The Islanders rank "next-to-last in the NHL with an average of 12,157 in paid attendance per game after the first 11 games" in Barclays Center, according to Neil Best of NEWSDAY. They are ahead of only the Hurricanes' "11,227 per-game average in the 30-team league." They also are "third from last in average percentage of capacity at 76.9." Barclays Center's hockey capacity "is listed at 15,795." Monday's game against the Coyotes "marked the seventh time in 11 home dates the Islanders have drawn fewer than 12,000." In their final season at Nassau Coliseum in '14-15, the Islanders averaged 15,334 per game, which "ranked 25th in the NHL." The team's "average percentage of capacity last season" was 94.8. Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark said, "The area we continue to work at is ticket sales. Am I pleased with playing at 77 percent capacity and at 12.1 (thousand)? I'm fine with that. I'm never satisfied." Yormark said that tickets are "one aspect of a larger financial picture in which private suite sales are ahead of budget projections and sponsorships are on target." He added that suites have "been selling not only on a long-term basis, but for nightly rentals to those sampling the product, and that sponsorships from major companies have far exceeded anything in the Islanders' Nassau County past." Yormark said that he will "continue to market the team heavily in Brooklyn and the other boroughs and listen to fans about how to improve the experience." But he thinks that "some of the slow attendance start likely will take care of itself over time." Best notes most NHL teams' "worst months for attendance are October and November, and the Islanders' autumn was complicated by five home games that conflicted with Mets playoff games." Also, there have been "relatively few games against marquee opponents so far" (NEWSDAY, 11/18).
