Re: Attendance 2012-2013

[LightningObsessed]

15 of the 3000 for Express game 1 against Rainmen, were DIE HARD London fans, asked by Express management, to show Express fans how to show support, Lightning Style!!!! WE HAD A BLAST!!!! Plus the added bonus of booing Eddie Smith the entire night!!!!

[LightningObsessed]

Not sure what the attendance problem is this year in London!!! Very frustrating! Especially considering we have 1600 Season Ticket Holders.. The games are intense and we cheer the entire game! The players are going to local schools to get the word out.. trying to get the community involved..

[JJSA]

LightningObsessed,

What has the attendance been for the last 2 or 3 games there in London?

[sherridan]

62 games into the season! If it all ended right now - we would be watching London battle Moncton for the cup!

Here are the up to date attendance figures for each team:

HALIFAX RAINMEN GAME-BY-GAME

11/10/12 h Saint John Mill Rats 3261
11/11/12 h Moncton Miracles 2159
11/17/12 h Moncton Miracles 2110
11/24/12 h Windsor Express 2460
11/25/12 h Summerside Storm 1786
Average 2355

LONDON LIGHTNING GAME-BY-GAME

11/3/12 h Halifax Rainmen 3456
11/8/12 h Oshawa Power 1681
11/17/12 h Montreal Jazz 2359
11/22/12 h Montreal Jazz 1841
11/25/12 h Oshawa Power 2019
Average 2071


MONCTON MIRACLES GAME-BY-GAME

11/4/12 h Montreal Jazz 2021
11/8/12 h Halifax Rainmen 1803
11/10/12 h Summerside Storm 1976
11/14/12 h Saint John Mill Rats 1100
11/18/12 h Oshawa Power 1386
11/22/12 h Summerside Storm 1405
Average 1311


MONTREAL JAZZ GAME-BY-GAME

11/18/12 h London Lightning 1900
11/25/12 h Moncton Miracles NA
Average 1900*(incomplete)



OSHAWA POWER GAME-BY-GAME

11/10/12 h Windsor Express 340
11/15/12 h London Lightning 148
11/17/12 h Summerside Storm 175
Average 221


SAINT JOHN MILL RATS GAME-BY-GAME

11/3/12 h Montreal Jazz 2279
11/22/12 h Oshawa Power 1988
11/23/12 h Windsor Express 1876
Average 2048


SUMMERSIDE STORM GAME-BY-GAME

11/2/12 h Saint John Mill Rats 2119
11/9/12 h Saint John Mill Rats 2042
11/23/12 h Moncton Miracles 2073
Average 2078


WINDSOR EXPRESS GAME-BY-GAME

11/2/12 h Halifax Rainmen 3103
11/3/12 h Oshawa Power 376
11/16/12 h Summerside Storm 500
11/18/12 h Summerside Storm 375
Average 839


NBL Canada Average Attendance 1309
(Take Oshawa out 1800)

Observations so far:

-Oshawa looks to be done - don't know what they are doing in that market, those attendance figures are terrible. We got more people out to our high school junior basketball games. I really think it has a lot to do with the GTA area and the fact there is really no local media, therefore, no media attention.

-After a really good home opener, Windsor looks like they have their work cut out for them as well. Home opener offered free tickets, however, doesn't look like that has translated to paying customers. The Windsor Star needs to do a better job reporting on the team as well - very often the articles will be buried in the quick 'local sports updates' blurb. I have a lot of hope for the Windsor market and really hope they succeed. The attendance numbers are troubling though - I hope the ownership has a good plan.

-Was hoping to see Moncton's attendance increase with a better team this year. There is still hope though, might be taking people a while to catch on to the fact they seem to have a winner in their town this year (after last years horrendous season).

-Montreal seems to have a had a very successful home opener with 1900. That is by far more than the Kebs ever had (not counting the free ticket games). So far, no attendance figures for game 2 - will be interesting to see how many came out for that game.

-London's attendance is slightly disappointing. Don't know if it is a case of people getting tired of blow outs, the face of the franchise leaving (Gabe), or higher ticket prices (10% increase) - something is wrong though. There have been reports that they have 1600 season ticket holders this year - so attendance should always be considerably higher than that. Will be interesting to see how this plays out...

-Summerside is a nice surprise - both on the court and off the court. 2nd in average attendance. Very good PEI.

-Halifax and Saint John - seem to be holding strong based on previous years attendance figures.

Anyone else with any thoughts?

[12 Panels in the Cylinder]

Saint John vs Summerside (November 9th) - 2,042.

Why is Summerisde (pop. 14,751) drawing more fans than London? (pop. 366,151) Good on you, Summerside! Bad on you, London.

Are Summerside's games airing on TV? The Lightning's are. That could be a mistake. Don't give people an option of sitting at home drinking affordable beer, over paying for parking & arena-priced beer. Just sayin'.

On another note. I do hope that the rest of the teams, in the league, can improve. Watching London destroy teams is less entertaining. Dear The Rest of the League, Give us something to cheer for.

We will always go to the arena, but not everyone is like minded.

[sherridan]

Ah yes, good call on the TV aspect in London. I did notice most of the games have been televised. Not too sure if this is a good idea. It does promote the league/team, however, you are right, it might be cause for people to stay home. Might be a better idea for the local channel to show the game on tape delay?

And you are right - for the health of the league, it is is imperative that the other teams catch up to the Lightning in terms of level of play. Last year in London, there was a huge rivalry with Halifax (even before the finals). It is hard to build any rivalries when you are beating every team by at least 20 points. It doesn't help that London is in the weaker division and has to play the same weaker teams 8 times this year.

So far this year, we have only seen one team from the Atlantic conference (Halifax) - it will be interesting to see what the attendance numbers are like this Thursday when Saint John visits London.

[sherridan]

So now that we have a good idea of the numbers each team is getting, and where to find the attendance figures, I thought it would be a fun idea to compare to the closest competition the league has - the NBA DL. Anyone know where to find the attendance figures for the NBA DL?

[Evad]

If you go to this link for the month of November and then click on the box score the attendance is at the bottom. I only checked a couple games. You can check all the games and get your totals that way.

http://www.nba.com/dleague/schedules/2012_game_schedule/November.html

[misenern]

Individual attendance for each team for last season is posted about halfway down on this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011–12_NBA_Development_League_season

Highest: Rio Grande Valley Vipers - 4,817
Lowest: LA D-fenders - 218

[sherridan]

Excellent - thanks misenern.

So the average for the D league last year was 2745.

Average for NBLC so far this season is 1573 (I think).

Really not too bad considering the D league has had over 10 years to develope their product, where as the NBLC is only in its 2nd year.

[sherridan]

Just found this article:

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2002/12/Issue-65/Leagues-Governing-Bodies/Despite-Attendance-Drop-NBA-Remains-Optimistic-About-NBDL.aspx

Basically, it states that the D league average attendance in 2001-2002 (Year 1) was 1635. At the time of this article, the average attendance in 2002-2003 (Year 2) was at 1400.

So....it looks like the NBLC is in pretty good shape. Sure there a few markets that are a question mark, but seeing as the NBLC is already ahead of the D-League in terms of attendance, and considering the D league had NBA backing, I see a very bright future for the NBLC!

[Evad]

Here is the latest on attendance and the leagues take on it.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/sports/576352-cochrane-no-panic-over-nbl-crowd-dip

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