Attendance For Sharks Draft Watch Party Projected To Break Records; Jonathan Becher Says Ticket Sales Are Hitting Record Highs Since 2016
According to San Jose Sharks President Jonathan Becher, attendance for the 2024 NHL Draft Watch Party at SAP Center will be an NHL record.
Max Miller - THN - Attendance For Sharks Draft Watch Party Projected To Break Records; Jonathan Becher Says Ticket Sales Are Hitting Record Highs Since 2016According to San Jose Sharks President Jonathan Becher, attendance for the 2024 NHL Draft Watch Party at SAP Center will be an NHL record.
The Sharks are hosting a watch party at their home arena for night one of the draft. Tickets are complimentary. Becher says the event hasn't sold out yet but could attract north of 12,000 fans.
"I think we're north of 12,000 people now registered for the draft party here in this building. It seems likely that we will sell out. I think the largest-ever draft party was Chicago's last year, which was under 5,000," Becher said. "We might have a chance to double the record for people showing up for a draft party. I think there's a lot of enthusiasm. That said, this is a young team, so it'll take a while for it to come together, but I think the mood is substantially better."
Becher also commented on the boost in ticket sales after the Sharks won the Macklin Celebrini sweepstakes, aka the Draft Lottery.
"We have the best renewal season, at least, that I can remember since I've got here, probably since the Stanley Cup [run in 2016]," Becher said. "May sales were, I think, our record for the history of May. June is shaping up just as strong. It looks like this will be the best offseason we have in terms of ticket sales."
"Most teams, when they look at it, they look at three components. They look at renewable from the previous year. They look at upsell from the previous year and they look at new. So, if you want to grow, the combination of three things has to be 100% or more," Becher explained in a media scrum following the official press conference. "Typically, if you're a middle-tier NHL team, you'll renew at sort of the 85% rate; we renewed significantly above that. Then the growth on seats adds another point on top of that, so we'll pass the growth numbers in the next couple of days, which normally doesn't happen till the September timeframe. I'd rather not give you a number now because the real number is going to happen before the season opens. But it'll be certainly bigger than it was last year."
According to The Athletic, the Sharks averaged 13,559 fans per game last season. The SAP Center's capacity is 17,435, which puts it at 77.8% full on average.
The Celebrini bump looks to be in full effect.
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