NHL sets attendance records

[Snero]

a link is me

NEW YORK (AP) -- NHL attendance was up 2.4 percent from the last season before the lockout, with the league setting records for average and total fans and the Montreal Canadiens selling out all of their home games to set a team record.

The NHL played to 91.7 percent of capacity, drawing 20,854,169 fans for 1,230 regular-season games for an average of 16,955. In 2003-04 -- the last season before the lockout -- the league drew 20,356,199 for an average of 16,550. The previous records of 16,760 a game and 20,614,613 overall were set in 2001-02.

Twenty-four of the 30 NHL clubs finished even with or ahead of their 2003-04 performance. The top gainers were Pittsburgh (up 33 percent), Carolina (27 percent), Calgary (16 percent), Tampa Bay (15 percent), Nashville (10 percent), Buffalo (10 percent), Ottawa (10 percent), Boston (7 percent) and San Jose (6 percent).

either the public really missed the NHL, the new rules make for much better hockey, or both but it's good to hear that things are going well for sure. Now if they can just keep things rolling

[Ginzburgh]

Do NHL players make a good amount of money? Probably not as much as basketball, football or baseball players but I'm just interested to know how much the average hockey player makes.

[Snero]

it's something like 1.5 mill, down a chunk from before the strike but still pretty decent. The max last year was something around 7.5 mill (certain % of total salary cap)

[Reynaldo]

I dunno about all this other gibberish, but I'm pretty much rooting for whoever is playing against the Senators!

[Tacks]

Oh, Hockey is still around? It's never on TV lawl.

[Ginzburgh]

it's something like 1.5 mill, down a chunk from before the strike but still pretty decent. The max last year was something around 7.5 mill (certain % of total salary cap)

That's actually more than what I thought it was. I thought it was like $500k average.

They definitely have to take more of a beating than baseball and basketball players.

[Spliffs]

I'm actually surprised by this article. It seemed to me that hockey was even further out of the spotlight than ever before, but... good for them!

[Tikker]

hockey doesn't translate as well to tv as football/baseball/basketball

but in the markets where people have gone out and watched the live product, they really like it


HD tv will actually make a HUGE diff for hockey IMO

1 of the big complaints about hockey on TV is that it's hard to follow the puck if you're not familiar with the game

wiht HD, you get high enough resolution that the puck never really disappears like it does with regular TV