The clubs of the SM league will standardize the audience measurement of match events for this season. In the future, the audience numbers of all clubs include, for example, season tickets, regardless of whether the season ticket holder was present.
The Ice Hockey Championship League recently outlined that in the season that has started, all teams will measure the audience numbers of the matches in a mutually agreed upon manner. In the future, the number of spectators indicates the number of tickets sold and the number of season tickets sold, which almost always differs from the actual number of spectators of the match event. For example, the increase in the number of spectators in the football Veikkausliiga was at least partly explained by this.
In the past, some of the SM league clubs may have reported the actual number of spectators present, while some have reported the sold tickets and season tickets, in which case the comparison of the number of spectators within the series has not been without gaps.
When looking at the numbers announced by the teams and reported on the SM league page, it is important to review what the numbers contain.
The announced number may be significantly higher than the actual number of spectators, as the number of individual match tickets includes season ticket seats and, for example, different company tickets, regardless of whether the ticket was used in the match or not. The audience numbers of the SM league are about the difference of hundreds of pairs of eyes.
Urheilu was told about the SM league that the management team, consisting of the managing directors of the league clubs, made a unified policy on the matter during the season.
– In past years, there may have been several practices, but now we are in a completely consistent and agreed upon model in the League. All teams report their audience numbers in the following way: season tickets sold and individual tickets sold, says the SM league’s director of communications Tuomas Nyholm.
Huge fluctuations in the usage rate of season tickets
Pori Ässät has announced its average audience target of 4,200 for the season that has started. The number includes individual tickets and season tickets sold in accordance with the policy.
– The league hasn’t had guidelines for a uniform practice before, says Porin Ässie’s CEO Mikael Lehtinen.
In a few previous seasons, Ässät has announced the audience numbers according to the actual visitors. Nowadays, the Pori club has also returned to the number of tickets sold in its numbers, where season ticket holders are included, whether they are in the match or not.
– When we announced the number of people present, it distorted the comparison of numbers in the league quite a lot.
For Aces, season ticket usage may vary between 45 percent and 80 percent between matches. In Pori’s Isonmäki ice rink, there is talk of a difference of hundreds of visitors between the actual and announced audience numbers.
Lehtinen clarifies that each club must be able to track the actual number of attendees.
– In the end, it’s all about who is there. There may be 5,000 tickets sold, but there may be 4,000 people. You have to recognize those two things.
The Ice Hockey Championship league is followed on Puhe’s Ice Hockey Tour. Shipping on Friday 15.9. from 6 p.m. The program includes a league round of four matches. Listen to the broadcast at this link.