Your bitterness for a Stanley Cup Finals loss & terrible decision-making by your GM is no excuse for lazy research into attendance statistics for the smallest-market team in all of North American pro sports (after the Green Bay Packers). Raleigh doesn’t have the consistent numbers because it lacks the demographics, the corporate dollars, & the history compared to most other markets.

Why do Canadians so easily forget the passion & fervor the Oilers & Canes fans matched throughout their tense series in June 2006…chanting each others anthems…singing each others’ praises?

Accept that the Hurricanes franchise is a viable franchise & and a valuable franchise for this league & this sport. Accept that regardless of asses in the seats, this area supports the team’s success even in the worst of times. We rarely boo a team that has barely performed according to expectations and now are finally responding to our consistent support by not aiming to hide in the basement for a #1 pick. Losing 13 in a row is just unacceptable in this league regardless of injuries or the politics of the sport.

Also, you obviously understand nothing about the relationship between Charlotte & Raleigh so your opinion here is completely negligable. For comparison, think of Charlotte & Raleigh as Calgary & Edmonton respectively. Charlotte is the bigger city with more corporate $. Raleigh is the state capital with a few large research universities as its main attraction. Now imagine the Oilers were the only pro hockey franchise in Alberta & instead of the Flames, instead Calgary has your AHL feeder team. This would have have a major impact on the Oilers; as would an AHL team in Charlotte for the Hurricanes.

The constant whining about Southern hockey teams not attracting enough spectators in their stadium makes me question some Canadians’ brain capacity. Don’t be lazy…challenge your prejudices and come visit us. You may be impressed with what we offer our beautiful sport.

I live 3 and a half hours from the RBC Center and I take regular trips to go see the ‘Canes, even while they have been in the pits. You must not have done very much research on how our fans are. We are dedicated. We tailgate before games even while the team is not great. Sure, we do not sell out for our games, but at least our fans are true fans and not band-wagon fans. We are here to stay and no other teams’ fans are more dedicated than us. The amount of people that come from my city to ’Canes games are probably more than what the Oilers are seeing. So stop whining about not getting the cup from us. Obviously the better team won. We are, after all, the loudest building in the NHL.

As previously mentioned above, Carolina has started to grow its fanbase. I believe that your article is awful and does not even consider where hockey is coming from in North Carolina. Before this team came to Raleigh I didn’t even know the first thing about hockey. When the team was playing in Greensboro there were maybe 2,000-3,000 people at some of the games and many of those fans were cheering for the opposing team. In 10 seasons in Raleigh and 12 seasons in the state of North Carolina I believe our attendance is getting better and better. I remember the 2002-2003 season before we drafted Eric Staal with the second selection there would not have been 7,000 people in the arena when there was a snowstorm earlier in the day. You also left out that the Triangle is one of hockey’s smallest markets only having a population of 1.5 million people This team is succeeding in the south and will continue to succeed. I have little doubt that in 20 years this team will still be around and will have capacity crowds night after night. Meanwhile, in 20 years the Oilers will probably be throwing games so they can have another first overall pick.

I think it’s cute that you guys are accusing an established, savvy fanbase of being “jealous and bitter” four years later in your quest to stay relevant. Bragging about 1 championship? It’s adorable. A casual observer might suggest someone is “bitter and jealous” but it’s not Oilers fans – our franchise might be taking their licks right now but they’re still not an afterthought franchise that will be in another Canadian city in 10 years.

As for being the “loudest building in the NHL” when they change the names of Rexall Place and Bell Centre?

The tone of the article was very geared toward inferring that Raleigh and the Canes are inferior. First of all the year after we won the Cup we were not very good at all, and you claim that the years after that we were in the playoff race right toward the end and should’ve had better attendance. You don’t seem to realize that for the first few months of both ‘08-’09 and ‘07-’08 we were terrible. It took two HUGE late season surges to miss the playoffs by a game one year and then make it the next. If any other southern market like Tampa/Florida/Nashville/Atlanta was having a near last place finish season then they would have absolutley embarrassing attendance numbers.

The Canes have a still growing fanbase, each time we’ve had a big season and gotten more fans – we haven’t been able to keep those new fans interested because we’ve never had two great seasons back to back. Also those in markets like Edmonton need to realize that while the Canes fanbase is still developing – hockey will never be number one here. It’s taken a long time for a lot of people to finally accept hockey enough to make a major contribution in the way of season tickets or something like that. If you ask a large majority of the people here if they’d like to go pay money to watch a hovering around .500 hockey team or go pay money to watch NC State, Wake Forest, Duke or UNC play football or basketball you’ll get the collegiate answer every single time. We’ll never have a ridiculous sell out streak, but we are a fanbase that will support its team through thick and thin and absolutely love the Canes. And yes we did stand up all the way through Game 7, everyone.

I’m an Islander fan, but i spent 4 years at Duke and went to numerous games over the last 4 years at the RBC Center. That said, i think there are parts of this article that are very misleading.

The first is the reliance on percentages. Rexall Place has a capacity that is 2000 fans less than Carolilna’s RBC Center. Now there is a point here…that if you guys had a bigger stadium you would fill up. I’m not arguing that (You probably would). But considering that every year before this one, except the first post-lockout season, the team had more attendance in total than the Oilers.

Now what does this say? Carolina has a decent attendance, but arena that is probably too big. The cost of this probably isn’t that big of a problem, since the stadium is used for NC State BBall and other events even DURING hockey season.

Moreover, attendance is complicated by the fact that Carolina is in a weird location for a hockey team. I’m not talking about being in the South. As others have mentioned, it’s not in a city/location that’s got a lot of permanent residents; instead it’s in a college town location (Duke-NC State and UNC each being 15 minutes away). If the team was in Charlotte, then the attendance might be an issue, but in the Triangle, where the young people to advertise too are students, often without much money, that attendance is pretty good.

Finally, compare the Canes to my team, my Isles. Our attendance is currently in shambles, due to the team (though that’s getting better) and due to the location of the stadium. Yeah the RBC Center and Rexall Place have higher capacity, but well…below 80% in a stadium as small as the Colliseum is pretty cruddy.

Now that’s struggling at the gate. As opposed to 16 K a night. It might not be sellouts, but its pretty good. (except for this year)