,599 fans on Feb. 25 against Las Vegas, and matching it on March 10 against Colorado.

The Cincinnati Cyclones increased their attendance for the fifth consecutive season, setting a team record with 150,852 through the turnstiles at U.S. Bank Arena.

Gwinnett was the final team to see an increase over last season with an improvement of 0.6 percent.

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