Attendance at Milwaukee Admirals’ home games at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena skyrocketed this season. Nearly 221,000 fans came through the gates at the Downtown arena, an increase of 13.5% over the 2022-23 season and 28.3% compared with the 2021-22 campaign, Admirals owner and CEO Harris Turer announced.
An average of 6,139 fans attended the 36 homes games this season. The Admirals had three sell-out crowds, including the final home game of the regular season, which drew 9,501 patrons.
“From the 19-game winning streak to Cal O’Reilly breaking the team scoring record, we had so many remarkable moments made better because of the backing we received from the fans,” Turer said.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
This marks the first time the Admirals, who are the top-level affiliate of the NHL’s Nashville Predators, have averaged more than 6,000 fans per game since moving to the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena for the 2016-17 season. It’s the fifth time since joining the American Hockey League in 2001 that the team, which previously played at the Bradley Center, has crested that plateau.
The American Hockey League established a new regular-season attendance record as more than 6.8 million fans attended games, an increase of 4.9% over last season. The previous attendance record of 6,693,526 was established in 2015-16.
The league’s average per-game attendance jumped to 5,920, the third-highest mark in history of the league, which formed in 1936. The Cleveland Monsters led the league in attendance for the fourth time in the last five seasons by drawing 10,264 fans per game, the highest average attendance by an AHL team in 25 years.
Attendance increases were reported by 26 of the league’s 32 teams, led by Laval (up 21%) and Hartford (up 17.4%). The Colorado Eagles sold out all 36 of their home games at their 5,089-seat arena in Loveland, Colorado.
The Admirals performed especially well on home ice this season, compiling a 27-9 record, tying the team’s AHL record for most home wins with the 2005-06 club, which accomplished the feat in 40 games, four more than played by this year’s squad on home ice. Only the Hershey Bears had more home wins this season (29).
The Admirals finished the regular season with 47 wins overall, second to Hershey’s 53. Milwaukee’s 19-game winning streak this season is the league’s second-longest in history. The league’s all-time winning streak belongs to the 2011-12 Norfolk Admirals, who won an unfathomable 28 consecutive games.
The Milwaukee Admirals streak ranks among the best-ever regular season marks for professional sports teams in the state. The Milwaukee Bucks had a 20-game winning streak in the 1970-71 season, a league record at the time.
The Admirals now move on to the Calder Cup playoffs and will play a best-of-five series against the Texas Stars (who beat the Manitoba Moose) in their series. The team will return to Panther Arena for Game 3 of the Central Division semifinals on May 8.
