ECHL Surpasses 3-Million Fans for 20th Consecutive Season
Published on April 24, 2013 under ECHL (ECHL) News Release
PRINCETON, N.J. - For the 20th consecutive season, over three-million fans attended ECHL games during the 2012-13 season. The 23 ECHL teams welcomed 3,887,521 fans this season, for an average of 4,695 per game, marking the ninth straight season and the 21st time in the last 23 seasons that the per-game average has exceeded 4,000 fans. It is the highest per-game average since 4,774 fans attended games during the 1999-2000 season and an increase of 9.7 percent from the 2011-12 season.
The Fort Wayne Komets led the ECHL with an average of 7,583 fans in their first season in the league. Fort Wayne had 10 crowds of at least 8,000 fans this season, including three games in excess of 10,000.
The Ontario Reign, who led the ECHL in each of the last three seasons and were second on 2008-09, finished just behind Fort Wayne with 7,575 per game, an increase of 20.1 percent over last season. Ontario has welcomed over 1.1 million fans in its first five seasons.
The Komets and Reign are the first two ECHL teams to average over 7,000 fans for a season since Florida (7,086) and Greenville (7,015) in 2000-01.
The expansion Orlando Solar Bears were third in the league with 6,668 fans per game at Amway Center, and had eight crowds of over 8,550.
Toledo surpassed the 6,000 fans per game mark for the third time in four seasons with an all-time team record of 6,298 per game, beating out the previous mark of 6,252 set last season.
Stockton rounded out the top five with 5,485 per game. The Thunder, which led the league in attendance for their first four seasons, have never finished below fifth in the league in final attendance.
Both Evansville and San Francisco enjoyed strong first seasons in the ECHL with the IceMen finishing seventh in the league with 5,415 per game and the Bulls welcoming 4,164 per game to the historic Cow Palace.
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 over 380 consecutive sellouts.
In addition to Ontario and Toledo, 10 other ECHL teams saw an increase in attendance over the 2011-12 season.
Greenville saw a 9.3 percent increase, finishing the season with 3,605 per game, and welcoming a club record 7,529 fans on March 2. Over their final 17 home games, the Road Warriors averaged 4,456 fans at BI-LO Center.
South Carolina averaged 3,528 per game, an increase of 8.5 percent, while Alaska improved by 7.5 percent with 4,783 per game, including tying a team record with 6,599 fans three times during the season (Nov. 17, March 15 and March 16). Kalamazoo improved by 6.9 percent, finishing the 2012-13 season with 3,252 per game.
The Cincinnati Cyclones increased their attendance for the sixth consecutive season, setting a team record with 160,087 through the turnstiles at U.S. Bank Arena, including setting a new club record for highest single-game attendance in the regular season with 12,250 on Jan. 5.
Gwinnett increased its attendance for the second consecutive season, seeing an increase of 5.4 percent to 5,437 per game, the club's highest since the 2008-09 season. Las Vegas also saw an increase for the second year in a row, finishing at 4,561, up 5.1 percent from 2011-12.
Utah set a new club record with 4,622 per game, an increase of 4.8 percent from last season while Florida finished with an increase of 2.2 percent at 5,116 per game. The Everblades have averaged over 5,000 fans per game in each of their 15 seasons in the league.
Idaho was the final team to see an increase over last season, improving 2.1 percent to 3,987 per game, and welcoming six standing-room only crowds to CenturyLink Arena.
ECHL Stories from April 24, 2013
- Houser, Cyclones Blank Gladiators 5-0 - Cincinnati Cyclones
- Everblades Power by Reading in Florida, 4-1 - Reading Royals
- Gladiators Drop Game 3, 5-0 - Atlanta Gladiators
- See Miranda Lambert for Free Courtesy of the Condors - Bakersfield Condors
- Wheeling Nailers Weekly Internet Show Debuts Friday - Wheeling Nailers
- Cullity Re-Joins Steelheads - Idaho Steelheads
- Wranglers Give over $330,000 Back to Vegas Community in 2012-13 - Las Vegas Wranglers
- ECHL Transactions - April 24 - ECHL
- All Remaining Aces Playoff Games Will be Televised on GCI Cable - Alaska Aces
- Playoff Game Preview - Ontario Reign at Idaho Steelheads - Ontario Reign
- Cyclones Game Preview - Cincinnati vs. Gwinnett - Cincinnati Cyclones
- ECHL Surpasses 3-Million Fans for 20th Consecutive Season - ECHL
- SF Bulls Inaugural Season - Part 2: Off-Ice Efforts - San Francisco Bulls
- ECHL Today - April 24 - ECHL
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.
