We just hit the halfway mark for both of the sports recently and many people (at least in Texas) believe that the NBA is far more popular. Recent attendance numbers released beg to differ.

In Canada the NHL is obviously appreciated much more with seven teams in the league, while they have only one team in the NBA. That is not groundbreaking news, but what I found surprising is that fifteen teams in the NHL have sell outs every night. Ten of those fifteen teams are in America, I wouldn't have believed that. What is also more surprising the average ticket price for an NHL( $61.01) game is more expensive than the NBA($50.99).

Dallas Stars
Getty Images
loading...

Just remember attendance and actual turnstile count are two different things. Attendance is actually how many tickets were distributed and turnstile count is how many people actually attended the game. You have probably been to a game and they announce the attendance. You know that many people are not in the stadium. The average difference is 4,000 fans so judge the numbers how you will.

I am excited to see that the NHL is thriving again. We need more Stars fans in Texoma, I honestly don't know of a single store in this area that sells Stars stuff. When Mike Modano retired I wanted to get a new shirt, I drove to every sports merchandise store in this town and nobody had anything. I will however say I still love the NBA though. Go Mavericks and Stars!

Check Out the Attendance Numbers Below:

nba/nhl
Photo Courtesy of ESPN
loading...

More From 106.3 The Buzz