NEWARK, NJ – NOVEMBER 08: Jordan Staal #11 of the Carolina Hurricanes waits for a faceoff during an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on November 8, 2016 in Newark, New Jersey. Devils won 3-2 in a shootout. (Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)

The start of a new NHL season is supposed to be a time for optimism and excitement. In the case of the Carolina Hurricanes, that feeling lasted for exactly one game before the franchise’s troubles resurfaced.

The Hurricanes opened the 2017-18 season this past weekend at home with a 5-4 shootout win over the Minnesota Wild in front of a sold-out crowd of 18,680. A win in front of a huge home crowd to open the season is an ideal start. Unfortunately, hardly any fans showed up for the team’s second game of the season.

PNC Arena had an announced crowd of just 7,892 fans for the team’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. That’s over a 10,000 drop in attendance between the first game of the year and the second. That’s insane.

Unfortunately, the Hurricanes are more than familiar with attendance issues. In fact, while most of the attention has been on the Arizona Coyotes, the Hurricanes have been one of the league’s most troubling stories. According to The Hockey DB, the Hurricanes had the worst average attendance of any NHL team in each of the past two seasons.

The poor attendance has rightfully caused a flurry of relocation rumors over the past few years. Team owner Peter Karmanos Jr. is actively looking to sell the team, sparking reasonable suggestions that a new buyer would seek to move the franchise. Karmanos Jr. has said he’s seeking $500 million from a potential buyer.

Gary Bettman shut down any talk of relocating the Hurricanes as recently as January, but it’s hard to ignore the possibility when the current owner is looking for an exit and the team hosts a dismal crowd for its second game of the year.

What’s next for the Hurricanes? Realistically, more small crowds. Scanning the secondary ticket market, there are a lot of good seats (for fair prices) throughout the year to most Hurricanes games. That’s a shame as they have some young talent ready to emerge and could be a surprise playoff team (if things go their way) late in the year.

About David Rogers

Editor for The Comeback and Contributing Editor for Awful Announcing. Lover of hockey, soccer and all things pop culture.

3 thoughts on “The NHL season is brand new and the Carolina Hurricanes already have attendance issues

  1. The reason there is still an attendance issue is that they haven’t proven anything yet. They do have a promising young team that could certainly make the playoffs, but until they start stringing together some wins the attendance will remain low. I was at the game on Saturday and the atmosphere was unreal. I’ve been to two Rangers games at MSG and let me tell you, the crowd was way more involved and much louder here at PNC Arena. The problem is that fans around here are very fair weather. They don’t want to come see a lousy team, and honestly I don’t blame them. If they put a good team on the ice, word will spread and people will come.

  2. Just did a gig outside of the arena and glanced at their ticket prices – way too high for that market and that team. I’m close enough I could drive there to catch an away game against my fave team – but those prices offer me NO incentive to make the drive.

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