It wasn’t that long ago that the team was rumored to be leaving town, but today Nashville Predators attendance records are being set at Bridgestone Arena.
Overall, the NHL’s Predators have registered 13 sellouts in 17 games at Bridgestone Arena. Winning helps attract fans, and the Preds entered the New Years with a 24-9-3 record, good for third overall in the Western Conference. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Nashville is a hot city, with lots of money flowing into downtown. From The Tennessean:
“I think it starts with what the guys on the ice are doing; it’s just an incredible year,” Predators CEO Jeff Cogen said. “Certainly our passionate fans are appreciating that and coming out in droves. And our success has created additional fans.”
Tuesday’s attendance topped the previous record of 17,355 set on April 12 against Chicago in the final home game last season….
“It’s clearly more casual fans buying individual game night tickets,” Cogen said. “It’s also the people who were buying individual tickets are now stepping up and buying mini plans, the people who were buying mini plans are upgrading to fulls — there’s just this positive momentum across all facets to what we’re doing.”
Would the team be as successful if the on-ice record wasn’t so good? Probably. As noted, Nashville is a hot city at that moment, and the downtown Bridgestone Arena is firmly in the midst of a very trendy entertainment district. The nice thing about the box-office success: it looks to be very sustainable.
