Adam McCann, Financial Writer

May 28, 2019

Hockey is heating up in America. Both participation and attendance are up, for one. And fans who want to see the NHL live are willing to pay a lot, as their ticket prices exceed those of the NBA, on average.

It’s an exciting time of year for hockey fans, too, as the Stanley Cup finals are approaching. One of the teams, the St. Louis Blues, is the oldest NHL team to have never won the Stanley Cup, and hasn’t played in the final since 1970. Their opponents, the Boston Bruins, are the same team the Blues faced in 1970. The Bruins have won the Stanley Cup six times.

So for all the diehard and rookie fans, WalletHub crunched the numbers to determine the best places for hockey enthusiasts. We ranked 73 U.S. cities based on 21 key indicators of a good hockey city. Our data set ranges from ticket prices to stadium capacity to the performance level of each city’s teams. Read on for the winners, commentary from a panel of sports experts and a full description of our methodology.

Make sure to also check out WalletHub's 2019 Stanley Cup Facts Infographic for fun and interesting stats about the matchup.

Main Findings

Best Hockey Cities

Overall Rank

(1 = Best) City Total Score ‘NHL’ Rank ‘NCAA’ Rank 1 Boston, MA 61.64 3 1 2 Detroit, MI 57.90 1 56 3 Pittsburgh, PA 55.79 2 32 4 Chicago, IL 49.62 4 56 5 New York, NY 49.51 5 56 6 Newark, NJ 47.72 6 56 7 Anaheim, CA 43.54 7 56 8 Buffalo, NY 42.52 8 41 9 Tampa, FL 41.32 9 56 10 Washington, DC 40.80 10 56 11 St. Louis, MO 40.71 11 56 12 Denver, CO 39.18 15 20 13 San Jose, CA 38.81 12 56 14 Philadelphia, PA 38.38 13 56 15 St. Paul, MN 36.67 14 56 16 Sunrise, FL 35.82 16 56 17 Glendale, AZ 35.25 17 56 18 Dallas, TX 35.24 18 56 19 Los Angeles, CA 34.12 19 56 20 Raleigh, NC 30.00 20 56 21 Columbus, OH 28.86 23 44 22 Las Vegas, NV 28.83 21 56 23 Nashville, TN 27.92 22 56 24 Ann Arbor, MI 19.58 24 2 25 Orono, ME 19.43 24 3 26 Lewiston, NY 19.35 24 4 27 Grand Forks, ND 19.19 24 5 28 Hanover, NH 18.52 24 6 29 Hamilton, NY 18.44 24 7 30 Houghton, MI 18.01 24 8 31 Madison, WI 17.71 24 9 32 Ithaca, NY 17.53 24 10 33 West Point, NY 17.41 24 11 34 Big Rapids, MI 16.53 24 12 35 Marquette, MI 16.24 24 13 36 South Bend, IN 15.62 24 14 37 Schenectady, NY 15.57 24 15 38 Durham, NH 15.57 24 16 39 Springfield, MA 15.51 24 17 40 State College, PA 15.47 24 18 41 Colorado Springs, CO 15.43 24 19 42 St. Cloud, MN 15.00 24 21 43 Potsdam, NY 14.92 24 22 44 Sault Ste. Marie, MI 14.53 24 23 45 Canton, NY 14.31 24 24 46 Bowling Green, OH 14.15 24 25 47 New Haven, CT 13.83 24 26 48 Bemidji, MN 13.45 24 28 49 Fairfield, CT 13.09 24 29 50 Providence, RI 12.86 24 30 51 Minneapolis, MN 12.79 24 31 52 Tempe, AZ 12.74 24 33 53 Cambridge, MA 12.70 24 34 54 Duluth, MN 12.65 24 35 55 Storrs, CT 12.34 24 27 56 Amherst, MA 12.04 24 36 57 Rochester, NY 11.97 24 38 58 Worcester, MA 11.77 24 39 59 Oxford, OH 11.58 24 40 60 Waltham, MA 11.15 24 42 61 Omaha, NE 11.06 24 43 62 East Lansing, MI 10.93 24 37 63 Mankato, MN 10.34 24 45 64 Lowell, MA 10.31 24 47 65 Princeton, NJ 10.28 24 48 66 Troy, NY 9.81 24 49 67 Burlington, VT 9.40 24 46 68 North Andover, MA 9.09 24 51 69 Erie, PA 8.73 24 50 70 Fairbanks, AK 8.70 24 52 71 Anchorage, AK 8.22 24 54 72 Kalamazoo, MI 7.51 24 53 73 Huntsville, AL 7.38 24 55

Ask the Experts

With rising attendance levels, TV ratings and revenues come a new set of challenges for hockey stakeholders. For additional insight about the business side of the sport, hockey fandom and more, we asked a panel of sports experts to share their thoughts on the following key questions:

What are the biggest challenges facing the business of professional hockey today? Do you have any tips for how hockey fans can enjoy the sport without breaking the bank? How does the NHL compare to other major league sports in terms of ensuring the safety and health of their players in the short and long term? In evaluating the best cities for hockey fans, what are the top five indicators? With sports betting now federally legal, how will the Stanley Cup finals be affected?

Methodology

In order to determine the best cities for hockey fans, WalletHub compared 73 U.S. cities across two divisional categories, NHL (Division I Men’s) and NCAA (Division I Men’s). For our sample, we chose cities with at least one college or professional hockey team.

We evaluated each divisional category using 21 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for hockey fans. The weight for each divisional category is based on its popularity, which we determined by summing the number of “Likes” for all the teams in each category and calculating the proportion that each league represents in total.

We then determined each city’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to construct our final ranking.

NHL – Total Points: 80

Number of NHL Team(s): Full Weight (~9.41 Points)

Performance Level of NHL Team(s): Full Weight (~9.41 Points)

Note: This metric was calculated by dividing the number of wins by the total games played. We used the past three seasons’ average for this calculation.

Number of Stanley Cup Wins: Full Weight (~9.41 Points)

Number of NHL Division Championship Wins: Half Weight (~4.71 Points)

Number of Hall of Fame Head Coaches: Half Weight (~4.71 Points)

Franchise Value: Half Weight (~4.71 Points)

Note: This metric measures the team’s estimated value in millions of dollars.

Average Ticket Price for NHL Game: Full Weight (~9.41 Points)

NHL Fan Engagement: Full Weight (~9.41 Points)

Note: This metric was calculated by adding the number of Twitter followers to the number of Facebook “Likes” per capita.

Number of Coaches in Past 10 Seasons (Seasons 2009-10 to 2018-19): Half Weight (~4.71 Points)

NHL Stadium Capacity: Half Weight (~4.71 Points)

Note: This metric was calculated by dividing stadium capacity by city population.

Attendance: Half Weight (~4.71 Points)

Note: This metric was calculated by dividing average home-fan attendance by stadium capacity.

Popularity Ranking: Half Weight (~4.71 Points)

NCAA (Division I Men’s) – Total Points: 20

Number of NCAA (Division 1) Team(s): Full Weight (~2.86 Points)

Performance Level of NCAA (Division 1) Team(s): Full Weight (~2.86 Points)

Note: This metric was calculated by dividing the number of wins by the total games played. The past three seasons’ average was used for this calculation.

Number of NCAA (Division 1) Championship Wins: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)

Number of NCAA (Division 1) Conference Regular Season Championship Wins: Half Weight (~1.43 Points)

Number of Hall of Fame Head Coaches: Half Weight (~1.43 Points)

Minimum Season-Ticket Price for NCAA (Division 1) Game: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)

College-Hockey Fan Engagement: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)

Note: This metric was calculated by adding the number of Twitter followers to the number of Facebook “Likes” per capita.

Number of Coaches in Past 10 Seasons (Seasons 2009-10 to 2018-19): Half Weight (~1.43 Points)

College-Hockey Stadium Capacity: Half Weight (~1.43 Points)

Note: This metric was calculated by dividing stadium capacity by city population.



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Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, ESPN, NCAA.org, NHL.com, U.S. College Hockey Online, Forbes, TicketIQ, Ranker.com, U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame and each team’s website.

Image: Syda Productions / Shutterstock.com

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