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San Jose Sharks owner is concerned about drop in attendance

By Dave Stevenson

Feb 11, 2015; San Jose, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks mascot Sharkie performs on the ice before the game against the Washington Capitals at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 11, 2015; San Jose, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks mascot Sharkie performs on the ice before the game against the Washington Capitals at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports /
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San Jose Sharks owner Hasso Plattner is concerned about his team’s declining attendance.

The San Jose Sharks used to sell out games on a consistent basis. The “Shark Tank” (the Sharks home arena) used to be a place that no hockey team wanted to go to and the Sharks used to have a strong home-ice advantage because of it. The Sharks are just 8-12-1 this season at home, so team owner Hasso Plattner is worried about the attendance numbers as of late. It has dropped to 21st in the league and they sell roughly 95.2% of their seats, a far cry from where this organization used to be.

“I’m really concerned about the situation”, Plattner said, via CSN Bay Area. “If you don’t have enough demand, the season ticket holders can’t sell the tickets if they are not available to go. So that has a double-negative effect. We have several programs in order to improve attendance. We need young fans, but there’s one thing with the young fans… they have other things to do.”

The Sharks are looking to make a playoff push to return to the postseason after missing the playoffs in 2014-2015. To do that, they’ll need to play better at home, because playing better at home and returning to the postseason could help attendance grow again.

San Jose has turned into a very popular city and San Francisco and Oakland are each within driving distance of San Jose. With the closest hockey teams being on the other side of the state (Anaheim and Los Angeles), it would greatly benefit the San Jose Sharks to do more to appeal to the younger crowd.

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