Total Attendance Eclipses 23 Million for First Time, 96.9% of Capacity
NEW YORK – The unforgettable 2024-25 regular season, defined by the epic pursuit of the NHL career goals record by Alex Ovechkin in THE GR8 CHASE, culminated in another record as the curtain closed Thursday – the highest total attendance for a regular season in the League’s 108-year history.
Thursday’s seven-game finale pushed total attendance for the full, 1,312-game regular season to 23,014,458, surpassing the 23-million mark for the first time and eclipsing the previous high of 22,873,142 set last season. The record figure represents 96.9% of capacity.
* This marks the third consecutive regular season the NHL has set a total attendance record, following all-time marks established in 2022-23 (22,436,532) and 2023-24 (22,873,142).
* Regular-season games were played at 36 venues: the 32 NHL home arenas plus Winter Classic host Wrigley Field in Chicago; Stadium Series venue Ohio Stadium in Columbus; and Global Series sites O2 Arena in Prague, Czechia and Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland.
* A crowd of 94,751, the second-largest gathering in NHL history, filled Ohio Stadium in Columbus for the 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings on March 1.
* The Montreal Canadiens led all clubs in total attendance, with sellout crowds of 21,105 filling Bell Centre for each of their 41 home dates for a total of 865,305.
* The record attendance for the regular season does not include the 4 Nations Face-Off, which captivated fans at Bell Centre in Montreal and TD Garden in Boston in February. Total attendance for the tournament’s seven games (four in Montreal, three in Boston) was 135,977, an average of 19,425 per game.
