Capitals’ attendance remains strong amid leaguewide decline

Attendance in the NHL is down this season compared to pre-pandemic levels, but the Washington Capitals are one of a few teams not feeling the effects in the stands.

The Capitals rank fourth in the NHL with an average attendance of 18,573 and are one of only four teams to not see a decrease in this season compared to 2019-20, according to ESPN’s tracker.

Overall, NHL attendance is down about 10% compared to 2019-20 — the last season with fans before the COVID-19 pandemic cut it short — according to Sports Business Journal. In total, 27 of the 31 nonexpansion franchises are posting worse figures this fall than two seasons ago.

The overall downturn has also led to the end of sellout streaks in Pittsburgh and Chicago of 633 and 535 games, respectively.

The Capitals having good attendance isn’t new. The team has frequently ranked in the top half of the league, and sometimes in the top 10, during the Alex Ovechkin era.

Washington used to be one of the least-attended teams in the NHL, ranking in the bottom seven in the league from 2003-04 to 2007-08. But since 2008-09, Washington has been in the top half in every season, including three straight years in the top 10 from 2017-18 to 2019-20.

However, their fourth-place ranking in the league — and third when adjusted for capacity — would be Washington’s best this century. Only once has the team ranked in the top five in the league in attendance — 2014-15 when the team averaged 19,099 fans per night.

The Capitals’ 18,573 figure this fall — only bested by Montreal’s 19,891, Tampa Bay’s 19,092 and Toronto’s 18,819 — is barely higher than the 18,570 number the team posted in 2019-20. The other teams with just as many fans in the stands this season as two years ago are Tampa Bay, Boston and New York (Islanders).

While Washington’s attendance numbers are good, they look even better in the context of the league’s overall struggle to get fans back into arenas amid the pandemic.

The leaguewide attendance decline is around 10%, but some franchises are doing much worse.

Eight teams have seen declines of more than 2,000 fans per night. Chicago and Dallas, while ranking in the top 10 this season, are down about 3,300 and 2,400 fans, respectively. Calgary, which was sixth in the league in 2019-20, is down 3,295 fans per night, and San Jose’s attendance is down about 4,000.

But no team is worse off than Buffalo, which is by far in last with an average draw of 8,492. That is down about 50% from 17,167 in 2019-20, and the Sabres’ current attendance is only 44% of capacity.

According to a Morning Consult poll on Dec. 4, 48% of sports fans in the U.S. are “comfortable attending a sporting event” right now. That is slightly down from 51% in its November poll and 55% in July, but it’s higher than the high-20s, low-30s percentages from before the vaccine rollout earlier this year.

Like in most attendance discussions, there’s one theme that’s evident: winning.

Buffalo is 8-15-4 and on track to set an NHL record for consecutive years without a playoff appearance this season at 11.

On the other hand, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Washington are three of the best teams in the NHL. The Lightning — fresh off back-to-back Stanley Cup titles — are 17-6-4, while the Maple Leafs (19-8-2) are tied for first in the Atlantic Division with 40 points and the Capitals (17-5-6) are alone in first in the Metropolitan with 40 points.

For Washington, which is 9-2-4 at Capital One Arena this season, another factor could be Ovechkin’s chase for Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record. He started the season in sixth but has since leapfrogged Marcel Dionne and Brett Hull to sit alone in fourth place all-time. Arguably on pace to have a career season at age 36, Ovechkin is at 750 goals and is very likely to pass Jaromir Jagr for third on the list.

No matter what the NHL attendance landscape looks like, as long as No. 8 is playing and Washington is high in the standings, the Capitals should have no problem attracting fans to Capital One Arena.