Not surprising. Seeing as two of swedens top market teams, Leksand and Malmö, yet again fail to advance to Elitserien and is stuck in Allsvenskan. And the general decline in attendance in the SEL. Plus the presence of Södertälje in Elitserien witch probably brings down the average quite a bit.
If Leksand or Malmö advances next season the balance should be restored.
Gotta think the massive attendance bump in Zagreb puts them on the KHL's radar.
Its highly unlikely Medveščak could join the KHL, though their attendance is good for Dom Sportova, that huge spike comes mostly from their Ice Fever event when they play out of Arena Zagreb which they sell out the 4 matches. Damir Gojanovic has shown interest in the KHL and said it would cost them 6-7 million euros per year but according to most people, they would need around 10 to be able to do anything. If they are able to somehow pay the rent to use Arena Zagreb the entire year, their roster would need to be almost all imports as Croatian hockey is simply too weak at the moment to take on KHL clubs.
Remember, just about two years ago they were playing in the Slovene Championship, drawing no more then 1000 people and with that roster would be beaten badly by any club in the EBEL. Medveščak is better off growing hockey outside Zagreb, improving their junior system and then maybe try KHL, but for now, the EBEL should be just good enough.
Based on all rumours, the KHL has zero interest in Croatia, they want the top Austrian clubs (highly unlikely), a Slovakian club (set in stone basically) and looking at clubs from Germany and Italy. (Germany most likely, Italy...somebody rich must be backing this club)
On top of that, many teams are planing new arenas or extensions ... ! Even SCB with 17thousands and some places ... are 95% full on average ... therefore even they could plan a new arena !!
League Attendance 1.
Sweden - Elitserien
6,3852.
Switzerland - National League A
6,305
3.
Germany - Deutsche Eishockey Liga
6,060
4.
Russia - Kontinental Hockey League
5,891
5.
Finland - SM-liiga
5,103
6.
Czech Republic - Extraliga
4,824
7.
Austria - EBEL
3,606
8.
Slovakia - Extraliga
2,687
9.
Great Britain - Elite Ice Hockey League
2,028
10.
Norway - Get Ligaen
1,462
11.
France - Ligue Magnus
1,391
12.
Denmark - AL-Bank Liga
1,301
13.
Belarus - Extraliga
1,111
14.
Asia League (CHN/KOR/JPN)
1,024
15.
Italy - Serie A
987
Regular-Season average attendance 2nd-tier leagues Europe
Those are one helluva precise SEL stats - calculated till one fifth of a human.
I think it's a typo, although Elitserien could technically publish average attendance down to one-tenth of a fan. But 6,385 on average seems just right to me.
Its highly unlikely Medveščak could join the KHL, though their attendance is good for Dom Sportova, that huge spike comes mostly from their Ice Fever event when they play out of Arena Zagreb which they sell out the 4 matches.
in fact, they had 7 matches sell out in arena. 105.000 spectators in 2 weeks.
Happy to see Zagreb doing well being 1/2 Croatian!
Well, they've got a lot of North Americans with Croatian roots. They're basically playing Joe Sakic's cousins who were not good enough to make it in the NHL. Plus some of their "Croatians" don't even have a Croatian background: Michael Ouzas, Kenny MacAuley, Geoff Waugh. 1/2 Croatian? Debatable.
Well, they've got a lot of North Americans with Croatian roots. They're basically playing Joe Sakic's cousins who were not good enough to make it in the NHL. Plus some of their "Croatians" don't even have a Croatian background: Michael Ouzas, Kenny MacAuley, Geoff Waugh. 1/2 Croatian? Debatable.
They don't have to be 1/2 in order to qualify.. they need to have only one great grandparent. Croatian citizenship laws are very liberal in order to get people (who moved out in communist times) to return. Just in South and North America there's more Croats than in Zagreb. I've met quite a lot of South American Croats on my university so i guess that's working out for them. Some didn't know a single word of Croatian.. but oh well
Ouzas, MacAuley and Waugh were scouted/signed on purpose because they had some distant Croat relative so that they would count as home players. EBEL roster has sort of point cap.. you gotta fit your roster into 60 points.
I think that depends on what teams are promoted. If, for example Leksand advances i don't think the drop will be that severe.
Yeah, but they won't, the chance is minimal.
Leksand, Malmö, Djurgården in Allsvenskan... It's time for ES to invite a bunch of teams back, including those 3, and close the league. It's a pity because "kvalserien" is amazing and always very very interesting and entertaining but Elitserien is suffering greatly.
I can't help thinking the decision to bar lock-out players in Elitserien was not taken lightly by the fans and there was some backlash as a result of this.
I can't help thinking the decision to bar lock-out players in Elitserien was not taken lightly by the fans and there was some backlash as a result of this.
Definitely, even if it would've been a very short term attendance fix for a league that has far bigger problems.
Out of the 11 teams that played in the league last season, 3 has seen an increase of attendance and 8 has seen a decrease. No decrease greater than Frölunda's who has gone from 10482 to 8704. The others are a few hundred. The biggest loss however has been replacing Djurgården's 7723 to newcomer Rögle's 3911.
