We all saw the pictures from Game 1. The whiteout was successful and the building was rocking. Despite losing the game 2-0 to the Jackets, the deals that were widely available, had the Jobing.com arena pumping. Hockey in the desert was alive!!
Now many pundits felt the true test would be whether or not the crowds would keep up once the fervor of the home opener died down. While I’m sure many expected to see a slight drop from the home opener’s sellout crowd of 17,532 the pictures from Game 2 would seem to indicate that there has been a significant drop off. When I initially saw these pictures, I thought that perhaps fans in Phoenix, like those in other cities (I’m looking at you Toronto), spend half the period out of their seats and that since the pictures were taken a minute into the 2nd period this was the reason that the building looked half empty.
But then you see this picture that was taken from the upper bowl of Jobing.com arena at the 13:47 mark of the second period and you realize that there just wasn’t anyone at the game;
Now I am not sounding the death knell of the Yotes. Clearly Shane Doan, who is just a tremendous player (and person) thinks a lot of Phoenix;
It’s just a special place here, and these fans really do care,” Doan said. “The whole team is just grateful for the people who do support us so passionately.”
But the question I have after seeing these pictures is, where have they all gone? The Coyotes are going to have to continue to make major concessions to the people of Arizona to get them to come out. Still, you would think that the second game of the season would have been a little better attended than what it appeared to be. It should be interesting to see what the “announced crowd” will be. Any guesses?
Update: Announced attendance 6,899. Dear Mama.
Update #2: A look at all the Coyotes home games.
*Photos from Bluechipper
