North Carolina Makes the 2021’s Best and Worst Cities for Hockey Fans List
Hockey fans are dedicated fans (trust me I live with one) but the pandemic changed the way many of us cheered on our teams. Stuck to our sofas while the seats of the arenas stayed cold, NHL games were surely different for die-hard fans but luckily things are starting to turn around.
With the 2021 Stanley Cup semifinals in full gear but the NHL facing $2.5 billion in potential revenue losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, WalletHub released its report on 2021’s Best Cities for Hockey Fans.
To determine the best places for hockey spectators, WalletHub compared 73 U.S. cities based on two divisional categories, professional and college hockey, across 21 key metrics. The data set ranges from the performance level of the city’s teams to minimum season ticket prices to stadium capacity.
| Top 20 Cities for Hockey Fans | |
| 1. Boston, MA | 11. Sunrise, FL |
| 2. Detroit, MI | 12. Anaheim, CA |
| 3. Pittsburgh, PA | 13. Washington, DC |
| 4. New York, NY | 14. Philadelphia, PA |
| 5. St. Louis, MO | 15. Dallas, TX |
| 6. Denver, CO | 16. Raleigh, NC |
| 7. Newark, NJ | 17. Glendale, AZ |
| 8. Tampa, FL | 18. St. Paul, MN |
| 9. Chicago, IL | 19. San Jose, CA |
| 10. Buffalo, NY | 20. Columbus, OH |
Not too shabby for North Carolina at number 16. Overall, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s performance level, 67.63 percent, is two times better than that of the Detroit Red Wings, at 33.18 percent. The Minnesota State Mavericks’ performance level, 76.76 percent, is 7.3 times better than that of the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, at 10.57 percent.
For the lowest average, Sunrise, Florida’s ticket price for an NHL game is only $37.19, which is 2.9 times lower than in Chicago, the city with the highest at $109.23. Wow! If you are a Dallas fan, they have the highest attendance rate for NHL games at 113.00 percent, which is 1.4 times higher than in Sunrise, Florida. The teams that qualified for the Stanley Cup 2021 are the Vegas Golden Knights (0 Stanley Cup wins), Montreal Canadiens (24 Stanley Cup wins), Tampa Bay Lightning (2 Stanley Cup wins), and New York Islanders (4 Stanley Cup wins).
