ZURICH – SC Bern tops the European attendance ranking for the tenth consecutive season. This year, Switzerland not only has the most attended hockey club in Europe, but also the most attended league, as the National League A has overtaken the Swedish Elitserien.
The average regular season attendance of the defending Swiss national champion SC Bern increased by 147 to 15,856. This is by far the highest number in Europe.
Eisbären Berlin (German DEL league) remains second with 13,946 fans while two other German clubs – Adler Mannheim and Kölner Haie – as well as Sweden’s Frölunda Gothenburg all fell below the 10,000 mark for the first time in five years.
Eisbären is the club with the highest attendance by capacity percentage among the top-ranked teams with 98.2%. The corresponding number for SC Bern is 92.6%.
A new surprise number three on the list is Dynamo Minsk from Belarus. The KHL club moved to the new Minsk Arena that was built last year in view of the 2014 IIHF World Championship and they averaged 10,538 fans. The Minsk team took a gigantic leap as it was ranked 61st last year.
Also Medvescak Zagreb made a big jump. The Croatian club that played its second season in the Austrian league entered the ranking last year, when it was 35th, but improved to 13th this year with an average of 7,837 fans.
The overall league rankings changed slightly thanks to new arenas. While Dynamo Minsk was a driving force in the KHL’s overtaking of the German DEL – the Russian league is now ranked third in Europe averaging 5,785 fans – the Swiss National League A took over the first position from Sweden.
The average in the Swiss league increased from 6,181 to 6,306 mostly thanks to the new arena of EV Zug, which advanced from 68th to 29th in the ranking. The Swedish league follows with 6,160 fans per game, 30 less than last year.
The Swiss NLA is now the league with the highest average attendance in Europe and the second worldwide behind only the National Hockey League. The Swiss league, the Swedish Elitserien, the Russian KHL and the German DEL follow behind the NHL and ahead of the American Hockey League, the second best-attended league in North America.
The International Ice Hockey Federation publishes the European rankings annually after the end of the regular season in Europe’s top leagues. The list is based on the numbers published or submitted from the leagues.
The calculations include top-tier leagues from 16 European countries as well as some teams from second-tier leagues and from the Asia League.
The team with the highest average attendance in Asia are the Oji Eagles from Tomakomai with 1,370 fans followed by Japanese rivals Nikko Ice Bucks (1,342) and the Nippon Paper Cranes (1,336) with similar numbers.
MARTIN MERK
Attendance figures in European hockey leagues 2010-2011 | | Club | Country | Average | Cap. % | 1. | (1.) | SC Bern | SUI | 15,856 | 92.56% | 2. | (2.) | Eisbären Berlin | GER | 13,946 | 98.21% | 3. | (61.) | Dynamo Minsk | BLR | 10,538 | 70.25% | 4. | (5.) | Kölner Haie | GER | 9,696 | 52.41% | 5. | (4.) | Adler Mannheim | GER | 9,689 | 71.24% | 6. | (3.) | Frölunda Gothenburg | SWE | 9,378 | 77.86% | 7. | (7.) | Avangard Omsk | RUS | 9,303 | 90.16% | 8. | (9.) | Lokomotiv Yaroslavl | RUS | 8,998 | 99.21% | 9. | (8.) | HC Pardubice | CZE | 8,922 | 87.52% | 10. | (11.) | Jokerit Helsinki | FIN | 8,490 | 62.13% | 11. | (6.) | SKA St. Petersburg | RUS | 8,170 | 66.42% | 12. | (10.) | Salavat Yulayev Ufa | RUS | 7,998 | 100.00% | 13. | (35.) | Medvescak Zagreb | CRO | 7,837 | 98.60% | 14. | (12.) | ZSC Lions Zurich | SUI | 7,640 | 71.40% | 15. | (13.) | Dinamo Riga | LAT | 7,619 | 73.97% | 16. | (16.) | Djurgården Stockholm | SWE | 7,401 | 91.44% | 17. | (14.) | Kometa Brno | CZE | 7,165 | 99.51% | 18. | (23.) | Traktor Chelyabinsk | RUS | 7,157 | 95.43% | 19. | (15.) | Amur Khabarovsk | RUS | 7,078 | 99.69% | 20. | (18.) | Hamburg Freezers | GER | 7,037 | 54.96% | 21. | (24.) | Genève-Servette | SUI | 6,922 | | 22. | (20.) | HV71 Jönköping | SWE | 6,849 | | 23. | (22.) | Färjestad Karlstad | SWE | 6,784 | | 24. | (19.) | Fribourg-Gottéron | SUI | 6,764 | | 25. | (21.) | Linköpings HC | SWE | 6,676 | | 26. | (27.) | HIFK Helsinki | FIN | 6,625 | | 27. | (28.) | Met. Magnitogorsk | RUS | 6,540 | | 28. | (23.) | Sibir Novosibirsk | RUS | 6,393 | | 29. | (68.) | EV Zug | SUI | 6,295 | | 30. | (26.) | MODO Örnsköldsvik | SWE | 6,194 | | 31. | (17.) | HC Plzen | CZE | 6,068 | | 32. | (29.) | Atlant Mytishi | RUS | 5,959 | | 33. | (30.) | HC Kosice | SVK | 5,746 | | 34. | (34.) | Kloten Flyers | SUI | 5,695 | | 35. | (36.) | Brynäs Gävle | SWE | 5,683 | | 36. | (-) | AIK Stockholm | SWE | 5,614 | | 37. | (38.) | Kärpät Oulu | FIN | 5,601 | | 38. | (60.) | Dynamo Moscow | RUS | 5,485 | | 39. | (40.) | Bili Tygri Liberec | CZE | 5,467 | | 40. | (31.) | TPS Turku | FIN | 5,397 | | 41. | (46.) | SCL Tigers Langnau | SUI | 5,374 | | 42. | (43.) | Ilves Tampere | FIN | 5,277 | | 43. | (44.) | Luleå HF | SWE | 5,226 | | 44. | (37.) | DEG Düsseldorf | GER | 5,180 | | 45. | (25.) | Sparta Prague | CZE | 5,165 | | 46. | (47.) | Neft. Nizhnekamsk | RUS | 5,130 | | 47. | (49.) | Vitkovice Ostrava | CZE | 5,046 | | 48. | (42.) | Slavia Prague | CZE | 5,012 | | 49. | (50.) | Timrå IK | SWE | 4,998 | | 50. | (53.) | Skellefteå AIK | SWE | 4,993 | | 51. | (41.) | Tappara Tampere | FIN | 4,922 | | 52. | (45.) | Torp. Nizhni Novgorod | RUS | 4,844 | | 53. | (54.) | Leksands IF | SWE-2 | 4,842 | | 54. | (51.) | Ak Bars Kazan | RUS | 4,836 | | 55. | (56.) | Barys Astana | KAZ | 4,819 | | 56. | (63.) | HC Ceske Budejovice | CZE | 4,774 | | 57. | (76.) | Nuremberg Ice Tigers | GER | 4,739 | | 58. | (58.) | PSG Zlin | CZE | 4,606 | | 59. | (73.) | Ässät Pori | FIN | 4,575 | | 60. | (52.) | EHC Biel | SUI | 4,526 | | 61. | (64.) | HC Davos | SUI | 4,524 | | 62. | (59.) | Nottingham Panthers | GBR | 4,506 | | 63. | (94.) | Krefeld Pinguine | GER | 4,500 | | 64. | (39.) | Malmö Redhawks | SWE-2 | 4,437 | | 65. | (67.) | Straubing Tigers | GER | 4,432 | | 66. | (89.) | Lausanne HC | SUI-2 | 4,381 | | 67. | (57.) | Rapperswil-Jona | SUI | 4,363 | | 68. | (71.) | Espoo Blues | FIN | 4,357 | | 69. | (48.) | KAC Klagenfurt | AUT | 4,296 | | 70. | (55.) | Hannover Scorpions | GER | 4,288 | | 71. | (82.) | Södertälje SK | SWE | 4,230 | | 72. | (-) | Yuzhny Ural Orsk | RUS-2 | 4,203 | | 73. | (65.) | Avt. Yekaterinburg | RUS | 4,158 | | 74. | (62.) | HC Litvinov | CZE | 4,110 | | 75. | (74.) | HC Lugano | SUI | 4,060 | | 76. | (75.) | JYP Jyväskylä | FIN | 4,015 | | 77. | (66.) | KalPa Kuopio | FIN | 4,015 | | 78. | (69.) | Lukko Rauma | FIN | 3,949 | | 79. | (-) | EHC München | GER | 3,915 | | 80. | (77.) | Pelicans Lahti | FIN | 3,839 | | 81. | (78.) | Vienna Capitals | AUT | 3,829 | | 82. | (79.) | ERC Ingolstadt | GER | 3,711 | | 83. | (93.) | Ocelari Trinec | CZE | 3,688 | | 84. | (91.) | HC Ambrì-Piotta | SUI | 3,657 | | 85. | (-) | Ust-Kamenogorsk | KAZ | 3,630 | | 86. | (70.) | Energie Karlovy Vary | CZE | 3,573 | | 87. | (83.) | Belfast Giants | GBR | 3,566 | | 88. | (80.) | VSV Villach | AUT | 3,548 | | 89. | (97.) | Schwenninger Wild W. | GER-2 | 3,515 | | 90. | (86.) | Iserlohn Roosters | GER | 3,494 | | 91. | (90.) | Augsburger Panther | GER | 3,434 | | 92. | (120.) | HK Poprad | SVK | 3,432 | | 93. | (103.) | Severstal Cherepovets | RUS | 3,406 | | 94. | (85.) | HPK Hämeenlinna | FIN | 3,405 | | 95. | (-) | Yermak Angarsk | RUS-2 | 3,372 | | 96. | (81.) | BK Mlada Boleslav | CZE | 3,349 | | 97. | (-) | Yugra Khanty-Mansisk | RUS | 3,334 | | 98. | (-) | Grenoble Brûleurs d.L. | FRA | 3,281 | | 99. | (87.) | SaiPa Lappeenranta | FIN | 3,256 | | 100. | (-) | Molot-Prikamie Perm | RUS-2 | 3,206 | |
Note: 2nd column = 2009-2010 rating |
Regular-Season average attendance Europe & Asia | | League | Attendance | 1. | Switzerland - National League A | 6,306 | 2. | Sweden - Elitserien | 6,160 | 3. | Russia - Kontinental Hockey League | 5,785 | 4. | Germany - Deutsche Eishockey Liga | 5,756 | 5. | Czech Republic - Extraliga | 4,936 | 6. | Finland - SM-liiga | 4,833 | 7. | Austria - EBEL | 3,504 | 8. | Slovakia - Extraliga | 2,462 | 9. | Great Britain - Elite Ice Hockey League | 1,861 | 10. | Norway - Get Ligaen | 1,454 | 11. | France - Ligue Magnus | 1,313 | 12. | Denmark - AL-Bank Liga | 1,302 | 13. | Asia League (CHN/KOR/JPN) | 1,079 | 14. | Italy - Serie A | 1,031 | 15. | Poland - Polska Liga | 1,018 |
Regular-Season average attendance North America | | League | Attendance | 1. | National Hockey League | 17,052 | 2. | American Hockey League | 5,196 | 3. | Western Hockey League | 4,243 | 4. | ECHL | 4,219 | 5. | Central Hockey League | 3,970 | 6. | Onterio Hockey League | 3,726 | 7. | Quebec Major Junior Hockey League | 3,335 | 8. | Southern Professional Hockey League | 2,725 | 9. | United States Hockey League | 2,637 |
Note: The regular season in North America and Great Britain were not completed as of publication date, March 15, 2011. |
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