UMD hockey attendance at Amsoil Arena drops in 2024-25 – Duluth News Tribune

DULUTH — A third-straight losing season in 2024-25 for the Minnesota Duluth men’s hockey program led to the lowest average attendance in 13 full seasons at Amsoil Arena, not counting the COVID-19 pandemic season of 2020-21 when only a few hundred fans were allowed at games.

The Bulldogs averaged 5,668 fans per game in 2024-25

as they lost 20 games for the third-consecutive season,

finishing 13-20-3. That’s 424 less fans per game than the 2023-24 season when the Bulldogs averaged 6,092 fans per game.

The 424 fans is the biggest drop in attendance since the Bulldogs moved to the 6,756-seat Amsoil Arena midway through the 2010-11 season.

Winning and losing doesn’t always dictate a rise and fall in attendance. During the program’s run of seven straight NCAA tournament appearances, attendance dropped for three consecutive seasons from a high of 6,411 fans per game in 2014-15 to 5,811 when the team won the first of back-to-back NCAA titles in 2017-18. Attendance jumped the next two seasons to 6,122 in 2019-20 before COVID-19 hit.

The UMD women’s program also saw a dip in attendance at Amsoil Arena in 2024-25, going from an average of 1,137 fans per game in 2023-24 to 1,094 fans per game in 2024-25. The Bulldogs are in the midst of six straight winning seasons

and five straight NCAA tournament appearances.

UMD hockey programs moved from the DECC into

Amsoil Arena

midway through the 2010-11 season. Since playing their first full season at Amsoil Arena in 2011-12, the Bulldogs women have averaged over 1,000 fans in 13 of their 14 full seasons, with the 2020-21 pandemic season being the lone exception.

Not counting 2020-21, the 2024-25 season was the fifth time the UMD men failed to average 6,000 fans per game. It’s the third time in four seasons.

Clint Austin / File / Duluth Media Group

The women are one of three NCAA Division I programs, along with Wisconsin and Minnesota,

to average over a thousand fans per game

13 of the previous 14 seasons, with 2020-21 being the exception. Just two other programs have cracked the 1,000-fan mark during that span — Cornell and the now-defunct North Dakota program.

Since Amsoil Arena hosted its first full season of hockey, UMD men’s attendance has

ranked in the top 10 in NCAA Division I,

finishing ninth in 2024-25. The only other Division II-level school to crack the top 20 in 2024-25 was Minnesota State at 19th with 4,160 fans per game.

Amsoil Arena has been a favorite of Stadium Journey’s arena ranking since it opened. In 2013, Amsoil Arena was

ranked No. 1 in the website’s top 100 stadium experiences

in North America. Amsoil still ranks in the top 10 of NCAA Division I venues, coming in at

No. 4 in the most recent rankings done in April 2024.

Clint Austin / File / Duluth Media Group

The venue continues to win bids for major college hockey events. Amsoil Arena has hosted College Hockey Inc.’s men’s Ice Breaker Tournament twice (2017 and 2021) and is back in the rotation for major NCAA women’s events. The WCHA Final Faceoff returned to Amsoil Arena in 2024 after last being held there in 2012.

The NCAA women’s Frozen Four is returning in 2027

after being held there in 2023 and 2012.