The NBA established records for total attendance, average attendance, percentage of capacity and sellouts this season, the league announced in a news release on Monday.
A record 791 sellouts easily surpassed the 760 figure set during the 2018-19 season. And the league’s arenas were filled to an all-time-high 97% capacity, according to the release.
The league’s total attendance mark of 22,234,502 broke the previous record of 22,124,559 set in the 2017-18 season, and was aided by a game played at the Alamodome between the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors, in which 68,323 fans were in attendance.
“It is just an exciting moment for everybody. It is nostalgic for everybody,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said at the time. “To have that many people in one building, to be able to play in front of them, is pretty damn exciting, actually.”
This regular season is only the second in NBA history in which total attendance exceeded 22 million. And for the first time, teams collectively averaged more than 18,000 fans (18,077).
The records come a year after speculation rose about shortening the regular season to cut down on star players resting and certain teams’ allegiance to the load management strategies.
“The style of the game has changed in terms of the impact on their bodies,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last year. “I think we’ve got to constantly assess and look at a marketplace going forward and say, what’s the best way to present our product and over how long a season?” (ABC)