Despite ranking near the bottom of the NHL’s average attendance, the San Jose Sharks are seeing year-over-year growth that rivals the league’s top rankings.
The Athletic recently published a story about each team’s midseason presence. Although the Sharks are in the third tier, the underlying numbers suggest fans are starting to return to SAP Center.
San Jose is currently averaging 13,859 on Jan. 9, 79.5% of the 17,435 the arena can hold. The numbers are low, but year-over-year the Sharks have increased their capacity by 1.8%. The Florida Panthers, who got the best boost an NHL franchise can get by winning the Stanley Cup, had an attendance increase of 2.1%. The surprising Washington Capitals had an increase of 2%. Athletics considers these percentages elite compared to the rest of the NHL.
It’s not the same bump that Chicago got from Connor Bedard, and the Sharks are still having the hardest time filling their arena capacity in the league. But fans are starting to show up in San Jose for Macklin Celebrini, who has been excellent to start his career to start.” They will be an interesting team to watch both on the ice and in the stands,” wrote James Mirtle and Hailey Salvian.
Excluding the Winnipeg Jets, who had one of the best starts to an NHL season, the Sharks rank fourth in year-over-year growth among all NHL franchises.
