Despite Return Of VooDoo, AFL Attendance Down Slightly

After suspending operations for the ’06 season due to Hurricane Katrina, the VooDoo lead the AFL in attendance at the halfway point of the season with an average of 16,606 fans per game at New Orleans Arena, equaling 103.6% of capacity. The defending champion Rush have drawn an average of 15,676 for their first four home games at Allstate Arena, which is 2,949 more than the NHL Blackhawks averaged during the ’06-07 season across town at the United Center. The following presents AFL regular-season attendance through April 30, with comparisons to ’06. ^ = VooDoo comparative data is from the ’05 season. ^^ = Previous season average includes VooDoo average from ’05 season.

AFL ATTENDANCE THROUGH APRIL 30
HOME TEAM	GMS	TOTAL	AVG.	% CAP.	PREV.^^	% +/-	GMS ('06)
New Orleans VooDoo^	5	83,026	16,605	103.6%	15,388	7.9%	6
Chicago Rush	4	62,704	15,676	98.0%	14,190	10.5%	7
Tampa Bay Storm	5	74,364	14,873	77.5%	14,821	0.4%	8
Philadelphia Soul	2	29,304	14,652	83.1%	15,467	-5.3%	7
Columbus Destroyers	4	58,278	14,570	84.8%	11,757	23.9%	7
Colorado Crush	5	72,798	14,560	80.5%	14,973	-2.8%	7
Utah Blaze	4	55,716	13,929	90.8%	15,304	-9.0%	7
Los Angeles Avengers	3	40,646	13,549	75.5%	11,713	15.7%	6
Orlando Predators	5	67,164	13,433	98.1%	13,822	-2.8%	7
San Jose Sabercats	4	52,158	13,040	92.9%	12,879	1.2%	6
Dallas Desperados	5	61,420	12,284	77.2%	12,418	-1.1%	7
Georgia Force	4	47,279	11,820	64.9%	12,491	-5.4%	7
Austin Wranglers	4	44,919	11,230	83.8%	10,086	11.3%	7
Kansas City Brigade	5	54,653	10,931	67.5%	15,113	-27.7%	7
New York Dragons	4	40,411	10,103	84.3%	11,103	-9.0%	7
Arizona Rattlers	4	39,624	9,906	65.3%	10,121	-2.1%	7
Nashville Kats	5	39,311	7,862	50.0%	10,607	-25.9%	7
Grand Rapids Rampage	4	28,623	7,156	67.5%	5,821	22.9%	7
Las Vegas Gladiators	4	22,531	5,633	62.5%	10,104	-44.3%	8
TOTALS	80	974,929	12,187	79.1%	12,517	-2.6%	132

With the AFL season beginning in March this season, the AFL on ESPN2 is averaging a 0.3 coverage-area Nielsen rating (250,634 HHs) through seven telecasts. Last year, when the season began in January, the AFL was averaging 1,103,000 HHs on NBC through seven telecasts. The following presents ratings for national telecasts of AFL games. Ratings for ESPN2 are cable coverage-area ratings (THE DAILY).

'07 WEEK-BY-WEEK AFL RATINGS
WEEK	DATE	DAY	NET	START	MATCHUP	RATING	HHs (000)
1	3/4	Sun.	ABC	12:30pm	(regional)	1.0	1,092
2	3/12	Mon.	ESPN2	7:00pm	Avengers-Predators	0.4	337
4	3/22	Thurs.	ESPN2	7:00pm	Crush-Soul	0.3	247
4	3/26	Mon.	ESPN2	7:00pm	Desperados-Predators	0.3	246
5	4/1	Sun.	ESPN2	1:30pm	Avengers-Rush	0.3	264
6	4/9	Mon.	ESPN2	7:30pm	Force-Soul	0.3	244
7	4/16	Mon.	ESPN2	7:30pm	Soul-Desperados	0.3	290
8	4/23	Mon.	ESPN2	7:30pm	Soul-Destroyers	0.1	70