There is no attendance problem

One of our most faithful readers, ICEVET, made a comment to my "View from the Press box" post from yesterday. I made the point that the Aeros need to play better at home in order to be one of the elite teams in the Western Conference and the AHL.

Here is what ICEVET said:

"The average attendance run rate during the 2011-12 regular season was nearly 7300, buoyed by the agressive management of David Burke.

Through 5 games, average attendance run rate (5700+) is down 20%....and this includes 8,132
on opening night.

Hopefully, attendance levels will rise to support this very talented team."

ICEVET is right, the attendance, when compared to last season's average is down. And when you compare the first five games this season to those from a year ago, the average gate is down to 5,743 from 6,554. When compared to the rest of the AHL, the Aeros currently sit 13th in the 30-league team. 

Both of those stats immediately struck me as disappointing because of the progress the team has made at the game during the Tom Garrity, Jamie Spencer and David Burke Aeros President eras. But I did a quick five-year comparison, and the results show that the Aeros do not have an attendance problem this season. 

Typically, because of High School football and many other factors, the Aeros attendance does not pick up until late December or so. The Aeros also play many more Sunday games, and have fewer Saturday nights at their disposal because they share the Toyota Center with the Rockets, concerts and other events. 

Their attendance through the first five games last year was more than 6,500 and that was their best rate in the last five years - by a lot. And what happened the year before? The Aeros made an incredible run at the Calder Cup buoyed by one of the best group of players in franchise history. 

In other words, there was a high coming off the previous year, and even during the typical "low season" the Aeros had great numbers at the rink. 

Here is a look at the Aeros first five game attendance average over the last five years. 

2012 - 5,734

2011 - 6,554

2010 - 5,185

2009 - 5,662

2008 - 4,562

Five-year average - 5,539

So what does this mean? It means that the first five games of this season has been spot on with their average over the last five seasons. 

And this does not even get into when these first five games were played. How many of these games were played on weeknights? How many of these games were Fridays and Saturdays? How many of these games came in a four or five night span (when the home team plays three or four games in a week, attendance suffers.)

The bottom line is last year was the anomaly, not this season. David Burke did an amazing job, overall, during his run at team president. He followed a general ticket-selling formula (kids, families, kids, families, groups, kids, families) that has been employed since Tom Garrity took over, and he raised the bar with fan interaction, social media and little things like instant replays and goal horns. 

The Aeros are not out of the woods yet. There is no lease in place for next season and beyond, so it will be interesting to see how that affects attendance when we get into early December and preparations will have to be made for the following season. Let's just say that front-office morale will be affected either way. 

Also, from March 14 to April 13, they are going to have to play 12 games in less than a month, and that, too will certainly affect how many fans will buy tickets. 

All that aside, the Aeros are doing just fine so far both on and off ice the ice. 

Rest, Relaxation, and Inspiration: The Aeros Prep For Game Three

While Heather was prepping for her journey to Binghamton on Monday, I headed up to SLICE to get in a few last interviews with some players before they got on the bus to the airport. What I saw was a team in good spirits and that was confident of their ability to handle the Senators.

I've got a piece over at the mothership today on the road the Aeros traveled get to this match up against the Sens, and the importance of Jed Ortmeyer in how that all happened along with some player appreciation for the crowds at Toyota Center throughout the season, especially last weekend.

But as always, there's not enough space to go with all of the material that I got. So...

I asked Jon DiSalvatore about how the team had evolved from the one that was in seventh place and dropping in late-December to the one we have today. In the Press, I quote him talking about a meeting the team had where they talked about writing their story for the season, and how they wanted that story to go. But because of space, I didn't put in the rest of the quote, where he talks about the roles that Jed Ortmeyer, Patrick O'Sullivan, and Matt Hackett played in getting the Aeros to where they are right now.

"Along with that [meeting] came some key pieces to our puzzle, too," he said. "And over the next week we added Jed Ortmeyer who has proven to be one of the most valuable guys to our team as far as what he brings in leadership ability, and just the type of player he is. The type of player that he is, guys can just look at and know he brings it every night. And of course Patrick O’Sullivan. And I think once he came, he added so much to our offense, where our offense jumped up a whole point, I believe. Our power play started to get better. And those are all key things. And you take that along with younger guys maturing, and taking on responsibility, and giving our goaltender the opportunity by a trade to take on the number one position."

I then asked Ortmeyer his thoughts about the credit the guys have been giving him for the Aeros turnaround. And it's credit that he didn't really think he deserved.

"I don’t know if I deserve that," he said. "The talent was here. Just having a little bit more accountability and bringing in a little more depth with Sully and myself, that helped push guys a little bit further. Being around the young guys, it’s fun for us, when they ask us questions about guys we played with and stories from some of the guys that are in the hall of fame now. I think it’s exciting, and I think that’s what pro hockey is. We’re able to pass down things that we’ve experienced that hopefully they’ll be able to pass down some stuff when they get to our age."

The guys were in good spirits on Monday, and one of the reasons for that dealt with them finally being able to get some days off. It wasn't so much the time off they needed because of physical issues, but needing the time off for a mental break after playing two tough seven game series with almost no time off between series.

"Going back-to-back seven game series, and kind of jumping from one series to the next, and the mental ground that takes place in going through some of those games, and then getting yourself ready for the biggest series of them all, it was important for us to get some rest," DiSalvatore said. "I think more so – I think guys physically feel that they just needed the rest, but mentally I think it’s going to turn out to be more beneficial than anything else. Just to kind of take a break and get away from it for a couple of days. Guys are always constantly thinking about it, but just to kind get of way from it, get rid of the feeling, the sting of the loss. And just get away from the rink and just kind of decompress a little bit is going to prove to really benefit us as we go refocus for the next couple of days."

Both DiSalvatore and Ortmeyer said pretty much the same thing when asked about Binghamton. A good team with speed and offense weapons and good goalies. But both were equally adamant about one thing. The team has to concentrate on its game. On making sure they do all of the little things, on focusing on their individual shifts and focusing only on those things they can control. And I'll go with this quote from Ortmeyer which I used in the Press story, because it really gets to the heart of the matter.

"We need to take a lesson from the Hamilton series," he said. "We got away from our game that we had success from, and it almost came back to bite us. They took us right down to the end. Game one [against Binghamton] we played the way we wanted to play, and we were able to get the win, and in game two, we started off not playing our style of game. We were fortunate that Hack made some big saves and kept us in the game."

I'll leave it to Heather for now. I'm sure she'll get something up here nice and quick after the game tonight, and as much as she hates transcribing interviews, I'm sure she'll make the effort to get some for the post. I, meanwhile, have an early flight to Philly tomorrow with a three hour-plus drive to Binghamton to look forward to, but I'll be there for games four and five where hopefully there will be a lot of good news.

P.S.: Before I go, I've got a message from DiSalvatore and Ortmeyer for the fans who have been coming out to Toyota Center, especially this past weekend.

"It was incredible," DiSalvatore said. "As much as we want to go and win the series in Binghamton – that’s the ultimate goal – we would love to do it in front of our crowd as well. They have been fantastic. The way they turned out all season, I really feel we were one of the top attendance teams in the league."

Then Ortmeyer followed up: "It’s great. It’s a great arena. The acoustics are great. It’s loud. It’s an NHL-style arena when you get that many fans in there. It’s exciting. It definitely gives you a little extra boost of energy. I think the fans have started – they’re coming out at the end of the season. It’s an exciting time of year. Who wouldn’t want to be around for a playoff run, especially in the finals? We’re happy that the fans have come out to support us, and we’re looking for more support down the road."

What If They Played A Hockey Game And Nobody Came?

This is what Toyota Center looked like at the start of the game. And no, it didn't get any fuller. Note, official attendance was 2515. But I think they exaggerated just a bit. Perhaps this will mean a reduction of these type of gimmick days next year?

Yes, that is Heather. But she's not working. She's playing around Twitter.

And the press box.

Let's Pack The House

Okay folks. I know the Aeros haven't had much time to publicize and sell tickets for these playoff games with Peoria. But how about doing the Aeros a favor? Let's get some people in the stands tomorrow night.

When Mitch Love tries to get everyone off of their feet and roaring after a fight tomorrow night, let's have some people in the stands to get excited.

I've got no problem with the crowd last night. I was amazed that over 4,000 people were able to make it out there with that weather and with the lack of advanced notice for the actual game date. But I want it to be different tomorrow night for Game Four.

The Aeros crowds on weeknights always suck -- well, I remember a big crowd for a Bikini Night game against the Wolves several years ago -- but generally, the crowd is an inflated total of friends and family which somehow comes out to about 3,000 though it often looks to be about 1,000. But this is the playoffs. Let's get some people out in those damn stands.

I know the excuses. It's a Monday night and people have work and school the next day. But that's not going to stop the Astros from drawing 30,000 as they lose to the Reds tomorrow night, and the Aeros game will be a better economic value, and the product will be much, much more exciting.

So how about it? I'm not asking that both decks be stacked with people. I would just like to see a crowd of at least 5,000 or 6,000. Let's get enough people in there so that when Mitch Love gets in a fight the place is rocking with noise.

Who's with me? I'll be there. I hope I see you there, too.

Photo courtesy Fred Trask.