by Ron Spence
There’s been a lot of media talk about Phoenix, Hamilton, and now Winnipeg.
It seems that Mr. Bettman favours Winnipeg over Hamilton – for a potential franchise transfer.
Whether he’s telling the truth – or not – we don’t know. His trust level is at an all time low.
But, there’s one thing that we know for sure.
The Winnipeg area is supporting their AHL team significantly more than the Hamilton area is supporting their squad. Almost three times as many people have attended Moose home games, as Hamilton area residents have supported their Bulldogs – during the playoffs.
Now, you could say that Winnipeg is a somewhat better team than Hamilton (Winnipeg finished the regular season with 107 points, and Hamilton with 102.).
That maybe so, but the quality of play never deterred Canucks’ fans from supporting their team.
If Hamilton was to have a faltering NHL team, how many fans would pay the money to watch their players lose?
AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFF ATTENDANCE (2008-09)
*****
Because of the preceding article on Houston, we also highlighted the Aeros’ average attendance, which has been higher than Hamilton’s.
During the regular season, 7,769 was the average attendance in Winnipeg, and 4,624 the average in Hamilton (Houston was 8th in the 30 team league with 5,982.).
Nice work putting together the stats about ACTUAL attendance for Winnipeg and Hamilton. People keep talking about how big of a market Southern Ontario is– but they wouldn’t be the “only show in town.”
Besides, the Jets just belong in Winnipeg!!