Attendance is a major factor in the National Hockey League. Ticket sales generate about a third of the league’s revenue to date, which is much higher than other leagues like the NBA, NFL, and MLB. Because of this, important factors like the salary cap are heavily influenced by ticket sales.
The salary cap for each team is projected to increase by four million from $83.5M in 2023–24 to $87.5M in 2024–25. This is a massive jump given the stagnation we’ve seen from the NHL for years. If attendance numbers in the 2023–24 season decline, could that $87.5M number drop? This is definitely something to watch over the course of the season. So, I created an attendance model to track which teams are being attended more than others, with percentages. The model looks at both home and away attendance percentages, so it removes any biases from the equation.
A few things to note. First, the Arizona Coyotes have a capacity of 4,600, so keep that in mind when looking at their attendance figure.
Combined average attendance in December 2023
With the calendar turning to the new year, the numbers for December are ready. Here is the list of combined attendance (home and away values):
| RANK | TEAM | COMBINED AVERAGE ATTENDANCE IN DECEMBER |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Minnesota Wild | 101.30% |
| 2nd | Vegas Golden Knights | 100.97% |
| 3rd | Toronto Maple Leafs | 100.49% |
| 4th | Boston Bruins | 100.11% |
| 5th | New York Rangers | 99.91% |
| 6th | Vancouver Canucks | 99.85% |
| 7th | New Jersey Devils | 99.79% |
| 8th | Ottawa Senators | 99.40% |
| 9th | Pittsburgh Penguins | 99.28% |
| 10th | Tampa Bay Lightning | 98.92% |
| 11th | Edmonton Oilers | 98.88% |
| 12th | Montreal Canadiens | 98.82% |
| 13th | St Louis Blues | 98.79% |
| 14th | Dallas Stars | 98.39% |
| 15th | Philadelphia Flyers | 98.35% |
| 16th | Seattle Kraken | 98.27% |
| 17th | Washington Capitals | 98.21% |
| 18th | Colorado Avalanche | 97.97% |
| 19th | Carolina Hurricanes | 97.96% |
| 20th | Chicago Blackhawks | 97.85% |
| 21st | Nashville Predators | 97.85% |
| 22nd | Detroit Red Wings | 97.60% |
| 23rd | Florida Panthers | 97.48% |
| 24th | Los Angeles Kings | 96.90% |
| 25th | New York Islanders | 96.76% |
| 26th | Calgary Flames | 95.55% |
| 27th | Arizona Coyotes | 95.33% |
| 28th | Buffalo Sabres | 94.10% |
| 29th | Columbus Blue Jackets | 92.72% |
| 30th | San Jose Sharks | 92.05% |
| 31st | Winnipeg Jets | 91.29% |
| 32nd | Anaheim Ducks | 90.46% |
Vegas remains steady at second overall, Ducks fall to dead last
The State of Hockey takes first place. The Wild sold at 104.84% for home attendance during the month of December. This coincides with their recent 11–5–0 record over the last sixteen games. We again see the correlation between teams doing well and good attendance numbers, with the Knights, Leafs, Bruins, Rangers, and Canucks finding themselves high on the list for December attendance.
Teams that remained in the same positions as our October and November rankings: the Vegas Golden Knights at second, and the Winnipeg Jets at 31st. Hockey has worked in Vegas, and then some. The Winnipeg Jets had their first sellout of the season on December 30. I would expect their attendance numbers to increase in future months with how the Jets are playing right now.
Four teams—the Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets, Winnipeg Jets, and San Jose Sharks—have consistently remained in the bottom five in October, November, and December. The Ducks join the bottom five this month after two straight months at 23rd in the league. Given that the Ducks have lost seventeen of their last twenty-one games, an attendance drop makes sense.
The Flames did see a marginal improvement, from 94.42% in November to 95.55% in December. However, a bunch of other teams also saw improvements in attendance numbers for December, so they dropped a spot to 26th overall in the league.
Photo from @mnwild on X
