The number of viewers of the SM league is increasing. Ilves has gathered the largest audience in the autumn SM league home games, which has attracted an average of 7,779 spectators per match to the Tampere Areena.
The second highest number of spectators have attended HIFK’s games on “Nordis”, 7,149 per game. The reigning champion Tappara is third in the audience average for home games with 6,679 spectators.
The readings are clearly higher than the previous season’s averages, even though at the beginning of the season the audience numbers are usually not huge. Also in the 2021–22 season, Ilves regular season home matches had the most spectators (5,433). Tappara had the second most (5,185) and HIFK (4,883) came third.
Even in the least crowded matches, we are ahead of last season’s readings. In the current season, the fewest audiences have attended Jukurie’s matches in Mikkeli (an average of 2,205), last season Ässät was in jumbo place with a season average of 1,530 spectators.
CEO of Jukurie Antti Laakso reminds that local realities must be taken into account when looking at viewership figures.
– We have the smallest hall and city in the SM league.
In addition, the league teams have played only 15-18 matches this fall, so the numbers are not quite comparable to a whole season.
The whole family to the hall
Families with children are today an important target group for ice hockey SM league clubs. The juniors might be one of the reasons for the upbeat viewership.
The reigning champion Tappara gathered more than 11,000 spectators, most of them children, in their Sport home match played last week on Monday, sponsored by their partners.
CEO of Tappara Mika Aron in honor of the autumn holidays, the club wanted to offer the opportunity to watch ice hockey also for those whose parents would not be able to find the hall under normal circumstances.
– However, we believe that the match events are interesting and that the audience will be there anyway. That is perhaps a once-in-a-season adventure.
Also, for example, HPK and Ässät have organized match events targeted at families with children during the school children’s fall vacation at reduced prices.
CEO of HPK Antti Toivanen says that family matches have been popular in Hämeenlinna for a few years already. They are invested in during the holidays.
– When families have free time together, we as a club want to offer them the opportunity to come to matches.
Some of the league clubs constantly have family ticket packages for sale. CEO of HIFK Markus Lindström says that they are on sale for all matches of the team from Helsinki.
– Our Saturday games are always themed as family games, in which case the marketing of family tickets is taken into account. Weekends are good moments to come to the game with the whole family.
The prices are for the next home match on Friday, October 28 at 4 p.m. If a family ticket is not specifically mentioned on the club’s website or in the ticketing service, the price is calculated for two adults and two children over 7 years old according to the cheapest seats that can be purchased in advance.
HIFK: 90 e
Flies: 76 e
Tappara: 60 e
KooKoo: 60 e
Pelicans: 60 e
SaiPa: 60 e
HPK: 59 e
Lock: 57 e
KalPa: 54 e
Aces: 50–80 e The ticket price is determined according to the three price categories in use. The price category is affected by the demand for tickets.
Sport: 50 e
Lynx: 48 e
TPS: 40 e
JYP: 40 e
Jukurs: 40 e
Some of the matches may be more expensive than usual, for example because of a local game or a top opponent.
Big differences in prices
The prices of the clubs’ family packages seem to follow the logic of market supply and demand to some extent. A family of four, with two adults and two children over the age of seven, pays the most for HIFK’s games, which are attended by many spectators anyway. A regular match event costs 90 euros for the food group in question.
At the tail end of the spectator statistics, the same family in Mikkeli spends 40 euros for the Jukurie match, i.e. 50 euros less than for the HIFK game.
On the other hand, for example, a family can get tickets for the game of TPS (5,526), which is fourth in home averages this season, for 40 euros, and for the game of SaiPa, which drew the third least number of spectators (2,725), for 60 euros, so there is no direct connection between the number of spectators and the ticket prices.
In most league locations, a family can get tickets for around 50–60 euros.
According to HIFK’s Lindström, behind the good viewership there is a pent-up need for encounters and getting to know each other. However, family tickets have been popular in the Helsinki club even before the corona virus.
– Family tickets are one of the reasons that we have been able to operate normally.
According to Jukurien Laakso, the club sees great potential for family tickets and there has been development in their sales.
– For example, this week, when it’s been autumn vacation here, we’re strongly ahead of it in marketing.
Only a couple of clubs have dynamic pricing
Most of the clubs announce their ticket prices on their website and keep them the same throughout the season, except for different promotions. Local games or top opponents may increase the price of the admission ticket.
At Lahti Pelicans, ticket prices have not been locked, but the club focuses on the CEO Lauri Pöyhönen to “dynamic” pricing. Ticket prices vary according to demand. If you get your tickets in time, you can get them cheaper than last time.
– We have been doing this for a few years. We see that this is a good change. It means that when we sell scarcity, like last weekend’s HIFK game, it means that the ticket price is higher. Now TPS is coming, you can still get here quite cheaply, Pöyhönen said on Wednesday.
Pelicans’ home games have been attended by an average of 2,864 spectators this season. Last season, the number was 2,182.
Also at Äss, the level of occupancy of the hall affects the price of tickets.
You can follow the events of the SM league games on Puhe’s Ice Hockey Tour. Listen to the live broadcast from Saturday’s round from 16:30 here.
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