OHL Attendance

[Hammer9001]

Have you ever gone home from work in the GTA, and then wanted to go back out? It's not nearly the same as the Niagara region.

Why the lack of marketing? I'd say the team is unwilling to spend.

I have a brother who lives in Mississauga and he pretty much echoes this sentiment. It's very much, get home at quarter to six if you are lucky, have dinner, it's quarter to seven now, so I'm going to go back out and fight traffic for another half hour to get to the game late.

He also laments that there is no local cable provider for Mississauga. Most places have a TV Cogeco, or Rogers TV but Mississauga does not, so there isn't a local cable presence either.

Regarding Mississauga attendance - You can also add to it terrible concessions. Very few are open and it takes all intermission+ to purchase anything.

Add to that the ticket policy. Even if you buy tickets at the box office, you don't get a hard copy of the ticket. It's sent to your phone virtually. Not user friendly for the older demographic.

Having been there before, I will echo this. There's no unique item for purchase at their concessions, it's all generic hotdogs and pizza. I recall very limited spots to buy beer as well.

 

[Logosarejusttargets]

I have a brother who lives in Mississauga and he pretty much echoes this sentiment. It's very much, get home at quarter to six if you are lucky, have dinner, it's quarter to seven now, so I'm going to go back out and fight traffic for another half hour to get to the game late.

He also laments that there is no local cable provider for Mississauga. Most places have a TV Cogeco, or Rogers TV but Mississauga does not, so there isn't a local cable presence either.


Having been there before, I will echo this. There's no unique item for purchase at their concessions, it's all generic hotdogs and pizza. I recall very limited spots to buy beer as well.

The beer nut (peanut, almond and pecan) concession guy is quite good.

 

[Tarantula]

The beer nut (peanut, almond and pecan) concession guy is quite good.

I can never resist buying 2 bags, one for the game and one later, even after having dental work done.

 

[Jawk]

I have a brother who lives in Mississauga and he pretty much echoes this sentiment. It's very much, get home at quarter to six if you are lucky, have dinner, it's quarter to seven now, so I'm going to go back out and fight traffic for another half hour to get to the game late.

He also laments that there is no local cable provider for Mississauga. Most places have a TV Cogeco, or Rogers TV but Mississauga does not, so there isn't a local cable presence either.


Having been there before, I will echo this. There's no unique item for purchase at their concessions, it's all generic hotdogs and pizza. I recall very limited spots to buy beer as well.

The actual seating is great. I love watching a game there. However, it's basically an ice pad wrapped in a tin can.

Building is easy to get to. Free parking. Great sight lines. I can't imagine trying to get there through the week.

 

[Jawk]

Rumour has the Bulldogs having to cap seasons in Brantford at ~2400. That will leave the remaining 550 for flex packs, singles, organizational obligations, and giveaways.

FYI, Hamilton season holders is about 800.

Rumour has the Bulldogs having to cap seasons in Brantford at ~2400. That will leave the remaining 550 for flex packs, singles, organizational obligations, and giveaways.

FYI, Hamilton season holders is about 800.

 

[Hammer9001]

The actual seating is great. I love watching a game there. However, it's basically an ice pad wrapped in a tin can.

Building is easy to get to. Free parking. Great sight lines. I can't imagine trying to get there through the week.

I've been there a few times, the seating and sight lines are nice, but while it's not the only OHL arena to have the concourse disconnected from the ice, Missi is the only one that seems strangely quiet at times, like that bustle from the concourse and crowd just isn't there, and it's something more then just attendance at play it feels like.

I guess a good arena on paper would be the way I would describe it.

 

[Otto]

At the end of the regular season the OHL drew 2,692,486 fans this season. Up 0.4% over the 2018/19 season.

Below is the ranking in terms of difference in average attendance per game over 2018/19

Windsor +698
Ottawa +539
Flint +533
Erie +423
Guelph +321
Peterborough +293
North Bay +238
Sudbury +188
Sarnia +149
Saginaw +118
Kingston +62
London -2
Oshawa -6
Barrie -87
Owen Sound -236
Hamilton -330
Mississauga -478
Sault Ste. Marie -547
Kitchener -598
Niagara -970

 

[Otto]

Capacity #s

London 99.5%
Guelph 95.5%
Oshawa 91.6%
Kitchener 81.3%
Barrie 80.5%
Peterborough 79.2%
Owen Sound 78.8%
Niagara 76.7%
Windsor 74.5%
Sault Ste. Marie 70.3%
Flint 67.6%
Erie 65.7%
Sarnia 65.1%
Sudbury 64.6%
Saginaw 64.2%
North Bay 61.0%
Kingston 59.3%
Ottawa 43.4%
Mississauga 34.0%
Hamilton 21.5%

 

[Otto]

2022/23 Regular season Average difference between 10 year average (Excludes 2019/20 & 2121/22)

Hamilton (includes 5 seasons in Belleville)+500
Peterborough +484
Guelph +282
Flint Includes 5 seasons in Plymouth) +244
Sarnia +211
Oshawa +123
Niagara +107
London +9
North Bay (Includes 3 seasons in Brampton) -16
Saginaw -22
Sudbury -142
Owen Sound -150
Erie -196
Barrie -242
Kingston -249
Windsor -322
Ottawa -363
Mississauga -530 (includes 2 seasons at St. Mikes Arena)
Kitchener -545
Sault Ste. Marie -576

 

[three dog night]

Final attendance figures OHL 2022-23 team attendance at hockeydb.com

 

[Otto]

As of last nights game. Numbers are year over year

Team	2022/23 total	2023/24 Total	Diff	%
Mississauga	36619	51790	15171	141.43%
Sarnia	71460	89736	18276	125.58%
Sudbury	69903	82669	12766	118.26%
Erie	68407	80503	12096	117.68%
North Bay	53940	61258	7318	113.57%
Flint	52343	59136	6793	112.98%
Peterborough	68297	75351	7054	110.33%
Barrie	78053	84991	6938	108.89%
Guelph	99842	107479	7637	107.65%
Sault Ste. Marie	73966	79587	5621	107.60%
Kitchener	139557	146300	6743	104.83%
Saginaw	74540	77403	2863	103.84%
Kingston	71857	72929	1072	101.49%
Owen Sound	56178	56782	604	101.08%
Windsor	108643	109735	1092	101.01%
Oshawa	115942	116833	891	100.77%
London	215919	216834	915	100.42%
Ottawa	92980	92949	-31	99.97%
Niagara	93552	86762	-6790	92.74%
Brantford	75774	64696	-11078	85.38%

 

[Otto]

Per game...

Team	22/23 Avg	23/24 Avg	Diff
Sarnia	3107	3902	795
Mississauga	1592	2252	660
Sudbury	3177	3758	580
Erie	3109	3659	550
Flint	2755	3112	358
North Bay	2452	2784	333
Guelph	4341	4673	332
Peterborough	3104	3425	321
Kitchener	6068	6361	293
Barrie	3252	3541	289
Sault Ste. Marie	3522	3790	268
Saginaw	3241	3365	124
Kingston	3124	3171	47
Windsor	4527	4572	46
London	8997	9035	38
Oshawa	4831	4868	37
Owen Sound	2675	2704	29
Ottawa	4043	4041	-1
Niagara	3898	3615	-283
Brantford	3608	3081	-528

Capacity

Team	%
Brantford	103.3%
Guelph	100.2%
London	100.0%
Oshawa	88.5%
Barrie	84.4%
Peterborough	84.2%
Kitchener	82.6%
Owen Sound	77.3%
Sault Ste. Marie	75.8%
Sarnia	75.0%
Sudbury	73.7%
Flint	70.7%
Windsor	70.3%
Niagara	68.2%
Erie	66.5%
North Bay	65.6%
Saginaw	61.2%
Kingston	58.9%
Ottawa	47.5%
Mississauga	37.5%

 

[HockeyPops]

Pretty impressive bump in attendance across the league. I don't count Brantford as they can't fit any more bodies in there, so it's really only Niagara that's down this season. All the other teams are even or up.

 

[Otto]

Pretty impressive bump in attendance across the league. I don't count Brantford as they can't fit any more bodies in there, so it's really only Niagara that's down this season. All the other teams are even or up.

Overall 5.59% over last year

 

[donjohnson]

Pretty impressive bump in attendance across the league. I don't count Brantford as they can't fit any more bodies in there, so it's really only Niagara that's down this season. All the other teams are even or up.

Yup, great stat for the health of the league!

 

[Krangers08]

To bad we don’t see what the arena rent is across the different teams. Rangers pay a million a year.

 

[190 is almost 206]

To bad we don’t see what the arena rent is across the different teams. Rangers pay a million a year.

And I believe North Bay pays $0.

 

[Otto]

Fun Fact: Sarnia & Sudbury have already surpassed last seasons total attendance. Each team still has 4 home games left.

Mississauga should easily surpass last years total attendance when they play their school day game this week and will have 3 home games remaining after that one.

 

[Otto]

Niagara Ice Dogs were the last team to have their home opener which was this past Sunday.

2024 total home opener attendance : 88,400
2023 total home opener attendance : 87.438

increase of 1.1% year over year

In comparison OHL home opener attendance in 2023 was up 3.2% over 2022 and 6.7% over 2018/19

Overall the league is currently up 1.94% year over year with Kingston (+27.98%), Windsor (+17.05%), Oshawa (+16.43%), and Sudbury (+16.13%) the top 4 in increased attendance.

Brampton (-32.52%) , Niagara (-24.65%), Flint (-18.42%), and Ottawa (-10.65%) are the bottom four teams.

Flint started off really strong in attendance last season, and in fact their current average attendance of 3,268 is actually higher than their total season average last season of 3,124.