■ TEAMS (FIRST SEASON): AHL Hershey Bears (1932), Eastern League Harrisburg Senators (1987), USL Pro Harrisburg City Islanders (2004), PASL Harrisburg Heat (2012)
■ VENUES (YEAR OPENED): Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center (1966; renovated 2001), Metro Bank Park (1987; renovated 2010), Skyline Sports Complex (1987; renovated 2008), Giant Center (2002)
A two-time No. 1 market in our survey (2009 and 2011), Hershey-Harrisburg is the only region that has finished among the top 10 in all six of our biennial studies.
With an overall attendance of 3.7 million for its teams over their past five seasons, the area’s attendance-to-population ratio was 1.32-to-1, trailing only Fort Wayne among the top 10 markets. Additionally, the teams’ total attendance increase of 1 percent matched the market’s 1 percent population increase. Fans in the market filled 76 percent of the teams’ available seats, second only to Toledo’s 78 percent and led by the Bears, who have led the AHL in attendance every year since the 2005-06 season.
On the facilities front, after playing two seasons at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center’s 2,200-seat Equine Arena, the PASL Harrisburg Heat have played at the 7,300-seat Large Arena on the Expo grounds for the past two seasons. With that move, attendance doubled. Also, the parent company of the USL Harrisburg City Islanders is working to secure funding for a new $13.9 million multiuse stadium. Those plans call for the stadium’s design to be completed this month by HOK, with construction starting in March and being finished a year later.
The market lost ground in our standings from its No. 3 ranking in 2013, though, in part because the PIFL Harrisburg Stampede suspended operations following the 2014 season after seven seasons of play. The team had averaged 16,451 fans per season in the four years prior to folding.
