The CHL’s official website lists the top three teams by the number of people attending matches. Dynamo Minsk leads with an average of 9,355 spectators per match, followed by Avangard (Omsk) — 9,313, and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl — 9,046. Dynamo Minsk’s performance is remarkable, considering that three of its matches have been hosted by Bobruisk Ice Palace (able to seat 7,000 spectators) rather than Minsk-Arena, which has been busy preparing for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
In comparison to the last two CHL seasons, attendance is up — to 5,740 people per match on average. Dynamo Minsk is demonstrating the biggest progress: up almost 200 percent on last year. Meanwhile, Minsk-Arena set an absolute record on September 21st, gathering 15,531 spectators for the Dynamo Minsk v. Ak Bars match (Dynamo won in overtime — 5:4). The last achievement of the kind belonged to a match between SKA St. Petersburg and Dynamo Riga, held at St. Petersburg’s Ice Palace on January 24th, 2010, witnessed by 12,090 spectators.
