From Talking Points:
Oddly enough, while the crowd has been in full voice for both home games, it hasn’t been at full capacity.
The Canes didn’t come close enough to a sellout in Game 3 even to claim one, drawing only 17,971, with the all-too-frequent empty seats in Section 107 and a wide expanse of unoccupied black leather in the Champions Club.
There seemed to be more people in the building Tuesday, and they had quite a bit more to cheer about, but it still wasn’t a sellout. In fact, it was the third-lowest playoff attendance in RBC Center history — 17,465.
Read more here.
Luke has worked for The N&O since 2000. He covered the Carolina Hurricanes and the NHL before becoming a sports columnist in August 2008. A native of Evanston, Ill., he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. He can be reached at 829-8947 or 
Comments
It's the Economy Folks
Thu, 04/23/2009 - 05:32 — esteban1949With all that said...The Canes are trying to be " pro active" with the ticket price freeze for the next 2 seasons. How well that offer does only you there in the triangle can tell us. Grant you, a little something is better than nothing, but when all is said and done it's still all about the money honey...that is why, the RBCC won't be open that I'm aware of for fans to come and watch the game in NJ instead of at home on the tube, and dish...or were there "scheduling " conflicts ?
Go Canes !!!
How brutal is this blog for
Wed, 04/22/2009 - 22:17 — mokimanoHow brutal is this blog for removing anyone's posts that question the author or the N&O...free speech is out the window huh Luke??? What a joke when you cannot even counter point a subject you write...sad but true.
Are you sure you're not
Thu, 04/23/2009 - 17:47 — ldecock (author)Are you sure you're not confusing this post on Canes Now (which points to my original blog post) with the original post on my blog, where there are plenty of comments criticising both me and the N&O, including my response to those comments?
I'm unaware of any comments being deleted from either post, and in any case it's our policy only to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.
I know of several people who
Wed, 04/22/2009 - 16:22 — SubwayScoundrelI know of several people who lost thier jobs who had ST but did not get playoff tickets or next year. I can imagine how many corps did not renew, especially in the Lexus club. If they win on Sunday and go to round 2, it will improve.
Bad times for now but wil improve if the canes happen.
I remember back in 2001 and seeing empty rows of seats in the lower level on the north end.
Champion's Club
Wed, 04/22/2009 - 11:41 — robotron2084Who really knows how many seats are or aren't sold in the Champion's Club because you sure can't judge it based on whether people actually sit in those leather seats. That whole area up there is chock full of buffet food, a bar, tables and high def tvs to watch the game. For the types that can afford it, they may just be loitering around the bar rather than parking themselves in those leather seats. I'm also not even sure those are purchasable for individual games (I was under the impression they weren't for the regular season, but maybe they are). It's corporate territory up there. Those seats cost just as much as being on the glass, so for me, I'd much rather be on the glass than up there anyway.
It's the economy stupid...
Wed, 04/22/2009 - 11:13 — wjcampI was a long time STH who committed to purchasing my seats last April. Since then the economy has tanked, I've laid off most of my employees and didn't purchase playoff tickets or renew my season tickets this year. This is the beginning of the hard times the NHL should be expecting as playoff sales and renewing season tickets now are showing the impact of the recession on businesses and their entertainment budgets. During the regular season and in previous playoff years a bunch of the empty seats in a "sellout" were actually paid for corporate seats going unused. The difference is, this year those empty seats aren't sold and don't count towards a sellout. I would venture to guess that there were more bodies actually in the building last night than during several of this year's official sellouts.
I'm still in the RBC parking lot for the tailgating, and I picked up a cheap upper level ticket from a scalper 15 minutes before faceoff for nearly 50% off face value. For me parking, my contribution to the tailgate and the ticket was less than half of just one first round ticket to my usual seat. And you better believe I'll be back.
It is corporate spending
Wed, 04/22/2009 - 09:36 — wxray1There's reduced corporate spending for these events. If you do, you risk getting called out by very powerful people, like the President has called out against corporations having events in places like Vegas.
The downside is it actually hurts the economy to not have this extra spending (passing the money around, for maybe the beef cutter guy in the Champions club).
The UPSIDE is that there are only real fans there, who paid their hard earned money (not knowing if they'll even have a job in 3 months). These fans appreciate every second of the event, so it makes for a great atmosphere.
Folks, Sunday may be the last game. Come join us in the upper deck. There were plenty of seats available last nite. Upper corners and ends are affordable. Seats are to there for the taking. We always have a ball! Real fans, real fun! Come get CraZy with us!
I would agree
Wed, 04/22/2009 - 09:00 — esteban1949but after all just how much are those leather " champions " seats go for anyway ? I am surprized that JR who is " president" did try and get a couple of them to the Govenor so she could get into the swing of things...after all she and the legislature are into everything else we, the people, and fans have...so why not treat her JR..why not ?
Go Canes !!
Economy worse than we thought?
Wed, 04/22/2009 - 07:10 — hctimo787I don't know how to explain it. We had sellouts going down the stretch. First round tickets aren't that much more expensive than the regular season, but maybe wallets are tighter than we thought? _shrug_
I'll say this though, I went Sunday, but since we lost in OT, I didn't want to bring any bad mojo I was carrying on me back to the big ATM. Maybe others did the same? heh
In any case, we need to keep that building packed. Game 6 should sell out. But, sell outs don't a 7th man make, if we learn anything from Tuesday night (and countless games prior).