Month: March 2017

American Hockey League Attendance 2006 to 2013

One of the defining characteristics of Minor Sports Leagues is that they play to smaller crowds of fans. Minor-Leagues.com has compiled a series of posts that provides details of attendance figures.

The American Hockey League is an affiliate professional hockey league founded in 1936. The league consists of 30-teams based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the league has an affiliation agreement with an NHL team; before then, one or two NHL teams would not have an AHL affiliate and so assigned players to AHL teams affiliated with other NHL teams. Twenty-seven AHL teams are located in the United States and the remaining three are in Canada.

Below is the fan attendance for the entire league from 2006 to 2013.

League Sport Season # of Teams Team Change Games Games Change Total Attendance TA Change Average Attendance AA Change Source
AHL (American Hockey League) (AAA) Ice Hockey 2005-06 27 (24 USA 3 CAN) untracked 1,080 untracked 5,926,660 untracked 5,487 untracked Lennier
AHL (American Hockey League) (AAA) Ice Hockey 2006-07 27 (24 USA 3 CAN) 0.00% 1,080 0.00% 5,909,687 -0.29% 5,472 -0.27% Lennier
AHL (American Hockey League) (AAA) Ice Hockey 2007-08 29 (26 USA 3 CAN) 0.00% 1,060 -1.85% 6,112,703 3.44% 5,270 -3.70% Lennier
AHL (American Hockey League) (AAA) Ice Hockey 2008-09 29 (26 USA 3 CAN) 0.00% 1,060 0.00% 5,933,381 -2.93% 5,115 -2.93% Lennier
AHL (American Hockey League) (AAA) Ice Hockey 2009-10 29 (26 USA 3 CAN) 0.00% 1,160 9.43% 5,915,480 -0.30% 5,100 -0.30% Lennier
AHL (American Hockey League) (AAA) Ice Hockey 2010-11 30 (27 USA 3 CAN) 3.45% 1,200 3.45% 6,455,951 9.14% 5,380 5.50% Lennier
AHL (American Hockey League) (AAA) Ice Hockey 2011-12 30 (27 USA 3 CAN) 0.00% 1,140 -5.00% 6,426,934 -0.45% 5,638 4.79% Lennier
AHL (American Hockey League) (AAA) Ice Hockey 2012-13 30 (27 USA 3 CAN) 0.00% 1,140 0.00% 6,509,893 1.29% 5,710 1.28% Lennier

The American Hockey League is populated by NHL Team prospects and Free Agents recruited from colleges, junior leagues, and other minor leagues. Since each of the AHL Teams is affiliated with a NHL Team, the primary focus is on player development and not as much on team success.

American Association Attendance 2006 to 2013

One of the defining characteristics of Minor Sports Leagues is that they play to smaller crowds of fans. Minor-Leagues.com has compiled a series of posts that provides details of attendance figures.

The American Association of Independent Professional Baseball (AA) is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the states of Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas, along with the Canadian province of Manitoba, mostly in cities not served by MLB teams or their minor league affiliates.

Below is the fan attendance for the entire league from 2006 to 2013.

League Sport Season # of Teams Team Change Games Games Change Total Attendance TA Change Average Attendance AA Change Source
American Association (Ind) Baseball 2006 10 USA untracked 460 untracked 1,298,521 untracked 2,823 untracked http://www.numbertamer.com/files/2007_Minor_League_PDF.pdf
American Association (Ind) Baseball 2007 10 USA 0.00% 451 -1.94% 1,318,841 1.56% 2,924 3.58% http://www.numbertamer.com/files/2007_Minor_League_PDF.pdf
American Association (Ind) Baseball 2008 10 USA 0.00% 455 0.89% 1,506,665 14.24% 3,311 13.24% http://www.numbertamer.com/files/2009_Minor_League_Analysis.pdf
American Association (Ind) Baseball 2009 10 USA 0.00% 470 3.27% 1,482,214 -1.62% 3,154 -4.74% http://www.numbertamer.com/files/2009_Minor_League_Analysis.pdf
American Association (Ind) Baseball 2010 10 USA 0.00% 455 -3.19% 1,227,518 -17.18% 2,698 -14.46% http://www.numbertamer.com/files/2011_Minor_League_Analysis.pdf
American Association (Ind) Baseball 2011 14 (13 USA 1 CAN) 40.00% 686 50.78% 2,162,269 76.15% 3,152 16.83% http://www.numbertamer.com/files/2011_Minor_League_Analysis.pdf
American Association (Ind) Baseball 2012 13 (12 USA 1 CAN) -7.14% 639 -6.85% 2,244,238 3.79% 3,512 11.42% http://www.numbertamer.com/files/2013_Minor_League_Analysis.pdf
American Association (Ind) Baseball 2013 13 (12 USA 1 CAN) 0.00% 626 -2.05% 2,150,031 -4.20% 3,435 -2.19% http://www.numbertamer.com/files/2013_Minor_League_Analysis.pdf

The American Association recruits college, ex-major and ex-minor league players. Former affiliated-league players that get injured or have other circumstances join the AA as an opportunity to get resigned by major league organizations. Other players consist of college players that were not drafted into MiLB, but seek the opportunity to be seen by major league scouts and possibly get signed by major league organizations. Other former MLB players join the AA as a way to stay involved in baseball after their career as a major league player, often as coaches and managers.

What makes a Minor Sports League?

A Minor Sports League is simply a sports league that is not one of the Big Four Leagues (MLB, NHL, NFL, NBA). Minor Sports Leagues (minor-leagues.com) is dedicated to tracking these sporting ventures despite their obscurity.

Minor Sports Leagues are not one of the Big Four Leagues because:

  • They have smaller amount of fans in attendance to their games.
  • The scale and travel of the league tends to focus on a smaller geographic area.
  • They have players that do not have (inter)national celebrity status.
  • They have teams and logos that are not (inter)nationally recognized.
  • The revenue the teams and league generates is much less.
  • The salary pay for players, coaches, and support staff is much less.
  • There is little or no cable television Coverage is much less or nil. If there is any coverage, it might be streamed through the internet.
  • The skill of the players for the Top and Low Minor Leagues are not as good.
  • The sport itself if its played by Women or is an Alternative sport may be considered obscure.

Being a Minor Sports League means that dreams of being a Major League Sport is or has been the basis of its formation. Even in the Low Minor Leagues the players may not be realistically able to play in the Majors but they reflect on and are inspired by what they see taking place in the Majors.

Welcome to Minor Sports Leagues Alpha

Welcome to an open alpha of our authority website related to professional sports. This initial version will use only partial sets of data until we can implement the cool ideas we have. Stay tuned!

Minor Sports Leagues (minor-leagues.com) is a statistics and analysis site focusing on insightful statistics as they relate to the professional minor sporting leagues that involve all team sports including but not limited to Baseball, Hockey, Football, and Basketball. Women’s leagues are tracked in addition to Alternative leagues like Soccer and Lacrosse.