Coyotes Attendance Plummets After Home Opener Sell Out

James King October 16, 2009 8:59AM

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After a week-long "white out" promotion campaign for the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes, the team sold out its home opener Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The next game, things were back to dismal.

For Saturday's loss, the team reported attendance of 17,532 after management had lowered ticket prices for the home opener, but when prices went back to normal, so did "fans," -- a lot of them stopped going.

Last night, the Coyotes hosted the St. Louis Blues and reported attendance of 6,899. However, team officials tell the Phoenix Business Journal the numbers were closer to 5,000.

The Coyotes came out of the poorly attended game with a victory, but the poor attendance is certain to concern NHL officials, who now essentially own the team and may move it to another city if Phoenicians don't start going to games.

Can anyone say, "Ohh Ca-na-da..."

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James King

Contact: James King