Attendances climb, longer season to come

Monday’s meeting with the KHL club directors reviewed the achievements of the 2023-2024 season.

KHL president Alexei Morozov was happy with the way the campaign had gone.

“It was unpredictable, there was a lot of excitement,” he said. “We set new records. That reflects a lot of work by our clubs, the league, our partners and the players. We had attendance records in the regular season and the playoffs.

“Attracting a younger audience is a strategic aim, which we are working on with our partners. We doubled our audience in the 18-24 age group and we’re happy about that. Now we’re working with our partners to achieve a goal of increasing our audience from 8 to 12 million.”

Antidoping

The KHL continued to work closely with RUSADA to deliver a robust antidoping program. From Sep. 2023 through April 2024 the league tested 432 players, including 128 during the playoffs. All teams were subjected to tests over the course of the season.

During the playoffs, the two finalists were tested more often than anyone else (18 Metallurg players at nine games, 16 Lokomotiv players at eight games). Next came Avtomobilist (14 players at seven games).

KHL audience grows

Studies carried out last month demonstrated that the KHL attracted more followers during the 2023-2024 season. This is a testament to the combined efforts of the league, our clubs and our commercial partners as we look to implement our 2023-2026 development strategy.

Our partnerships with Fonbet, Tinkoff, Rostelekom, LADA and others are bearing fruit. In particular, this season saw the creation of a new mascot, Krut, aimed at attracting a younger audience. The KHL created a children’s site and forged contacts with influencers, setting up regular events involving popular bloggers and performers.

In figures:

5.17 million people attended games in the arena (the third time total KHL attendances topped 5 million)

6,622 was the average gameday attendance during the playoffs, the best in KHL history

751,703 people in total attended playoff games, again, a KHL record

9,396 – average gameday attendance for the full 2023/24 season and another all-time record

5,929,949 people attended games in regular season and playoffs combined, the third highest in history

In addition, the KHL’s websites enjoyed a 43% increase in views and a 41% rise in unique visitors. The mobile app saw a 4% boost in unique visitors and a 24% increase in views.

Club ratings

This year’s champion Metallurg Magnitogorsk moves to the top of the updated KHL club ratings. The ranking measures 10 performance indicators over the past three years, divided into groups of sporting, financial, commercial and infrastructure achievements. Metallurg came out on top, boosted by its cup win, while CSKA, Lokomotiv, Dynamo Moscow and Severstal were among the top five for sporting success.

Next season

The structure for the 2024-2025 season was announced. After discussions with the Russian Hockey Federation, the KHL regular season will run Sep. 3 through March 23. Game seven of the Gagarin Cup final is pencilled in for May 25.

As before, teams will have 68 regular-season games. The extra month on the schedule allows space for an international break to coincide with the Channel 1 Cup in December, and another pause for the All-Star Game in early February.