Why Do Sheffield Never Publish Their Attendance

[PantherG]

Almost all teams provide attendance data and it is added to the game sheets on the EIHL site. However, unless Sheffield have a bumper attendance it is shown as 0. When they were getting bumper crowds they were telling everyone how many people were coming each week..... No nothing!
Are the crowds so poor they are too embarrassed to tell?

[Mark]

Because they're usually poor and publishing the attendance will burst the everything is great bubble?

[StolenAngelSlice]

Because they're busy winning the league.

[Helen B]

It actually annoys me, as (the saddo that I am) like to keep info from games and attendance is one of the things I like to have.

They don't put the MOM info on either.

[Shaggy]

Dec 18, 2011 12:08:12 GMT Helen B said:

They don't put the MOM info on either.

Well, of course not! If the league standard is to have the attendance figures linked to the MoM player's number, you can't have one without the other...

[james1977]

Dec 18, 2011 11:43:49 GMT StolenAngelSlice said:

Because they're busy winning the league.

I'm sure they published attendance figures when they were busy winning previous leagues.

As Mark said, its because their attendance figures are so dire. Watch the EIHL show and keep an eye out for the vast swaths of empty blue seats during the footage from Steelers home games. It doesn't matter how many 50/50 tickets they say are being sold, they must be losing some serious money this season. I guess they don't want to make this fact official by publishing their poor attendances.

They may once again win the league but I feel its just as likely they'll also do that other regular Steelers thing too.

Who will be the next messiah be I wonder and will Tony be able to keep Rhino safe from any fallout? If not where will teams get their nasty printed jerseys from?

[cooperphil156]

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7, 8, 9, 10.
11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.

Er can someone else take their gumboots and socks off?

ER 20 - what comes next?

[StolenAngelSlice]

Dec 18, 2011 12:12:37 GMT @james1977 said:

Dec 18, 2011 11:43:49 GMT StolenAngelSlice said:

Because they're busy winning the league.

I'm sure they published attendance figures when they were busy winning previous leagues.

They may once again win the league but I feel its just as likely they'll also do that other regular Steelers thing too.

They may well do so, but to be honest we need to look at our own house before we start another thread about Sheffield. Financially they have their difficulties but let's face it time and time again they put a winning team out regardless of the spending beyond their means argument.

[abi]

Would this thread have started if it was the Panthers who weren't releasing figures (As in a "Why do Nottingham never publish their attendance?" on here, by a Nottingham fan), or just another chance to dig at them up the road?

It's quite boring now, TBH. Even if they did release their attendances you wouldn't be able to tell how they were doing financially on those alone - you'd need to see full accounts and then sit and work out what % of the ticket sales goes where, etc etc.

[Deleted]

According to Ice Hockey Annual, Sheffield's average attendance in 2010/11 was 3,329, down 11.3% on 2009/10. In 2009/10 the average was 3,753, down 6.0% on 2008/09.

I don't think it's boring, Abi: neither is it about point scoring as to who has the best finances. It's about why, at a time when the very future of our league is being discussed at length elsewhere on this forum, a club that promotes itself as the most successful of the last 20 years or so manages to lose almost 1 in 5 of its punters over two seasons, one of which was a league winning season, accelerating what has been a steady decline for the last 10+ years.

[shinobi]

Dec 18, 2011 13:21:19 GMT abi said:

Would this thread have started if it was the Panthers who weren't releasing figures (As in a "Why do Nottingham never publish their attendance?" on here, by a Nottingham fan), or just another chance to dig at them up the road?

It's quite boring now, TBH. Even if they did release their attendances you wouldn't be able to tell how they were doing financially on those alone - you'd need to see full accounts and then sit and work out what % of the ticket sales goes where, etc etc.

If you find the subject "boring," then why read the thread?

[Mark]

Dec 18, 2011 13:21:19 GMT abi said:

Would this thread have started if it was the Panthers who weren't releasing figures (As in a "Why do Nottingham never publish their attendance?" on here, by a Nottingham fan), or just another chance to dig at them up the road?

It's quite boring now, TBH. Even if they did release their attendances you wouldn't be able to tell how they were doing financially on those alone - you'd need to see full accounts and then sit and work out what % of the ticket sales goes where, etc etc.

Don't read it then. Given the current finances around the EIHL I think it's relevant, afterall your club went belly up trying to compete above it's means. Can we afford for the rest to stupidly implode in the same way?

[warx]

Dec 18, 2011 12:12:37 GMT @james1977 said:

Dec 18, 2011 11:43:49 GMT StolenAngelSlice said:

Because they're busy winning the league.

I'm sure they published attendance figures when they were busy winning previous leagues.

As Mark said, its because their attendance figures are so dire. Watch the EIHL show and keep an eye out for the vast swaths of empty blue seats during the footage from Steelers home games. It doesn't matter how many 50/50 tickets they say are being sold, they must be losing some serious money this season. I guess they don't want to make this fact official by publishing their poor attendances.

They may once again win the league but I feel its just as likely they'll also do that other regular Steelers thing too.

Who will be the next messiah be I wonder and will Tony be able to keep Rhino safe from any fallout? If not where will teams get their nasty printed jerseys from?

Basing your estimates on what crowd you can see on the highlights isn't going to be too accurate now is it.

Honesty the crowds seem to be as good, if not better than last year and we've seen much better merchandise, more sponsorship and a big push in the 50/50 sales. Every little helps and I just hope that we're on the road to better financial times.

[Shaggy]

Dec 18, 2011 13:21:19 GMT abi said:

Would this thread have started if it was the Panthers who weren't releasing figures (As in a "Why do Nottingham never publish their attendance?" on here, by a Nottingham fan), or just another chance to dig at them up the road?

Given the propensity of our own fanbase to moan and whinge to the nth degree... yes, you can absolutely be sure that a thread would have been started by a Nottingham fan if the Panthers weren't publishing attendances.

Granted, endless threads about the Steelers do tend to get a bit annoying (as does their undeniable and decidely unpleasant obsession with us) but it's a perfectly valid point - how come they can pull these figures out of a hat when they've got something to boast about, yet can't seem to provide figures the rest of the time?
And given their also undeniable history of mismanagement, financial irregularity and falling attendances - not to mention the spin, misdirection and falsehoods that accompany such - why should we believe what figures they do publish?

Same old story - two things come out of Sheffield... roads and rubbish.

[derbypanther]

Almost all teams provide attendance data and it is added to the game sheets on the EIHL site. However, unless Sheffield have a bumper attendance it is shown as 0.

Maybe that is their attendance? ;D


Seriously though, I'm in agreement that it would be nice to have proper records being kept - by all teams. It makes the league look far more professional.

[chris22]

Dec 18, 2011 13:46:21 GMT @stef said:

According to Ice Hockey Annual, Sheffield's average attendance in 2010/11 was 3,329, down 11.3% on 2009/10. In 2009/10 the average was 3,753, down 6.0% on 2008/09.

The crowds have gone down slightly over the past 2 seasons, but not as much as those figures suggest.

Those figures are lowered by the increase in games played at Ice Sheffield in that period which brings in an average of 1200 spectators.

If you were to look purely at Arena games I suspect the fall over the past couple of years is less than 10%. Still not great, however.

[tek]

Look at www.steelersstats.co.uk/total_games.htm
All game attendances from 1991 to 2011 = scroll down for latest ones

[Helen B]

Dec 18, 2011 15:12:36 GMT tek said:

Look at www.steelersstats.co.uk/total_games.htm
All game attendances from 1991 to 2011 = scroll down for latest ones

I can honestly say the attendances for the Continental Cup games on there are wrong, as there was at least 160 Steelers fans there.

[Helen B]

Right then:
Arena games: 4403 av
Ice Sheffield games: 1276 av
All home games: 3569 av

So you can all see that having games at IS pulls the average down by almost 1100. However, the club has never failed to make money from games played at IS.

[Doom]

Dec 18, 2011 15:57:49 GMT Helen B said:

Right then:
Arena games: 4403 av
Ice Sheffield games: 1276 av
All home games: 3569 av

So you can all see that having games at IS pulls the average down by almost 1100. However, the club has never failed to make money from games played at IS.

If those figures are correct then I'd say our attendances at the Arena are quite healthy this season and would probably put us some considerable distance ahead of Belfast in 2nd place.

One thing that people sometimes forget is that we seem to have fewer favourable dates made available at out arena compared to Nottingham and Belfast, hence why we tend to play a few more games at Ice Sheffield. I guess we could double up Challenge Cup games like the other arena teams, but if we make money on Ice Sheffield games that wouldn't make sense.

I would guess the crowd last night was about 3,000, although the Boxing Day game should attract 7,000+ bringing the average back up again.

The one thing the stats don't tell is how many are discounted/free tickets, because looking at where supporters have sat this season you can tell there have been quite a few cheap/free tickets handed out.

Regards

Doom

[pantherdman]

Beacuse no one cares.

[Shaggy]

Dec 18, 2011 16:18:55 GMT Doom said:

One thing that people sometimes forget is that we seem to have fewer favourable dates made available at out arena compared to Nottingham

Looking at the past few seasons - not just this one - I would strongly dispute this (as regards Nottingham - can't speak as to Belfast).

The one thing the stats don't tell is how many are discounted/free tickets, because looking at where supporters have sat this season you can tell there have been quite a few cheap/free tickets handed out.

Very telling point. How are the Steelers doing as regards paying attendance? Well, no-one really knows because they won't say how many freebies and they won't say how many come through the door in total (except when it suits them... and that's a crucial point, because if they're not saying you can be fairly sure it's because the numbers aren't favourable).

[iginla]

Their can only be two reasons why a club would not want to publish the crowd figure.

1. Because they are ashamed of how low it is.

2. Because they are hiding something from somebody,or fudging some figures.

As for Ice Sheffield games lowering the average attendance,how does that work then ?
If the Steelers were selling it out when playing there so you couldn't physically get any more people in then yes,but if there were only 1200 at Ice Sheffield for a game then there would presumably only be 1200 for that same game at the arena !

[gump]

And because of not publishing always the attendance numbers the referee' give Sheffield one free goal per game that is why they are level with the Panthers. Get a life people enjoy the games and the riviraly.

[Doom]

Dec 18, 2011 18:57:58 GMT iginla said:

As for Ice Sheffield games lowering the average attendance,how does that work then ?
If the Steelers were selling it out when playing there so you couldn't physically get any more people in then yes,but if there were only 1200 at Ice Sheffield for a game then there would presumably only be 1200 for that same game at the arena !

It doesn't quite work like that.

There are a lot of Steelers supporters who don't like Ice Sheffield and won't attend games there, I know of 2 who sit near us.

Regards

Doom