NHL attendance

The National Hockey League is the fourth largest live spectator sport in the world in terms of overall attendance. Despite the recession and rising ticket prices, as of the 2008-09 season the NHL had 21,475,224 overall live spectators, and averaged 17,460 spectators per game.

2010-11 Attendance Statistics

First Niagara Center

United Center

Pepsi Center

Verizon Center

Team	Arena	Home Games	Average Attendance	Total Attendance	Capacity Percentage
Chicago Blackhawks	United Center	41	21,423	878,356	108.7% [1]
Montreal Canadiens	Bell Centre	41	21,273	872,193	100.0%
Philadelphia Flyers	Wells Fargo Center	41	19,715	808,328	101.1%
Detroit Red Wings	Joe Louis Arena	41	19,680	806,892	98.1%
Toronto Maple Leafs	Air Canada Centre	41	19,354	793,522	102.9%
Calgary Flames	Scotiabank Saddledome	40	19,289	771,560	100.0%
St. Louis Blues	Scottrade Center	41	19,150	785,150	100.0%
Vancouver Canucks	Rogers Arena	41	18,860	773,260	102.3%
Buffalo Sabres	HSBC Arena*	41	18,452	756,568	98.7%
Washington Capitals	Verizon Center	41	18,397	754,309	100.0%
Ottawa Senators	Scotiabank Place	41	18,378	753,525	99.3%
Pittsburgh Penguins	Consol Energy Center	40	18,240	729,628	100.9%
New York Rangers	Madison Square Garden	41	18,108	742,432	99.5%
Los Angeles Kings	Staples Center	41	18,083	741,404	99.8%
Minnesota Wild	Xcel Energy Center	40	18,012	720,508	99.7%
Boston Bruins	TD Garden	40	17,565	702,600	100.0%
San Jose Sharks	HP Pavilion at San Jose	40	17,562	702,480	100.4%
Tampa Bay Lightning	St. Pete Times Forum	41	17,268	708,022	87.4%
Edmonton Oilers	Rexall Place	41	16,839	690,399	100.0%
Carolina Hurricanes	RBC Center	40	16,415	656,611	87.6%
Nashville Predators	Bridgestone Arena	41	16,142	661,861	94.3%
Florida Panthers	BankAtlantic Center	41	15,685	643,116	81.5%
Dallas Stars	American Airlines Center	41	15,073	617,997	81.3%
Colorado Avalanche	Pepsi Center	41	14,820	607,650	82.3%
New Jersey Devils	Prudential Center	41	15,775	605,803	83.8%
Anaheim Ducks	Honda Center	41	14,738	604,283	85.8%
Columbus Blue Jackets	Nationwide Arena	40	13,658	546,350	75.3%
Atlanta Thrashers	Philips Arena	41	13,469	552,230	72.6%
Phoenix Coyotes	Jobing.com Arena	40	12,188	487,543	71.2%
New York Islanders	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum	41	11,059	453,456	67.9%

Notes

• Totals do not include six regular-season opening games played in Europe, and two outdoor regular season games.
• The Carolina Hurricanes played the Minnesota Wild at Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland.
• The Columbus Blue Jackets played the San Jose Sharks at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden
• The Boston Bruins played the Phoenix Coyotes at O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic.
• The Washington Capitals played the Pittsburg Penguins outdoors in the Winter Classic at Heinz Field in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
• The Montreal Canadiens played the Calgary Flames outdoors in the Heritage Classic at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta.
• As of October 2010, Calgary's Pengrowth Saddledome was renamed Scotiabank Saddledome.^[2]
• As of August 2011, Buffalo's HSBC Arena was renamed First Niagara Center.^[3]
• Following the 2011 season, the Atlanta Thrashers relocated and became the current version of the Winnipeg Jets.

2009-10 Attendance Statistics

HP Pavilion

Scotiabank Place

Nationwide Arena

Madison Square Garden

Team	Arena	Home Games	Average Attendance	Total Attendance	Capacity Percentage
Montreal Canadiens	Bell Centre	41	21,273	872,193	100.0% [4]
Chicago Blackhawks	United Center	40	21,356	854,267	108.3%
Detroit Red Wings	Joe Louis Arena	40	19,535	800,966	97.4%
Calgary Flames	Pengrowth Saddledome	41	19,289	790,849	100.0%
Toronto Maple Leafs	Air Canada Centre	41	19,260	789,681	102.5%
Philadelphia Flyers	Wells Fargo Center	41	19,546	781,847	100.2%
Vancouver Canucks	GM Place	41	18,810	771,210	102.1%
Buffalo Sabres	HSBC Arena	41	18,529	759,695	99.1%
St. Louis Blues	Scottrade Center	40	18,883	755,322	98.6%
Minnesota Wild	Xcel Energy Center	41	18,415	755,055	101.9%
Washington Capitals	Verizon Center	41	18,277	749,357	100.0%
Ottawa Senators	Scotiabank Place	41	18,269	749,061	98.8%
New York Rangers	Madison Square Garden	41	18,076	741,128	99.3%
San Jose Sharks	HP Pavilion at San Jose	41	17,558	719,904	100.4%
Los Angeles Kings	Staples Center	41	17,313	709,853	93.6%
Dallas Stars	American Airlines Center	41	17,215	705,817	92.9%
Pittsburgh Penguins	Mellon Arena	41	17,078	700,211	100.7%
Boston Bruins	TD Garden	41	17,388	695,543	99.0%
Edmonton Oilers	Rexall Place	41	16,839	690,399	100.0%
New Jersey Devils	Prudential Center	41	15,535	636,975	88.1%
Tampa Bay Lightning	St. Pete Times Forum	41	15,497	635,388	78.4%
Columbus Blue Jackets	Nationwide Arena	41	15,416	632,086	85.0%
Carolina Hurricanes	RBC Center	41	15,240	624,873	81.4%
Anaheim Ducks	Honda Center	41	15,168	621,903	88.3%
Nashville Predators	Bridgestone Arena	41	14,979	614,143	87.5%
Florida Panthers	BankAtlantic Center	40	15,146	605,863	78.7%
Colorado Avalanche	Pepsi Center	41	13,947	571,849	77.5%
Atlanta Thrashers	Philips Arena	41	13,607	557,897	73.4%
New York Islanders	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum	41	12,735	522,168	78.1%
Phoenix Coyotes	Jobing.com Arena	41	11,989	491,558	68.5%

Notes

• Totals do not include two regular-season opening games played in Europe. The Detroit Red Wings played the St.Louis Blues at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden, and the Chicago Blackhawks played the Florida Panthers at Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland.
• The Pittsburgh Penguins began play in their new arena (Consol Energy Center) on Wednesday, September 22, 2010. With a larger capacity, more luxury seating, and better amenities than their former home Mellon Areana, the Penguins are expected to have a larger average and overall attendance record in the 2010-11 season.^[5]
• As of July 6, 2010, Vancouver's GM Place was renamed Rogers Arena.^[6]

References

1. ^ http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance/_/year/2011
2. ^ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2010/10/08/calgary-saddledome-scotiabank-name-deal.html
3. ^ http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/downtown/article533695.ece
4. ^ http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance/_/year/2010
5. ^ http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Photo-Expedition-Consol-Energy-Center-new-home?urn=nhl-233424
6. ^ http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/07/06/bc-canucks-gm-place-renamed.html