This started out as a post to the SPHL Group on myspace.com regarding attendance for that league. Most of the teams don't bother me, but the Cyclones left Florence for the Winston-Salem and W-S has seen three other teams play there over the last five years, all of which failed due to lack of attendance.

The Cyclones felt they had a better chance then their predecessors because they started selling tickets earlier, but to date that has not been the case.

SPHL game attendance for this weekend:

Saturday
Huntsville 4,074
Richmond 4,308

Friday
Huntsville 3,477
Richmond 3,794
Jacksonville 814

Thursday
Jacksonville 720

The league average so far this year is 3,235. Columbus leads with 4,366 per game (2 openings) followed by Huntsville, 4,337 (3 games); Fayetteville 4,196 (3 games); Richmond 3,803 (4 games); Knoxville 3,385 (2 games); Twin City 1,262 (2 games); and Jacksonville 875 (3 games).

The league finished last year with an average of 2,985 per game. The Florida Seals folded after 17 home games at the Silver Spurs Arena after failing to pay rent. Jacksonville left the Jacksonville Memorial Arena and is now playing in Jacksonville Ice, a recreational facility, so their attendance will be notable lower as I don't think you can fit 2,700 + people into the place.

Last season's SPHL totals:

TEAM	TOTAL	GAMES	AVERAGE
Huntsville	109,615	28	3,914
Richmond	95,756	28	3,419
Fayetteville	93,301	28	3,332
Columbus	92,534	28	3,304
Knoxville	90,640	28	3,237
Jacksonville	70,773	26	2,722
Florida	34,470	17	2,027
Pee Dee	36,928	26	1,420
TOTALS:	624,017	209	2,985

It's really too early to determine if the move from Florence to Winston-Salem was worth wild or not. It will take at least half of the season for the attendance levels to average out.

The Polar Twins, the last team to play in W-S which was in 2004-05 averaged 1,493 over 28 games. That was also a SPHL team, owned in part by Dave Waronker, who spelled death for a number of teams throughout the SPHL, WHA2, and ACHL.

The average for a CHL game is about 3,850. An Amarillo fan on the aforementioned SPHL board wrote "Ya know your attendance records aren't that bad. Thats about average here in Amarillo for our CHL games." Amarillo falls below the CHL average at 2,882, which is slightly down from what they pulled in the 2006-07 season. The low is Texas (Formerly Fort Worth) with 1.589, the high is Oklahoma City with 7,330

The New IHL (formerly the UHL) is averaging 3,357. The high is Fort Wayne, with 8,369, the low is Port Huron with 1,340. It continues to amaze me the that Port Huron hangs on year-after-year-after-year. They have changed their knick name this year to "Icehawks" following a tradition of now-defunct teams to have used that name.

The ECHL is averaging 4.077 per game. On the high end, you have Stockton (8,817), Florida (6,890) and Gwinnett (6,018). On the low end there is Cinci (2,414), Johnston (2,151) and Texas (1,727). Elmira, NY, the transplant team from the UHL is pulling 3.588 per game through 7 dates.

The Mid-Atlantic Hockey League are the new kids on the pro-block with 5 teams located in Indiana, Mon Valley, Wooster, valley Forge, and Jamestown. All of the teams appear to playing in Rec-rink facilities (although they call them Arenas) with General Admission seating running $12.00 and Club seating (usually the bar area) running $25 per game. Jamestown is the exception, with 5 different price levels, ranging from $25.00 club seating to $6.00 Upper End Zone Seating. However, JSBIA is still nothing more than a glorified rec rink.

The league is using Pointstreak, but with most of the teams having played 2 home games thus far, there is no attendance listed so they are probably not keeping track.

The Silver Spurs Arena at Osceola Heritage Park announced a lock out of the Florida Seals hockey team of the Southern Professional Hockey League yesterday. The Seals game against the Fayetteville Fire Antz which was to have been played tonight has been cancelled.

The reason cited was failure to meet contractual obligations.

Word has it that the tens-of-thousands of dollars would be needed to re-open the doors of Silver Spurs. Additionally, the team's phone lines were disconnected earlier in the week.

The Seals were contemplating a move to Dayton Beach to play at the Ocean Beach Center, but it given the current situation, it would be foolish to welcome the Seals in without money up front. Obviously, the team doesn't have the money.

They could try playing at the Ice Factory in Kassimminee to finish off the year, but again, the team would need money to rent the rink.

It's very unlikely the team will try to play as a road only team, ala the 2003-04 Miami Manatees, since so much of the season is left.

Team President Michael Watson wants to keep the team going but it will take a big effort and a good deal of money. He has asked members of the Seals community to join him at Gator's Dockside today at 12 noon to brainstorm ways to raise capital to keep the team going. It seems a little late in the day to be trying to tap the community for money, especially since most of the so called "community" is already owed refunds on their season tickets. It would kind of foolish to throw more money into a losing enterprise.

The Seals' record is 8-9 at home. Reports say the Seals have average fewer than 1,000 fans in the arena that seats 11,000, even though the attendance is generally reported at over 2,000.

The team's 44.2 winning percentage places it sixth out of eight teams in SPHL standings beneath Fayetteville in fifth place.

On the whole, right now, it looks like the team is done. They don't know if the players will be given free agency or if they will go in a dispursal draft. I think Richmond would welcome the extra bodies, and there are several UHL teams, such as the injury depleted Elmira Jackals, that wouldn't mind picking up a few players off the Seals. The league has scheduled a conferance call to that effect for today.

SPHL schedule changes for tonight: Fayetteville will be playing in Jacksonville tonight, instead of Saturday. They are switching the nights with Pee Dee, since Fayetteville is already down there. Pee Dee will be playing Jacksonville in place of Fayetteville on Saturday night.