nhlWith the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs in full gear and the San Jose Sharks reaching the Final for the first time in the team’s franchise history, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2016’s Best Cities for Hockey Fans.

To identify the best places for hockey spectators, WalletHub’s number crunchers compared 72 of the largest cities by division across 17 key metrics. Our data set ranges from performance level of the city’s team(s) to minimum season-ticket prices to stadium capacity.

Top 20 Cities for Hockey Fans
1 Detroit, MI 11 Newark, NJ
2 Boston, MA 12 Philadelphia, PA
3 Pittsburgh, PA 13 Washington, DC
4 New York, NY 14 Anaheim, CA
5 Chicago, IL 15 Tampa, FL
6 Denver, CO 16 Los Angeles, CA
7 Sunrise, FL 17 Dallas, TX
8 St. Paul, MN 18 San Jose, CA
9 St. Louis, MO 19 Nashville, TN
10 Buffalo, NY 20 Raleigh, NC

Comparing the Best & Worst

  • The St. Louis Blues’ performance level is two times better than the Buffalo Sabres’.
  • The North Dakota Fighting Hawks’ performance level is four times better than the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers’.
  • Chicago has the highest minimum season-ticket price for an NHL game, $2,420, which is five times higher than in Sunrise, Fla., the city with the lowest, $516.
  • St. Paul, Minn., has the highest attendance rate for NHL games, which is two times higher than in Raleigh, N.C., the city with the lowest.
  • Chicago has the highest team franchise value, $925 million, which is five times higher than in Sunrise, Fla., the city with the lowest, $186 million.