True North and Manitoba Moose Staff Hosted First-Class Hockey Night

It was nice to see NHL hockey back on MTS Centre ice this week. It looked just as good on a nation wide broadcast by TSN. Further, it looked as good on the MTS Centre as it looked on the NHL back in Manitoba.

Winnipeggers and Manitobans once again did themselves proud by hosting a very successful night of hockey. While some will point to a lower attendance this year, the truth is that of all North American non-NHL cities hosting a game, Winnipeg’s total gate revenue would be nearly the highest.

By comparing attendances and multiplying them by their average of the ticket pricing ranges across all “neutral” sites, it is easy to see that Manitoba is at the front of the line for a “gentle-used” or “pre-owned” NHL franchise. Attendance of 11,644 fans translates into a total gate of $809,258.

This is a very respectable number across the NHL. This total per game gate revenue can be compared to the NHL numbers for the 2007-08 season, which is the last season that had league-sourced numbers published.

$809,258 is good for 16th place out of 30 teams.

Now some would argue that is not a fair comparison for Manitoba. The comparison has two teams with few if any ties to Winnipeg, playing essentially split squads in pre-season games commonly referred to as “glorified practices” against the real deal in big league hockey complete with playoff chases and divisional rivalries. Needless to say, this bodes very well for Winnipeg’s NHL aspirations.

There is other insight to be gained by viewing the numbers for this year and year over year total gate revenues.

Let’s compare Winnipeg to Kansas City, another often mentioned locale for a possible hurried team transfer. Kansas City’s attendance was 9,972 just two days before Winnipeg’s game. KC had a ticket average of $42.50, which totals a gate of $423,810. This is only 47.6% of Winnipeg's gate. Or conversely, Winnipeg's 2009 gate is 91% greater than KC's 2009 game, with 1,672 more fans in attendance. A similar tale for 2008 could be stated.

This best illustrates the lessons between theory and reality, the NHL is learning the hard way in several locales. As James Mirtle penned over a year ago, large cities that remain indifferent to hockey after years of trying are, in practice, small NHL markets. And as a consequence, based on similar math above, those markets in Winnipeg, Hamilton and Quebec City, to name just three, are smaller populations that are rabid hockey markets with little competition for the sporting dollar.

Go North NHL Man! Go North!

If you have a differing point of view, face-off at the forum. www.mbmbforum.com

Chris
President, www.myNHLincludesWinnipeg.com
~ The Reality May Surprise You! Excite You! ~