Blackhawks' attendance at United Center holding steady despite lack of TV visibility

The Blackhawks’ game-presentation team made the right choice to play “Baba O’Riley” on Tuesday.

The Who’s iconic opening chords brought a United Center crowd of 18,511 to deafening levels for a faceoff with 10 seconds left, and the Hawks used that final surge of energy to clinch a 3-2 win over the Capitals.

It was a good crowd and solid atmosphere for a Tuesday night against an opponent with few traveling fans, and it kept the Hawks’ season attendance average steady.

Through 14 home dates, the Hawks’ average attendance is 18,662, which ranks seventh in the NHL, even though the team is tied for last in the standings. The league as a whole has done well at the gate this season; all but three teams are above 88% of capacity so far.

The Hawks’ attendance is down slightly (0.9%) from their full-season average of 18,836 last season, but it’s up slightly (0.5%) from their average of 18,567 through 14 games last season.

There haven’t been many eye-opening attendance trends or storylines. Instead, the numbers have been remarkably consistent. The Hawks have posted just one sellout, drawing 19,984 for Patrick Kane’s return (Nov. 6 against the Red Wings), but their smallest crowd was a respectable 17,118 on Oct. 22 against the Canucks. Everything else has fallen within that range of roughly 2,800 people.

Last season, the Hawks drew fewer than 17,000 three times. And in 2022-23 — before Connor Bedard’s arrival — they drew fewer than 17,000 on 19 occasions (almost half of their 41 home games) and bottomed out at an abysmal 12,523.

October and November are typically the toughest months in which to sell tickets because of competition against baseball and football. December holidays typically provide a boost, and by January, the sports world is less saturated. So the Hawks reaching mid-December on the same pace as last season should be encouraging data for the team’s sales department.

But there are a few less-positive things to note. The Hawks’ upcoming schedule is arguably oversaturated with home dates. Between Dec. 29 and Feb. 7, they’ll host 13 games in 41 days, compared to only five road games in that span.

One of those home games is the Winter Classic, which will draw 40,000-plus raucous fans to Wrigley Field. But the Hawks might have a tougher time attracting people to the United Center for Monday night games against the Flames and Hurricanes in January.

The Hawks’ lack of TV visibility — because of Chicago Sports Network’s ongoing carriage dispute with Comcast, among other providers — has affected attendance in several subtler ways. The franchise is suffering from an out-of-sight, out-of-mind issue with many casual fans.

Considering the Hawks reached or nearly reached caps on season-ticket plans in many sections last summer, they likely anticipated more sellouts this season. But their single-game ticket sales have lagged below expectations.

It’s telling that the 300 level on the end the Hawks shoot toward once — which has a swath of sections set aside for single-game tickets — is the sparsest area of the arena most nights.

And the Hawks’ scan rate — the percentage of tickets distributed that get scanned at the arena — hasn’t been great, either. For instance, the crowd Oct. 22 for the Canucks looked no bigger than 13,000 or 14,000, even though 17,118 was announced.

With that said, though, the Hawks are still in relatively good shape attendance-wise. They have much bigger audience engagement and exposure problems to worry about.