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Victoria Royals are not alone in attendance woes

During the seven seasons of minor-pro hockey with the Victoria Salmon Kings in the ECHL, it was an article of faith among some local fans that Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre would be packed every night if only the major-junior WHL would return and Isl
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Sparce crowds have been the norm at most Royals weekday games this season at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

During the seven seasons of minor-pro hockey with the Victoria Salmon Kings in the ECHL, it was an article of faith among some local fans that Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre would be packed every night if only the major-junior WHL would return and Islanders could once again watch a brand of hockey with which they were more familiar.

Well, on Tuesday, a combined five players on the Victoria Royals and Portland Winterhawks who are prospects for Canada, Sweden, Denmark and the U.S. at the upcoming 2015 world junior championship, were on the ice for an appealing WHL game at the Memorial Centre, but only an announced gathering of 3,779 was at the 7,006-seat arena. That has been a common weekday thread this season on Blanshard Street, with empty blue and burgundy seats far outnumbering the ones with butts filling them.

The Royals have experienced an erosion in attendance in each season since the franchise moved to the Island from Chilliwack, going from 5,660 per game average in 2011-12 to 5,189 in 2012-13 to a league ninth-best 4,800 last season despite smashing franchise records on the ice for wins and points. Victoria this season is down to a league ninth-ranked 4,490, which is a drop of nearly 1,200 per game from the inaugural Royals season on the Island. This season’s attendance is almost identical — and here’s the kicker — to what the Salmon Kings averaged to watch former WHLers, OHLers and NCAA players after they became pros.

The trend downward in attendance is not unique to Victoria as it is also happening across the WHL.

The Saskatoon Blades, who visit the Memorial Centre tonight to play the Royals (15-14-2), averaged 6,040 fans during the 2012-13 season, the one they mortgaged much of their future in hosting the Memorial Cup. But that slipped to 4,719 last season and is down to 4,231 so far this season. It certainly doesn’t help the Blades’ marketing cause to have lost five straight games while sporting the worst record in the league at 7-20-2 in the midst of a major rebuild.

The Vancouver Giants, too, were once part of the WHL gold standard. But in an eye-opener, the Province newspaper reported that Giants owner Ron Toigo has admitted to losing $400,000 each of the last two seasons as interest in his struggling team has waned considerably at the Pacific Coliseum.

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Meanwhile, average WHL attendance in 2012-13 was listed as 4,815, but dropped by 327 fans per game to 4,488 last season.

The Calgary Hitmen, which led the league in attendance the past two seasons, dropped from an average of 9,300 fans per game in 2012-13 to 8,252 last season and are leading the league again but now at 6,944. That’s a decline of more than 2,300 fans per game in just two years.

Portland, also a traditionally strong draw, attracted 7,329 per game last season but has dropped nearly 1,300 fans per game to 6,076 so far this season.

Attendance figures tend to pick up as fall passes to the heart of the hockey season in winter. But even at that, the numbers appear too great to make up and it seems unlikely the Royals and WHL as a whole in 2014-15 can avoid yet another decrease in yearly average attendance.

Royals general manager Cameron Hope is not oblivious to the overall pattern.

“In junior and minor pro, everyone is facing a marketplace that has a ton of entertainment choices,” noted Hope.

“Our job is convincing people not to sit in front of their TVs, where they have hundreds of choices a week. It’s a struggle for everyone involved in our level of the sports business, which is so ticket-revenue driven. We don’t have the TV and sponsorship packages that provide revenue streams for the major-league teams.”

While Toigo has been upfront about the Giants’ startling losses the past two seasons, Hope would not comment about how the current climate has affected the Royals’ finances.

“We do know when we get people out once to a Royals game, they come back,” said Hope, when asked how the attendance trend can be reversed.

“We do that by providing a good on-ice product that is entertaining to watch, plus a pro-level game-night presentation with features such as a big-screen video scoreboard.”

It remains a matter of the fans — facing a cluttered sports and entertainment landscape that includes vastly increased TV NHL game options — coming out to watch.

“I wish I had the answer, because it is an entertaining product, and it’s unfortunate we’re not getting as many people out as we’d like,” said Royals head coach Dave Lowry.

cdheensaw@timescolonist.com