cool Oilers history infographic

[Thorin]

This guy Lucas Timmons put together a really neat infographic showing the history of the Oilers all the way back to their inaugural 1972-73 season as part of the WHA (Western Hockey Association).  Lots of mouse-overs with more info!

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/edmonton-oilers/history/index.html

Crazy to see that the year after the lockout their average attendance was 7 seats short of a sell-out, and the next 6 seasons were all sell-outs even though they plummeted to bottom-of-the-league during this time.

[Mr. Analog]

I wonder if the sellout status is more a function of the lack of seating at the Coliseum.

I think only Vancouver and the NY Islanders have smaller seating capacity (I could be wrong)

[Thorin]

11-12: 16,839 of 16,839
10-11: 16,839 of 16,839
09-10: 16,839 of 16,839
08-09: 16,839 of 16,839
07-08: 16,839 of 16,839
06-07: 16,839 of 16,839
05-06: 16,832 of 16,839
04-05: lockout, no seats sold
03-04: 17,677 of 16,839 (this included all the seats sold at the Heritage Winter Classic)
02-03: 16,658 of 16,839
01-02: 16,587 of 17,100
00-01: 15,611 of 17,100
99-00: 15,800 of 17,100
98-99: 16,244 of 17,100
97-98: 16,245 of 17,100
96-97: 16,043 of 17,100
95-96: 12,234 of 17,100
94-95: 13,123 of 17,100 (short season due to lockout)
93-94: 13,437 of 17,503
92-93: 14,855 of 17,503

At no point over the last 20 years have ticket sales been as high as they have been since the 04-05 lockout.  The 03-04 season is inflated because they included tickets sold to the Heritage Winter Classic, which was not held at Rexall Place so it shouldn't count as tickets sold for Rexall Place.  But whatever, that's just bad data-gathering.

Keep in mind that a lot of the games will have 10 or 20 singles tickets still for sale the day before and fans are willing to pay to get those seats (even if they're discounted, it's still not cheap and sucks that you can't sit close to your buddies).

And all that as they've been bottom-scrapers - going back through the last 8 years of sellouts: 29th, 30th, 30th, 21st, 19th, 25th, 14th (got to Stanley Cup Finals), 17th.  Katz can say what he wants about Edmonton being a "small market", but there are lots of fans supporting this team through the bad times through direct ticket sales, and then there are a ton more buying Oilers paraphernalia (jerseys, t-shirts, blankets, dog bowls and collars, pens, mugs - this is just what my family has in the house!).

Yeah, a bigger arena might turn into more tickets sold.  At the same time the arena being proposed is hugely expensive.  $100/ticket x 2,000 more tickets/game x 41 games/season = $8,200,000 per season.  If Edmonton puts $275,000,000 into the arena as currently requested, then it'll take 33.54 years to pay back Edmonton if all proceeds from those new tickets are given to Edmonton.  Which it won't, since Katz would want his $100,000,000 back as well.  Sure, there's all this talk about Edmonton making a ton of money on the property tax collected on the businesses that will spring up around the new arena, but wouldn't there be businesses springing up there anyway that would be taxed?

[Mr. Analog]

Ahh, see this I find way easier to read (infographic fail)

There must be some relationship...