Worcester Ranked as a Top 50 City in the US for Hockey Fans

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Thursday, June 09, 2016

GoLocalWorcester Sports Team

Worcester has been ranked as the 50th best city for hockey fans out of 72 cities in the United States, according to a recent study done by WalletHub. 

Worcester ranks 23rd for NHL and 30th for college hockey. 

Oxford, Ohio and Troy, New York are ranked head of Worcester at 48 and 49 respectively, while St. Cloud, Minnesota and Mankato, Minnesota are ranked behind Worcester at 51 and 52. 

New Team Coming to Town 

Starting in the 2017-18 season, Worcester will play host to the newest ECHL Team, the Worcester Railers HC. 

The ECHL began in 1988-89 and is a "AA" Professional Hockey League that is based in Princeton, New Jersey with 28 teams in 21 states and one team in Canada. 

The Railers will be Worcester's 3rd pro hockey team since 1994 when the IceCats began their run. 

The Worcester Sharks of the AHL were the last pro hockey team in Worcester but they left after the 2014-15 season to move to San Jose. 

NCAA Hockey in Worcester

This past March, the DCU Center hosted the NCAA East Regional which saw college hockey powers Boston College and Harvard come to down while also seeing the defending national champion  Providence and Minnesota Duluth. 

Worcester's attendance Friday's two games totaled 6,682 and for the regional finals, attendance was 4,572, which translates to 62 % of the seats being unsold. 

“Attendance at 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Northeast Regional in Worcester was actually a great success. In fact, it was the highest attended regional among the four cities that hosted the event this year: Worcester, Albany, St. Paul and Cincinnati,” said Sandra Dunn, General Manager for SMG, told GoLocal.

How Hockey Stacks up Nationally

According to WalletHub, hockey is the fourth most followed sport among US adult fans and it has climbed one spot in the top 10 every year since 2012. 

When compared to the NBA, WalletHub says that the NHL has sold to more arena's then the NBA and that fans are willing to pay 15% more to see a hockey game than an NBA game. 

The Rankings 

While Worcester ranks 50th, the top city for hockey is Detroit, Michigan, home to the NHL's Detroit Red Wings. Boston, Pittsburgh, New York and Chicago round out the top five. 

Note that four of the top five cities are home to the NHL's original 6 teams. 

Find out where other cities rank using the map below. 

The Method 

To find the best city for hockey fans, WalletHub's analysts compared 72 of the most populated US cities across two divisions including NHL and College Hockey. WalletHub chose cities with at least one college or professional team. 

WalletHub then compiled 17 relevant metrics and gave each one a corresponding weight. Each metric was given a value between 0 and 100, with 100 representing the most favorable conditions. 

In order to determine the weight for each division, WalletHub surveyed teams in each division's Facebook account, summed the number of "likes" and calculated the proportions that each league represented in total. The weight attributed to each division was based on its popularity.

WalletHub then calculated the overall score for each city using the weighted average across all metrics and ranked the cities accordingly. 

The metrics WalletHub used are as follows:

NHL (Division I) – Total Points: 90

• Number of Teams: Full Weight (~12.00 Points)
• Performance Level: Full Weight (~12.00 Points)
• Note: This metric was calculated by dividing the number of wins by the total games played. The past three seasons’ average was used for this calculation.
• Number of Stanley Cup Wins: Full Weight (~12.00 Points)
• Number of Division Championship Wins: Half Weight (~6.00 Points)
• Franchise Value: Half Weight (~6.00 Points)
• Note: This metric measures the team’s estimated value in $million.
• Minimum Season-Ticket Price for a Game: Full Weight (~12.00 Points)
• Fan Engagement: Full Weight (~12.00 Points)
• Note: This metric was calculated by adding the number of Twitter followers to the number of Facebook “Likes” per capita.
• Stadium Capacity: Half Weight (~6.00 Points)
• Note: This metric was calculated by dividing stadium capacity by city population.
• Attendance: Half Weight (~6.00 Points)
• Note: This metric was calculated by dividing average home-fan attendance by arena capacity.
• Popularity Index: Half Weight (~6.00 Points)

College Hockey (Division I) – Total Points: 10

• Number of Teams: Full Weight (~1.67 Points)
• Performance Level: Full Weight (~1.67 Points)
• Note: This metric was calculated by dividing the number of wins by the total games played. The past three seasons’ average was used for this calculation.
• Number of Championship Wins: Full Weight (~1.67 Points)
• Number of Regular Season Championship Wins: Half Weight (~0.83 Points)
• Minimum Season-Ticket Price for a Game: Full Weight (~1.67 Points)
• Fan Engagement: Full Weight (~1.67 Points)
• Note: This metric was calculated by adding the number of Twitter followers to the number of Facebook “Likes” per capita.
• Stadium Capacity: Half Weight (~0.83 Points)
• Note: This metric was calculated by dividing stadium capacity by city population.

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Related Slideshow: A History of Hockey in Worcester

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