Why don't the Isles draw more fans to Nassau Coliseum?
My colleague, Katie Strang, did a story for tomorrow's paper on the Islanders finishing last in attendance this season. Here's the story. I don't understand this. Islanders fans come out in force on the Web, yet don't show up at the Coliseum in numbers. What gives? Secondly, I agree with the stadium expert Katie quotes. A new arena will help attendance, no doubt, but they need to produce a winner to keep the fannies in the seats.
Here's the last three years of Islanders' attendance, according to ESPN:
2008 - 559,247 total, 13,640 average, 30th in league (1,180 behind Phoenix)
2007 - 528,331 total, 12,886 average, 28th in league (336 ahead of last place)
2006 - 516,973 total, 12,609 average, 20th in league (709 behind Chicago)
BTW: If anyone wants to argue about why newspapers such as Newsday spend so much space on the Yankees and Mets compared to the other sports, take a look at the attendance. The Yankees sold 3.8 million seats before this season even began.
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Comments (2)
Dont use the Yankees and Mets as an example...you cant when it comes to hockey.....
1. Nassau Coliseum only seats 16,297 per game....Yankees Stadium holds 55,000
2. Baseball plays twice as many home games as hockey does.
3. Ask the Yankees how many $5 and $10 ticket games they have per year....no NHL franchise can afford to do that.
In a nut shell....your comparing apples and oranges Jim....
Fair point on games played and seats in the stadium. But you do have to agree that if the Islanders had 81 home games and 55,000 seats, things wouldn't be much different. Would they suddenly sell all these empty seats they already have? And, finally, aren't the bleacher seats at Yankee Stadium 10 or 12?