Swiss lead attendance study
ZURICH – The annual attendance study of European league hockey is led by Swiss club SC Bern for the 16th consecutive time. The club from the Swiss capital averaged 16,399 spectators during the regular season. The Swiss National League A leads all European leagues with an average of 6,882 fans.
Scroll down for the club and league rankings.
SC Bern increased its average by 254 fans compared to last year, making it the club with the highest attendance in Europe once again. Only clubs in the National Hockey League in North America, although not all of them, have a higher average.
The club is followed by Dynamo Minsk. The Belarusian entry in the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League increased its average to 13,230 and moved up from sixth back to second place.
Third is Kolner Haie from the German DEL. 12,662 fans in average came to the games in Cologne’s LANXESS arena, which will host the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in May together with Paris, France.
Six clubs reached five-digit figures in Europe and three of them are from Germany. Beside Kolner Haie also Eisbaren Berlin (4th, 12,052) and Adler Mannheim (6th, 10,812) rank high. SKA St. Petersburg (5th, 11,735) was the most-watched team from Russia.
The top-10 include the same clubs like last year with one exception: The Hamburg Freezers folded, and in their place the Slovak KHL team Slovan Bratislava moved from 12th to 9th place.
The top-100 club teams include teams from 15 different countries: Austria, Belarus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Norway, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland.
The Swiss NLA was the European with the highest average attendance for the fifth consecutive time even though it couldn’t confirm last year’s record number with a decrease from 7,026 to 6,882 fans in average. The German DEL remains in second place despite a drop in numbers due to the Hamburg Freezers’ folding and averaged 6,198 fans followed by the Kontinental Hockey League with 6,121 spectators in average. Although some teams like Dynamo Minsk, Spartak Moscow and Traktor Chelyabinsk had a significant growth, the KHL’s numbers went down by 2.9 per cent because the majority of teams had falling numbers and thus missed moving up to second place.
Sweden, which was the best attended league in Europe for many years, comes in fourth place with 5,707 fans. These four European leagues rank behind the NHL (currently 17,496) and before the American Hockey League (currently 5,270) in terms of attendance.
The Czech Extraliga (5,178) and Finland’s Liiga (4,326) remain in fifth and sixth place respectively in Europe. The British Elite Ice Hockey League is now seventh with 2,842 fans at the expense of the Austrian-based EBEL (2,794). Behind them are Norway, Slovakia and France – all with growing numbers in their top national championship.
Kunlun Red Star, the new Chinese team that entered the KHL in summer, averaged 2,952 fans in its first regular season and is now the most-watched club team in Asia. 5,137 fans in average came to the games at the Olympic venue in Beijing, 1,280 spectators to the games held in Shanghai. Second in Asia were the Nikko Ice Bucks from Japan who averaged 1,449 fans in the nine-team Asia League.
MARTIN MERK
Attendance figures in European hockey leagues 2016/2017 | | Club | Country | Average | Cap. % | 1. | (1.) | SC Bern | SUI | 16,399 | 95.73% | 2. | (6.) | Dynamo Minsk | BLR | 13,230 | 87.70% | 3. | (3.) | Kolner Haie | GER | 12,662 | 68.44% | 4. | (2.) | Eisbaren Berlin | GER | 12,052 | 84.87% | 5. | (4.) | SKA St. Petersburg | RUS | 11,735 | 93.88% | 6. | (5.) | Adler Mannheim | GER | 10,812 | 79.50% | 7. | (7.) | Jokerit Helsinki | FIN | 9,610 | 70.33% | 8. | (8.) | ZSC Lions Zurich | SUI | 9,214 | 82.27% | 9. | (12.) | Slovan Bratislava | SVK | 9,104 | 90.54% | 10. | (9.) | Frolunda Gothenburg | SWE | 9,029 | 74.97% | 11. | (11.) | Avangard Omsk | RUS | 8,508 | 82.46% | 12. | (13.) | Lokomotiv Yaroslavl | RUS | 8,381 | 92.65% | 13. | (18.) | Sparta Prague | CZE | 8,032 | 46.27% | 14. | (15.) | Dusseldorfer EG | GER | 7,787 | 58.71% | 15. | (14.) | Kometa Brno | CZE | 7,600 | 98.70% | 16. | (31.) | Spartak Moscow | RUS | 7,288 | | 17. | (16.) | Dynamo Pardubice | CZE | 7,172 | | 18. | (30.) | Salavat Yulayev Ufa | RUS | 7,106 | | 19. | (19.) | Sibir Novosibirsk | RUS | 7,094 | | 20. | (23.) | HIFK Helsinki | FIN | 7,089 | | 21. | (35.) | Traktor Chelyabinsk | RUS | 7,059 | | 22. | (24.) | Met. Magnitogorsk | RUS | 7,051 | | 23. | (20.) | Djurgarden Stockholm | SWE | 6,989 | | 24. | (17.) | Malmo Redhawks | SWE | 6,852 | | 25. | (22.) | Amur Khabarovsk | RUS | 6,678 | | 26. | (25.) | Lausanne HC | SUI | 6,567 | | 27. | (27.) | HV71 Jonkoping | SWE | 6,481 | | 28. | (29.) | Ak Bars Kazan | RUS | 6,471 | | 29. | (28.) | EV Zug | SUI | 6,436 | | 30. | (34.) | Farjestad Karlstad | SWE | 6,241 | | 31. | (26.) | Geneve-Servette | SUI | 6,135 | | 32. | (21.) | Dynamo Moscow | RUS | 6,113 | | 33. | (42.) | Bili Tygri Liberec | CZE | 5,940 | | 34. | (38.) | HC Lugano | SUI | 5,911 | | 35. | (37.) | SCL Tigers Langnau | SUI | 5,779 | | 36. | (33.) | Fribourg-Gotteron | SUI | 5,758 | | 37. | (77.) | Leksands IF | SWE | 5,737 | | 38. | (40.) | Nottingham Panthers | GBR | 5,720 | | 39. | (32.) | Linkopings HC | SWE | 5,701 | | 40. | (57.) | TPS Turku | FIN | 5,612 | | 41. | (55.) | Tappara Tampere | FIN | 5,597 | | 42. | (45.) | HC Ceske Budejovice | CZE-2 | 5,501 | | 43. | (41.) | Brynas Gavle | SWE | 5,425 | | 44. | (36.) | EHC Biel | SUI | 5,415 | | 45. | (54.) | Barys Astana | KAZ | 5,371 | | 46. | (46.) | Torpedo N. Novgorod | RUS | 5,340 | | 47. | (47.) | Orebro HK | SWE | 5,316 | | 48. | (48.) | Admiral Vladivostok | RUS | 5,314 | | 49. | (56.) | HK Sochi | RUS | 5,312 | | 50. | (43.) | Vitkovice Ostrava | CZE | 5,298 | | 51. | (58.) | Neft. Nizhnekamsk | RUS | 5,264 | | 52. | (84.) | Lowen Frankfurt | GER-2 | 5,247 | | 53. | (67.) | EHC Kloten | SUI | 5,229 | | 54. | (51.) | Nuremberg Ice Tigers | GER | 5,172 | | 55. | (44.) | Karpat Oulu | FIN | 5,152 | | 56. | (50.) | HK Hradec Kralove | CZE | 5,085 | | 57. | (71.) | Ilves Tampere | FIN | 4,956 | | 58. | (52.) | HC Ambri-Piotta | SUI | 4,955 | | 59. | (61.) | Augsburger Panther | GER | 4,920 | | 60. | (49.) | Lulea HF | SWE | 4,896 | | 61. | (79.) | HC Litvinov | CZE | 4,866 | | 62. | (74.) | Red Bull Munich | GER | 4,858 | | 63. | (59.) | Assat Pori | FIN | 4,844 | | 64. | (83.) | Sheffield Steelers | GBR | 4,830 | | 65. | (65.) | HC Davos | SUI | 4,792 | | 66. | (62.) | Vaxjo Lakers | SWE | 4,757 | | 67. | (69.) | Ocelari Trinec | CZE | 4,691 | | 68. | (60.) | Skelleftea AIK | SWE | 4,686 | | 69. | (76.) | Black Wings Linz | AUT | 4,658 | | 70. | (80.) | Belfast Giants | GBR | 4,603 | | 71. | (91.) | Schwenninger W.W. | GER | 4,569 | | 72. | (53.) | Medvescak Zagreb | CRO | 4,554 | | 73. | (95.) | Storhamar Hockey | NOR | 4,513 | | 74. | (87.) | Bremerhaven | GER | 4,468 | | 75. | (39.) | Dinamo Riga | LAT | 4,457 | | 76. | (66.) | Pirati Chomutov | CZE | 4,420 | | 77. | (73.) | Iserlohn Roosters | GER | 4,394 | | 78. | (68.) | HC Olomouc | CZE | 4,392 | | 79. | (64.) | PSG Zlin | CZE | 4,378 | | 80. | (82.) | Krefeld Pinguine | GER | 4,367 | | 81. | (72.) | Skoda Plzen | CZE | 4,325 | | 82. | (75.) | Straubing Tigers | GER | 4,271 | | 83. | (78.) | Avt. Yekaterinburg | RUS | 4,254 | | 84. | (new.) | Dynamo St. Petersburg | RUS-2 | 4,079 | | 85. | (70.) | Vienna Capitals | AUT | 4,074 | | 86. | (63.) | MODO Ornskoldsvik | SWE-2 | 4,031 | | 87. | (159.) | Sary-Arka Karaganda | KAZ | 4,024 | | 88. | (116.) | Karlskrona HK | SWE | 4,005 | | 89. | (89.) | Stavanger Oilers | NOR | 4,004 | | 90. | (115.) | Vityaz Podolsk | RUS | 3,876 | | 91. | (81.) | AIK Stockholm | SWE-2 | 3,872 | | 92. | (104.) | Pelicans Lahti | FIN | 3,840 | | 93. | (88.) | Lada Togliatti | RUS | 3,826 | | 94. | (187.) | Jukurit Mikkeli | FIN | 3,804 | | 95. | (102.) | Bjorkloven Umea | SWE-2 | 3,802 | | 96. | (85.) | Rogle Angelholm | SWE | 3,790 | | 97. | (100.) | Lukko Rauma | FIN | 3,763 | | 98. | (111.) | HPK Hameenlinna | FIN | 3,755 | | 99. | (90.) | ERC Ingolstadt | GER | 3,752 | | 100. | (129.) | Lyon Lions | FRA | 3,693 | |
Regular-Season average league attendance Europe & Asia | | League | Attendance | 1. | Switzerland - National League A | 6,882 | 2. | Germany - Deutsche Eishockey Liga | 6,198 | 3. | Russia - Kontinental Hockey League | 6,121 | 4. | Sweden - Swedish Hockey League | 5,707 | 5. | Czech Republic - Extraliga | 5,178 | 6. | Finland - Liiga | 4,326 | 7. | Great Britain - Elite Ice Hockey League | 2,842 | 8. | Austria - EBEL | 2,794 | 9. | Norway - Get-ligaen | 1,955 | 10. | Slovakia - Extraliga | 1,905 | 11. | France - Ligue Magnus | 1,886 | 12. | Denmark - Metal Ligaen | 1,310 | 13. | Asia League (CHN/JPN/KOR/RUS) | 958 | 14. | Poland - Polska Hokej Liga | 769 | 15. | Belarus - Extraliga | 635 | 16. | MOL Liga (HUN/ROU/SRB) | 624 | 17. | BeNe League (NED/BEL) | 565 |
Regular-Season average attendance in European 2nd-tier leagues | | League | Attendance | 1. | Sweden - HockeyAllsvenskan | 2,637 | 2. | Germany - DEL2 | 2,466 | 3. | Russia - VHL | 1,746 | 4. | Switzerland - National League B | 1,644 | 5. | Czech Republic - WSM Liga | 1,569 | 6. | Finland - Mestis | 817 | 7. | Austria - Alps Hockey League | 648 |
Notes: The regular season is still being played in North America and in Great Britain, numbers as of 13 March 2017.
PICTURE: SC Bern players Mark Arcobello and Beat Gerber battle for the puck with Lausanne’s Harri Pesonen during a home game at the PostFinance Arena, the venue with the highest attendance of a European club team. Photo: Peter Klaunzer / PPR
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