Re: Last game you've seen live?
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2015 8:46 am
In the top league, the EIHL the average attendances are (accurate of a few weeks ago I think):
BELFAST: 4,742
BRAEHEAD: 3,029
CARDIFF: 2,018
COVENTRY : 2,104
DUNDEE: 1,045
EDINBURGH: 835
FIFE: 2,195
HULL: No data (but probably 800-1000, at a guess)
NOTTINGHAM : 5,300
SHEFFIELD : 3,846
Sheffield arena average 4,852 - Sheffield play about 7 games in a 1,500 capacity rink and the rest of the games in a 9,000+ capacity arena (pictured above). The smaller games bring their average down.
Attendances are on the rise, this is probably mainly because the league was split in to 2 conferences a few years ago. The Erhardt conference contains the traditionally larger/more successful clubs of Belfast, Cardiff, Coventry, Nottingham & Sheffield. The Gardiner conference contains Braehead, Dundee, Edinburgh, Fife & Hull. These are 4 Scottish clubs and the most northerly English club (Hull). Each team plays their conference opponents 4 x home & 4 x away and teams in the other conference 2 x home & 2 x away.
This means that the Erhardt conference teams get more games against their local rivals, who traditionally bring more away fans. For example, Cardiff & Coventry have a good rivalry and tend to fill each others rinks. Nottingham v Sheffield games also tend to get close to a sell out, this season Nottingham sold out their arena (7,130) for a game against Sheffield and Sheffield got an attendance of 8,864 for a game against Nottingham.
For the Gardiner teams, there has been a similar effect. Fife bring quite a large away following to Dundee & Edinburgh, as do Braehead. Another factor is that travelling is now vastly reduced. The 4 Scottish teams are very close together so it is cheap for the teams to get to games.
There are a couple of anomalies. Braehead are a new club and have been excellently marketed and their crowds have been increasing phenomenally. Their first season saw averages of 800-1,000. I think this is their 4th season now and they are quite frequently getting sellouts (3,500 capacity arena). They're getting a new arena in a few years apparently, it will be around 8,000 capacity which is probably a bit high for their needs, but it will predominantly be a concert arena.
Cardiff are the other anomaly. They previously had an owner that sucked the life out of the club and attendances were way down. At the beginning of this season they were bought up by a Canadian consortium, headed by a very rich investment banker from Calgary. Because of the new optimism, there have been several sell outs in their current rink (2,300 capacity). Their current rink is a temporary facility that is long overdue being knocked down. Their new rink (3,500 capacity) is currently under construction and should be finished at some point during next season (there's been some delays). There is currently talks of Cardiffs owners buying the new rink.
So some of the clubs are on the rise, however clubs such as Edinburgh are struggling along with 800 spectators in a very old rink which is cold and uncomfortable to sit in. Apparently it is a listed building so doing any renovations is difficult.
As the attendances suggest there is a quite a big gap from top to bottom. The Elite League has a very high import limit. Teams are allowed a maximum of 12 non-British trained players, and most clubs have 12 (some carry spares for injury cover). The real difference between the clubs comes with the British players. Although there may only be 5/6/7 in each club, the top clubs e.g. Nottingham, Sheffield, Belfast carry GB international players who will play on the top lines. Clubs such as Edinburgh, Fife carry local players who probably don't get paid that much and work full time elsewhere, or study.
So, on one hand, you could say that British hockey (or the Elite League at least) is on the rise. We will also have 2 clubs in the CHL next year, which will hopefully increase exposure.
On the other hand, the structure of British hockey is terrible and has been for some time. There is very little communication and cooperation between the different leagues. For example, Sheffield has one of the best hockey set ups in the country. They have a team in the top league (Elite League), a team in the second league (Premier League) and teams in the 3rd and 4th levels (National Leagues). However, the Elite & Premier teams have a terrible relationship. There are no players on two-way contracts, there is no clear development path from juniors up to the Elite.
The gap between the Elite and the Premier is also quite large, so not many players are capable of making the step up. Rather than try to improve the structure, the Elite league has decided to increase the number of foreign players allowed next season (it will be 13).
There has been a recent movement to try and improve the structure, however since the clubs pretty much run at a loss or break even the majority of their decisions are based on finances rather than hockey, and therefore it is difficult to see whether the structure will improve at any point.
BELFAST: 4,742
BRAEHEAD: 3,029
CARDIFF: 2,018
COVENTRY : 2,104
DUNDEE: 1,045
EDINBURGH: 835
FIFE: 2,195
HULL: No data (but probably 800-1000, at a guess)
NOTTINGHAM : 5,300
SHEFFIELD : 3,846
Sheffield arena average 4,852 - Sheffield play about 7 games in a 1,500 capacity rink and the rest of the games in a 9,000+ capacity arena (pictured above). The smaller games bring their average down.
Attendances are on the rise, this is probably mainly because the league was split in to 2 conferences a few years ago. The Erhardt conference contains the traditionally larger/more successful clubs of Belfast, Cardiff, Coventry, Nottingham & Sheffield. The Gardiner conference contains Braehead, Dundee, Edinburgh, Fife & Hull. These are 4 Scottish clubs and the most northerly English club (Hull). Each team plays their conference opponents 4 x home & 4 x away and teams in the other conference 2 x home & 2 x away.
This means that the Erhardt conference teams get more games against their local rivals, who traditionally bring more away fans. For example, Cardiff & Coventry have a good rivalry and tend to fill each others rinks. Nottingham v Sheffield games also tend to get close to a sell out, this season Nottingham sold out their arena (7,130) for a game against Sheffield and Sheffield got an attendance of 8,864 for a game against Nottingham.
For the Gardiner teams, there has been a similar effect. Fife bring quite a large away following to Dundee & Edinburgh, as do Braehead. Another factor is that travelling is now vastly reduced. The 4 Scottish teams are very close together so it is cheap for the teams to get to games.
There are a couple of anomalies. Braehead are a new club and have been excellently marketed and their crowds have been increasing phenomenally. Their first season saw averages of 800-1,000. I think this is their 4th season now and they are quite frequently getting sellouts (3,500 capacity arena). They're getting a new arena in a few years apparently, it will be around 8,000 capacity which is probably a bit high for their needs, but it will predominantly be a concert arena.
Cardiff are the other anomaly. They previously had an owner that sucked the life out of the club and attendances were way down. At the beginning of this season they were bought up by a Canadian consortium, headed by a very rich investment banker from Calgary. Because of the new optimism, there have been several sell outs in their current rink (2,300 capacity). Their current rink is a temporary facility that is long overdue being knocked down. Their new rink (3,500 capacity) is currently under construction and should be finished at some point during next season (there's been some delays). There is currently talks of Cardiffs owners buying the new rink.
So some of the clubs are on the rise, however clubs such as Edinburgh are struggling along with 800 spectators in a very old rink which is cold and uncomfortable to sit in. Apparently it is a listed building so doing any renovations is difficult.
As the attendances suggest there is a quite a big gap from top to bottom. The Elite League has a very high import limit. Teams are allowed a maximum of 12 non-British trained players, and most clubs have 12 (some carry spares for injury cover). The real difference between the clubs comes with the British players. Although there may only be 5/6/7 in each club, the top clubs e.g. Nottingham, Sheffield, Belfast carry GB international players who will play on the top lines. Clubs such as Edinburgh, Fife carry local players who probably don't get paid that much and work full time elsewhere, or study.
So, on one hand, you could say that British hockey (or the Elite League at least) is on the rise. We will also have 2 clubs in the CHL next year, which will hopefully increase exposure.
On the other hand, the structure of British hockey is terrible and has been for some time. There is very little communication and cooperation between the different leagues. For example, Sheffield has one of the best hockey set ups in the country. They have a team in the top league (Elite League), a team in the second league (Premier League) and teams in the 3rd and 4th levels (National Leagues). However, the Elite & Premier teams have a terrible relationship. There are no players on two-way contracts, there is no clear development path from juniors up to the Elite.
The gap between the Elite and the Premier is also quite large, so not many players are capable of making the step up. Rather than try to improve the structure, the Elite league has decided to increase the number of foreign players allowed next season (it will be 13).
There has been a recent movement to try and improve the structure, however since the clubs pretty much run at a loss or break even the majority of their decisions are based on finances rather than hockey, and therefore it is difficult to see whether the structure will improve at any point.
