Columbus collected 32.8 million in gate receipts last season

I just read this post from a Canadian writer gloating about how the 6 Canadian franchises make more that then bottom 14 U.S. cities combined. Here are the stats from his post:

Gate Receipts, Six Canadian Teams = $356,700,000
(Toronto: $77.9 mil, Montreal: $69.7 mil, Vancouver: $57.4 mil, Calgary: $53.3 mil, Ottawa: $49.2 mil, Edmonton: $49.2 mil)

Gate Receipts, Bottom Fourteen Teams = $360,800,000
(Columbus: $32.8 mil, Tampa Bay: $32.8 mil, Boston: $32.8 mil, Buffalo: $30.75 mil, Carolina: $28.7 mil, Los Angeles: $26.65 mil, St. Louis: $24.6 mil, Nashville: $24.6 mil, Washington: $22.55 mil, Atlanta: $22.55 mil, NY Islanders: $22.55 mil, Chicago: $20.5 mil, Florida: $20.5 mil, Phoenix: $18.45 mil)

Okay I'm not going to get into the whole Canadian vs. US hockey thing as he's got a point and I can't argue that there should not be more Canadian franchises. However gate receipts is just part of the argument as there are many more things to consider. That and I certainly wouldn't want my beloved Jackets moving North so I'm certainly not going to get into the relocation talk about other franchises.

However, what I did find very interesting about this article though is that according to his number Columbus was at the top of that 14's worst list tied with the best gate receipts out of that group.

Now how in the wide wide world of sports can that be possible when according to espn.com's attendance figures Columbus was ranked 28th out of the 30 teams in attendance?

I'll tell you how.

Its because with Priest in charge there wasn't nearly the free bees handed out that were under the MacLean administration which would inflate attendance figures (to save someone's skin perhaps?). So the attendance we did have people actually paid for it.

Obviously teams below us are handing out free bees like toilet paper during a late night visit to White Castles. That or they are severely reduced ticket prices. How else you explain teams like Tampa Bay, who are ranked 8th overall in attendance at 18,692 per game, reporting the exact same gate receipts as Columbus?

There is no other explanation.

Now of course gate receipts is just one revenue stream as some of these markets can charge much higher advertising rates, have better local TV and radio deals, etc, etc.

Still though perhaps Columbus isn't in quite as bad of shape as I thought. I've long thought that even though attendance was reported a lot lower this year than previous years that the actual butts in the seats weren't much different than before, at least the last year or two, and its just that the numbers were no longer being artificially inflated.

There is certainly room for major improvment though as there are still an unacceptable amount of fans dressed up as blue seats and we need that trend to stop. A winning team should help considerably.

For those that are interested in season tickets out there, there are some sections -- good sections -- within the arena that the Jackets' staff are no longer requiring a PSL to be purchased for. Of course if you pass you no longer get the merchandise discounts or other arena events ticket priority but you do however still get playoff priority which to me is the key.

-LTL