Comments on: Pictures from the Phoenix Coyotes 2nd home game – Where is everyone?

By: IllegalCurve.com » Blog Archive » Morning Papers Take: What is going on in the desert?

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:00:51 +0000

[...] St. Louis – 6,899 vs. Boston – 9,162 vs. Detroit – 11,938 vs. Los Angeles – 7,968 vs. Anaheim [...]

By: dave

dave — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:59:45 +0000

Ross

Thanks Ross. It is always good when you can get a local perspective. Do you think that Saturday's game against the Bruins will be better attended? How about next Thursday's game versus the Wings?

Eric L

Should be interesting to see how the season progresses.

No question that they didn't pan high during the game. Even so it was obvious that the arena was empty.

By: Ross

Ross — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:06:23 +0000

Weekday games have traditionally been a hard sell at the Glendale arena. I would think making even a 7:30p start time, rather then 7:00p, would make it more appealing to more fans. Traffic in Phoenix, as in any major metropolitan area, is not fan to cross between 5p and 7p. It’s a fact that the majority of the population in Phoenix is in the east valley, so these fans have to cross the city to get to the arena.

Having been to every Phoenix home game, including pre-season, this year I will attest that attendance has been disappointing, but not unexpected. The summer of uncertainty, coupled with the fact that they were not even SELLING season tickets for about two months (from May 5th through late June), has greatly harmed ticket sales.

The best way to increase this, as has been said along, is to win games. It feels like there’s already a bit of a buzz going around the city. The team that everyone had written off is playing well to start the season! If they continue, you will slowly start to see attendance pick up, but it will take time–possibly even most of the season. That’s if they play well…

For the record, the upper bowl was considerably more packed on the sidelines then the lower bowl against St.Louis, though the ends were fairly sparse.

By: Drew

Drew — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:05:49 +0000

I have had it with all the Phoenix bashing on this site! Anyone can point out the negatives when there are less than 5000 fans at a professional sporting event, but where are the positive stories on the quality of the smokies at the Jobing.com arena??? They are positively scrumptious!

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:04:38 +0000

And this is only the second game of the season and the team is winning….

Let’s check back for Game 20 it’ll probably make the above picture look flattering.

By: Eric L.

Eric L. — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:04:21 +0000

I used to be really against moving the franchise to Winnipeg, but now I’m reconsidering. I wanted the team to stay with its fan base, but it doesn’t look like they have much of a fan base.

By: rj

rj — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:58:58 +0000

I’m a racing fan, and when race attendances are down, the cameramen try to do a creative job of making it so that you can’t see the stands at one part of the track by turning the camera more toward the inside of the track as cars go by.

Looks like the Coyotes kind of did that with the lighting for the 2nd game.

By: dave

dave — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:48:17 +0000

Playing Devils Advocate, it was a Tuesday night. Perhaps that isn’t a good drawing days.

Should be interesting to see the crowd on Saturday night when the Bruins are in-town.

By: goon

goon — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:13:45 +0000

that is pathetic for hockey attendance. I want someone to please tell me why Winnipeg wasn’t worthy of an NHL franchise while Phoenix was?

By: Required Weekend Reading | The College Hockey Blog

Required Weekend Reading | The College Hockey Blog — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:48:22 +0000

[...] Two games in, the attendance in Phoenix isn’t exactly what I’d call high. (Illegal Curve) [...]

By: Q

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:24:56 +0000

from the AP:

NOTES: There were approximately 5,000 fans in attendance, below the 6,899 official attendance figure given by the team that includes unused season tickets. …

By: Empty Netter Assists - 10-16-09 - Empty Netters - post-gazette.com

Empty Netter Assists - 10-16-09 - Empty Netters - post-gazette.com — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:08:12 +0000

[...] -After selling out their home opener, the Coyotes only drew an announced attendance of 6,899 last night. [...]

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:49:58 +0000

The reason why they sold out opening night that easily is because all lower bowl tickets were $25, fees included, and $15 for upper bowl, and white t-shirts were given for free to all fans not wearing white. Else, I think it would have been somewhere around 14000-15000 for the opening night