Almost 25,000 fans in for pre-season

Photo: Sheffield Steelers

Almost 25,000 fans came to Elite League areas during this past weekend, the first with multiple teams playing pre-season games.

A total of 24,697 spectators attended seven games over the two days. Sheffield Steelers' crowd of 9,212 at the Utilita Arena, to see their side beat Nottingham Panthers 4-1, was the biggest of the weekend.

In Scotland, both Fife Flyers and Dundee Stars had almost 2,000 fans each for their rivalry games against each other. Glasgow Clan, who, like the Stars, set a new franchise record for season ticket sales over the summer, played on the road in Cardiff but will return to Braehead Arena on Friday night.

In 202/23, the Elite League ended the season with its highest average attendance figure on record at over 3,200 per game, and surpassed a million spectators over the season for only the second time ever.

Belfast Giants, who played their first home Champions Hockey League fixture of the season on Saturday night, had 6,130 fans inside the SSE Arena to see them beat HC Bolzano 4-0. The Giants currently rank as the second-highest average attendance in the competition behind Adler Mannheim of Germany.