Make some NOISE

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/04/2012 (5108 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

More than one professional sporting-event ticket has been issued for every person in the province over the past year as sports fans came out in unprecedented droves.

 

As the 2011-12 NHL season draws to a close, nearly 1.3 million fans went through the turnstiles at the MTS Centre, Winnipeg Stadium and Shaw Park, the first time the one-million-fans mark has been passed in the city.

The reborn Winnipeg Jets drove the high-water mark with sellouts at 41 home games during the regular season and another three exhibition games. At 15,004 people per contest, that’s 660,176 butts in the chairs at the downtown arena from last September to this month.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers, meanwhile, had their best-ever season last year from an attendance perspective, selling out eight consecutive regular-season games plus one playoff game. With an average attendance approaching 30,000 through 11 total games, there were more than 325,000 gridiron fans at the still-not-mothballed stadium last year.

Annual attendance at Winnipeg Goldeyes games peaked nearly a decade ago, but the team still led the American Association in attendance in 2011 with a total of 275,521. It had 48 gates for its 50 games (there were two double-headers) for an average of 5,740 plus another 10,602 at two playoff games.

All told, that’s 1,271,299 tickets sold. According to the last census figures, Manitoba’s population is 1,208,268.

Andrew Collier, general manager of the Goldeyes, wasn’t surprised to hear the ticket figures.

“Certainly (the support) was expected with hockey. Everybody knew there was an appetite for it in Winnipeg. Nobody wanted the Jets to leave in 1996. With the Bombers’ new stadium, any time a new facility is built, there will always be an increase in interest,” he said.

“We’ve done a good job of providing quality entertainment, too. I think they’re three good organizations. As long as they keep putting good products on the ice or field, people will come out,” Collier said.

The numbers could go up 12 months from now as ticket sales for the Bombers and Goldeyes are already ahead of last year’s figures. The Jets’ season tickets sold out for the 2012-13 season last June.

The never-before-seen fandom for the city’s sports teams, however, has had a definite impact on attendance at the arts. The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Manitoba Opera, Winnipeg Art Gallery and Royal Winnipeg Ballet all saw their attendance fall this past winter season.

So, has any other year been close? Despite the Manitoba Moose having among the best attendance in the AHL and IHL from 1996 to 2011, it paled in comparison to what the Jets brought in. There have only been three years in which Winnipeg has had an NHL, a CFL and a minor-league baseball team operating at the same time — 1993-94, 1994-95 and 1995-96.

The first of those years, the Jets had an average attendance of 13,130 for 42 home games, good for a total of 551,460. (The team didn’t make the playoffs that year and there are no figures on pre-season games.)

That summer was the first one for the Goldeyes, but they only played 40 home games, bringing in about 212,000 fans.

The Bombers had an average attendance of 23,605 for their nine regular season games, for a total of 212,445. So, unless they were able to bring in a few hundred thousand fans for a couple of playoff and pre-season games, that year appears to be No. 2 and the previous record. (The next hockey season was shortened due to a lockout and during the original Jets’ last season, the average attendance was just 11,313, so no records then either.)

The most the Jets attracted in the playoffs was nearly 99,000 for 10 games in the 1976-77 season but they only brought in 343,120 in the old Winnipeg Arena during the regular season.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca

 

Adding it up

 

IF you think the last year has been crazy from a sports perspective, you’re absolutely right. There were nearly 1.3 million fans in the stands to watch regular season and playoff games for the city’s three sports teams. (There were even more if you include exhibition contests.)

Here’s the attendance box score:

 

Winnipeg Jets: 660,176 at 41 regular season games and three pre-season games.

 

Winnipeg Blue Bombers: Approximately 325,000 for nine regular season games, one playoff game and one pre-season game.

 

Winnipeg Goldeyes: 286,123 at 50 regular season games and two more in the playoffs. (Figures weren’t available for spring training.)