Headcount: SPHL 2018-19 Edition

August 22, 2019

Welcome to Headcount! A series where we take a look at attendance trends throughout minor professional hockey. Today we will be taking a look at the SPHL attendance from the 2018-19 season and comparing them to the 2017-18 season.

Teams will be placed in one of four different categories: 
- Excellent = More than 750 above League Average
- Above Average = Less than 750 above League Average
- Below Average = Less than 750 below League Average
- Danger Zone =  More than 750 below League Average

SPHL Average Attendance for 2018-19 was 3,133, which is down 2.55% from the 2017-18 season (3,215).

2018-19 SPHL Attendance (Attendance Average provided by HockeyDB.com)

         Team                               AAPG       Change from 2017-18
1. Huntsville Havoc:                  4,932            +3.20% (4,774)
2. Knoxville Ice Bears:               3,818            -0.18% (3,825)
3. Peoria Rivermen:                  3,644            -5.52% (3,857)
4. Pensacola Ice Flyers:             3,597            -2.65% (3,695)
5. Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs:      3,498            +4.08% (3,361)
6. Quad City Storm:                  3,181       N/A (Inaugural Season)
7. Birmingham Bulls:                 2,377            -9.38% (2,623)
8. Fayetteville Marksmen:         2,217           -25.83% (2,989)
9. Evansville Thunderbolts:       2,041           -11.65% (2,310)
10. Macon Mayhem:                  2,020            -15.52% (2,391)

Well, let's start with the positives from this list, starting with the Huntsville Havoc. Huntsville have continued and improved on their attendance lead from the 2018-2018 season, with getting 4,932 spectators into the Von Braun Center each game. The Havoc, winning the President's Cup in back-to-back seasons, have broken the SPHL attendance record for four straight seasons now. At the current pace, Huntsville could become the first SPHL team to average 5,000 people or more this upcoming season.

Meanwhile, the Knoxville Ice Bears remained the most consistent from the previous season, only dropping an average of seven people per game. The Ice Bears have championships and good marketing on their side, so despite the slight loss, Knoxville is doing a really good job.

On another positive note, the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs have continued to rise their attendance figures over their three-season existence thus far. Not only that, but the Quad City Storm did well at the box office during the teams inaugural season, reaching 3,181 people a game at the TaxSlayer Center in Moline.

To begin the massive negatives on this list, which there is a lot of, unfortunately. Let's start with a team that isn't of concern now, but could be in the future if things don't turn around soon. I am in fact talking about the Peoria Rivermen. Thus far, the Rivermen have been the team that has anchored the SPHL's expansion into the Midwest. Given Peoria has never been outside of third Place in either the Season Standings nor the Attendance standings, they are in a fairly good place. For right now, the Peoria Rivermen will be safe for the foreseeable future, even despite the 10% drop in attendance over the last two seasons.

Next, let's talk about the Pensacola Ice Flyers. This recent near dynasty team has nearly averaged a loss of 100 people per game in each of the last five seasons. Now the Ice Flyers are nowhere near their lowest ever attendance, which was 3,015 back in the 2010-2011 season. Pensacola was also the first team to average more than 4,000 people a game back in 2013-2014, a huge milestone for the SPHL. So what is the concern here? It's the teams home, the Pensacola Bay Center, which is in honest need to massive renovations in the near future as it isn't in the best shape. I imagine that and the fact that the team isn't in the Finals every season, is causing attendance to steadily drop.

Peoria and Pensacola may be on a bit of a rough stretch when it comes to their usual attendance, but that doesn't come close to what's going on with the four teams at the bottom.

First off, let's talk about the Birmingham Bulls. Despite making the President's Cup Finals and making a near-complete 180 from where they were in the standings in their inaugural 2017-2018 campaign, the Bulls actually dropped about 10% of their previous attendance in 2018-2019. Birmingham is barely in the 'below average' category as they were fairly close in dipping into the 'danger zone'.

Speaking of the 'danger zone' category, let's talk about those teams, shall we? Let's start with the biggest attendance drop out of any team in the SPHL, which goes to the Fayetteville Marksmen. Once having a perennial attendance average of 3,000+, the last two seasons of the FireAntz and the first couple seasons of the Marksmen have been less than ideal at the box office. In 2016-2017, the team averaged just 1,858, which ended up being the last season of the FireAntz. Given the renovations to the Crown Coliseum and the decent performance of the team in 2018-2019, I imagine the attendance rebounds some.

With the worst record during the regular season, the Evansville Thunderbolts unsurprisingly saw a drop of attendance from the 2017-2018 season. With an average attendance of 2,041, the fairly recently damaged market is certainly in a not great spot. Of course, most of that drop was due to poor on-ice performance, I don't know how much the Thunderbolts draw this upcoming season. Hopefully, a better team will draw a better crowd.

Finally, let's talk about the lowest attended team in the Southern Professional Hockey League, the Macon Mayhem. Bringing in a grand total of only 2,020 people a game, the Mayhem have seen quite a bit of on-ice success, namely a President's Cup back in 2017. The Mayhem has never averaged more than 2,400 in attendance in their four-season existence thus far, and their 2018-2019 total was their second-lowest. This is mostly due to the location and the old age of the Macon Coliseum. Now, the building has seen a couple renovations since the Mayhem began playing but thus far has yet to see much pay-off. If something doesn't change soon, either better marketing or more renovations, the Mayhem could very well be on the chopping block very soon.

-Marc of The Robinson Report

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