Knights Attendance Continues to Suffer
Omaha.com (registration required)The Omaha Aksarben Knights are slicing their numbers pretty thin to justify their continued existence in Omaha; they say their attendance is 20% ahead of last year, but they averaged 3,271 for the season last year and are averaging 3,129 so far this year. They claim their numbers will jump after mid-season, and to be fair, there's some evidence of that.
Even those numbers, though, are widely believed to be inflated. Whether they represent bought-but-unused seats or what, the Knights simply don't have and won't get the traction they need to thrive here. The local owners, who reportedly foot the bill for operating losses, aren't mentioned much in the OWH story.
The second half promotions like The Famous Chicken (what is this, 1981?) and NASCAR night (how insulting is that?) aren't designed to appeal to the intelligent hockey fan, but since the "Best Fans" campaign widely insulted the intelligent hockey fans in this community, all the Knights have left are NASCAR fans. Unfortunately, the NASCAR set isn't going to want to pay premium ticket prices for a night in an aging facility.
UNO is not doing anything to save itself, what with a mediocre performance to date and worse-than-mediocre (and even worse than usual) bungling at the Sapp Fieldhouse, but it has a core of die-hard fans. Plus, UNO isn't leaving town soon. At some point the Knights local owners will recognize the right and smart thing to do is pull the plug on this ill-conceived effort to bring premium-priced minor-league sports to an oversaturated market for a niche sport.
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2 Comments:
The attendance is low but it does look like they've passed the Lancers in attendance. Maybe the Lancers should move to the new arena in Grand Island, leaving the metro to the Mavs and Knights?
Any word on if the Knights plan to sign Brian Haaland for NAPCAR night?
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