Hurricanes attendance drops by more than 10,000 after one game

Carolina Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner makes a fantastic leap and scores a great goal late to tie up his teams game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

When the Carolina Hurricanes opened their 2017-18 campaign with an overtime victory against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday they did so in front of a sold-out crowd of 18,680 at PNC Arena.

On Tuesday, the Hurricanes’ second home game of the season had a different feel. This time the team lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets in overtime and the announced attendance at PNC Arena was a sparse 7,892.

The Hurricanes are about to embark on a four-game road trip, so their next home game isn’t until Oct. 24 when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning. There are plenty of tickets remaining for that contest, as the below Ticketmaster arena map indicates.

The blue sections mean there are tickets available. The grey sections are sold out. Out of the 30 lower-bowl sections, 22 of them are listed as having more than 100 tickets available.

Poor attendance at Hurricanes games is not a new trend.

Back in July, the website 247WallSt.com reported the Hurricanes had a 32.3 per cent drop in attendance over the past 10 years, which is the largest drop of any NHL franchise.

The team’s average attendance during that time was 11,776 — that number does not take into consideration the two games this season. The Hurricanes have not qualified for the playoffs since 2009, which has clearly had an impact on attendance figures.

In addition to the general blasé atmosphere at PNC Arena, Tuesday’s game was largely forgettable until the third period and overtime.

Also, this fan was sold a bad salad. Rough night in Raleigh.

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