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compared to their own lousy attendance history, sure there's improvement. But compared to the rest of the league, they're still significantly below average.
And this is all with a contending team, a young homegrown star leading the league in scoring, the nostalgia factor with it being the last season in Nassau, and one of the smallest buildings in the whole league.
None of that matters when you've bred a culture of losing for decades. Historically there's been a lagtime of at least a year between when a perennial laughingstock becomes competitive and when fans start packing the arena again, so that makes this year's turnaround in attendance even more remarkable.
compared to their own lousy attendance history, sure there's improvement. But compared to the rest of the league, they're still significantly below average.
And this is all with a contending team, a young homegrown star leading the league in scoring, the nostalgia factor with it being the last season in Nassau, and one of the smallest buildings in the whole league.
The awful 1992 Yankees drew 1.75 million fans, good for 11th out of 14 teams in the AL and directly behind the Kansas City Royals and Milwaukee Brewers. Seems impossible now to think that was reality. Three years later the 1995 Yankees were their first (non-strike) contending team in more than a decade and still only drew 1.7 million. Back then they were running "Attendance Watch" boxes in the paper every day as Steinbrenner yapped about moving to NJ. It took two championships and a plethora of young homegrown stars for them to draw 3 million for the first time in 1999. Even the juggernaut 1998 team couldn't do it.
It takes way longer then two-thirds of a season for any team coming out of the doldrums in any sport to draw to capacity.
The awful 1992 Yankees drew 1.75 million fans, good for 11th out of 14 teams in the AL and directly behind the Kansas City Royals and Milwaukee Brewers. Seems impossible now to think that was reality. Three years later the 1995 Yankees were their first (non-strike) contending team in more than a decade and still only drew 1.7 million. Back then they were running "Attendance Watch" boxes in the paper every day as Steinbrenner yapped about moving to NJ. It took two championships and a plethora of young homegrown stars for them to draw 3 million for the first time in 1999. Even the juggernaut 1998 team couldn't do it.
It takes way longer then two-thirds of a season for any team coming out of the doldrums in any sport to draw to capacity.
agreed, which is why it seems silly for folks to get excited about this season's Islander's attendance. I will say that there seem's to be a disconnect between espn's numbers and the media reports of all the recent sellouts.
Looking back, 10+ years ago the Islanders were in a mini-era of respectability and the attendance never got above league average then either in terms of %. If this wasn't the last season in the building, I suspect the numbers would have only been incrementally larger than last season.
None of that matters when you've bred a culture of losing for decades. Historically there's been a lagtime of at least a year between when a perennial laughingstock becomes competitive and when fans start packing the arena again, so that makes this year's turnaround in attendance even more remarkable.
is it really a "turnaround" if they're still below average when compared to the rest of the league? Seems more like a weak artificial bump due to fans heading there one last time before they leave for Brooklyn.
Rumor has it that Mangano is going to announce a new approved plan this week with Bruce Ratner to renovate the Coliseum to a 15,000+ seats and are restarting talks about reactivating the LIRR extension through Garden City for access. Take it for what its worth.
Rumor has it that Mangano is going to announce a new approved plan this week with Bruce Ratner to renovate the Coliseum to a 15,000+ seats and are restarting talks about reactivating the LIRR extension through Garden City for access. Take it for what its worth.
Too little, too late, in my opinion.
I heard the same thing. We shall see but you are probably right about too little too late
is it really a "turnaround" if they're still below average when compared to the rest of the league? Seems more like a weak artificial bump due to fans heading there one last time before they leave for Brooklyn.
If you look at the attendance over the last couple months (from basically the Holidays onward) they really aren't below average when compared to the rest of the league. They have sold out 5 in a row, 8 of 9 and 15 of their last 20.
During their last 20 home games, they are averaging 98.9% to capacity, during their last 9, its 99.91% to capacity.
^ probably also has to do with people realizing they won't get to see them as often soon.
I've gone to a ton of Caps games there, but I'm sure not as likely to get on the LIRR+subway with the kids to watch them play. 20 minutes in a car, or 10 minutes + 2 trains? See ya.
Rumor has it that Mangano is going to announce a new approved plan this week with Bruce Ratner to renovate the Coliseum to a 15,000+ seats and are restarting talks about reactivating the LIRR extension through Garden City for access. Take it for what its worth.
Too little, too late, in my opinion.
Mangano is a moron! He can't even run the county without the State control (NIFA). Its pretty simple to run Nassau. Cut spending and increase revenues. You can't do that though when you hire your political donors idiot sons to $150,000 patronage positions and hand out every contract to your Republican club friends!
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