Nationwide Arena has been a sea of blue on recent game days for the Blue Jackets.
But the arena’s hue isn’t caused by swarms of local hockey fans donning Blue Jackets jerseys — it’s caused by thousands of empty blue seats.
Despite attracting a sellout crowd of 18,305 fans for their home opener against the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, attendance numbers have gradually diminished in recent years.
Posting losing records in each of their first four seasons in the NHL, the Jackets averaged 17,300 people at home games during that span.
In the last three seasons, that number has dipped to 15,600. In the last three home games — in which the Blue Jackets have been outscored 13-9 — the number has taken a nose-dive. The team has not filled more than 12,000 seats since opening night, despite a 5-3 record and a 1-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday.
Jackets goalie Mathieu Garon understands why fans haven’t been running to fill Nationwide Arena.
“You can’t blame them for not coming,” Garon said. “When you play the way we played two out of the three games so far this year, it’s hard to get the fans.”
The dearth of fans was most poignant Oct. 20, when the team drew a franchise-low turnout of 9,802 fans against the Anaheim Ducks. That’s just more than half the arena’s capacity.
In an attempt to combat low attendance numbers, Blue Jackets director of business communications Karen Davis said the team offers a variety of ticket packages and promotions.
“Obviously the crowds have been light after the sold-out opening night, but our goal is to offer a ticket option that fits every fan’s needs — from single-game buyers to full-season ticket holders,” Davis said in an e-mail. “In addition to the core of season-long promotions, we are also offering partial-season plans starting at just three games, and it goes up from there.”
Although the organization might be concerned with the modest turnouts, left wing R.J. Umberger said it isn’t something for the team to get caught up in.
“We can’t worry about that,” Umberger said. “We just have to go play hard every night and give them a reason to come.”
Coach Scott Arniel said getting people in the seats comes down to one thing — winning — which the Jackets have not done enough of on their home ice in recent years.
“Obviously we want more people, and there is no doubt about that,” defenseman Marc Methot said. “But the only way we’re going to do so is by winning more games at home. We’ve got to make these games exciting and we have to win them, and that’s the bottom line right now.”
The Jackets might be on their way. Winners of three of their last four games, two of which were home victories, Columbus hosted its second-largest home crowd of the year during Monday night’s win against Philadelphia.
Even with the relatively low attendance, Jackets players and coaches said those who do come have created an exciting atmosphere.
“I don’t know what the crowd was. I think I heard 11,000. Well, that was a loud 11,000,” Arniel said following Monday’s game. “That place was rocking right up until the very end.”
In the end, it all comes back to the scoreboard.
Although the team might be a long way off from its 58-game home sellout streak achieved from 2000-02, Arniel said if his team continues to take care of business on the ice, the attendance will take care of itself.
“We put ourselves in this sort of situation and we’re going to have to work ourselves out,” Arniel said. “We can’t do anything about that other than try to have success, play hard here and win hockey games, and people will come back through the door.”
