Ice hockey is socially acceptable again in Meran. © BK Photo

Viewer ranking: These clubs have the most fans

The puck is resting this week in the country's most important ice hockey leagues. SportNews uses the break to take a look at the stadium coffers and answer the question: Which club attracts the most spectators to the hall?

12 December 2023

From: fop

We found the answer – not surprisingly – in the ICE Hockey League: The HC Bolzano is South Tyrol's spectator magnet, followed by league rivals HC Pustertal.

Including the three (unsuccessful) Champions League games, the Foxes have already welcomed around 43.500 spectators to the stadium gates this season. Italy's most successful ice hockey club records an average of 2.650 fans in the league. This puts HC Bozen in fifth position in the ICE viewer table, closely followed by Puster wolves. In Bruneck, 2.418 spectators pass the admission controls of the ultra-modern Intercable Arena per game.

Hockey in Meran is “pulling” again

He races to third place in the South Tyrolean audience ranking HC Meran. Which has doubled its numbers compared to the previous season and currently welcomes an average of almost 650 fans per home game. Most recently, around 1000 spectators regularly came to the MeranArena - even though the HCM was stuck in the bottom third of the table in twelfth place. Swirling offensive players and Star goalie Andrei Makarov have apparently awakened some fans' long-lost interest in the two-time Serie A champions. In the Alps Hockey League, only Zell am See (average: 1.577) and Jesenice (735) have more fans.

The spectator stands in the Vipiteno Weihenstephan Arena are to be expanded. © Oskar Brunner

The way food is Rittner Buam (Cut: 519) and the Wipptal Broncos are selling more tickets this season. The increase in Vipiteno is significant: almost 400 people come to the temporary air dome on the outskirts of Vipiteno per game. This currently holds 750 spectators, which means the Broncos have the highest stadium occupancy of all South Tyrolean Alps representatives. The club is now planning to replace the tubular steel stands and thereby increase the spectator capacity of the Weihenstephan Arena. The work should be done before the playoffs begin.

Taking a place in the lower midfield of the AlpsHL attendance table Val Gardena (Cut: 373) and underland (313). In a South Tyrolean comparison, these two clubs are still clearly ahead of the IHL teams. The bottom of the table has it there Toblach with an average of 230 followers. The fan interest in Kaltern (Cut: 217), Eppan (160) and Brixens (132) can be expanded. This realization becomes clear when you look at the competition: Varese and Feltre always have four-digit spectator numbers, and Valpellice is also clearly ahead of the local IHL teams with an average of 537 stadium-goers.

New record in prospect

Given the fact that the really important phase of the season is still ahead and the traditionally well-attended games around the turn of the year will soon take place, it can be assumed that the number of spectators in the IHL - and also in the other leagues - will increase significantly. By the way, a new record is imminent: When Bolzano and Pustertal meet in the Sparkasse Arena on Epiphany, the 4.000 spectator mark will probably be broken for the first time this season at a South Tyrolean ice hockey game. The current record was set at the first derby in Bolzano at the end of September with 3.895 fans.

The audience table:

Sources: ice.hockey, alps.hockey, powerhockey.info