It isn’t often you see empty seats at Rogers Place, but there were plenty of them on Thursday night when the Edmonton Oilers took on the Utah Mammoth.
The lack of fans in the stands was first pointed out by Tyler Yaremchuk of Daily Faceoff Edmonton, who shared a photo on social media showing numerous vacant seats at the usually packed arena
@NugsJuicyStache https://t.co/rdITe6F3he
— Tyler Yaremchuk (@tyleryaremchuk) October 16, 2026
It wasn’t just a case of fans trickling in late, either.
After drawing more than 18,000 fans for each of their first two home games of the season, the Oilers announced an attendance of just 16,176 for Thursday’s matchup. Rogers Place has a hockey capacity of 18,347, meaning there were 2,171 seats unoccupied.
That’s a surprisingly low figure for an Oilers home game. For comparison, the lowest attendance at Rogers Place during the 2025-26 regular season was 17,787 for an October matchup against the New York Rangers.
In fact, the last time attendance was lower than Thursday’s figure was during the 2022-23 season, when just 16,023 fans were in the building to watch Edmonton take on the Carolina Hurricanes in another October game.
One factor worth considering is the opponent. The Oilers were facing the Mammoth, a team that doesn’t have the same established fan base in Edmonton as some of the NHL’s more popular road visitors. However, that alone doesn’t necessarily explain the attendance, particularly given how well the Oilers have traditionally drawn regardless of their opponent.
Ticket prices could be playing a part.
Dan Tencer, who spent years covering the Oilers’ postgame show on 630 CHED, recently explained on social media why he had decided to give up his season tickets. While he said he could generally resell tickets to playoff games at cost, selling regular-season tickets proved more difficult.
@JasonGregor Totally get that perspective. The doubling out of the gate, 7x in Cup Final…it was a lot to stomach. But, I could always easily move them at cost if I didn’t go and it was playoffs. I accepted it.
Regular season cost was what pushed us out. Many late start times didn’t help.
— Dan Tencer (@dantencer) October 16, 2026
Ticket prices are just one of many expenses that can make attending a game costly. Some Oilers fans have also raised concerns about the rising cost of food and beer at Rogers Place, while parking near the arena adds another expense for those driving downtown.
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Edmonton isn’t the only NHL market to see a surprisingly sparse crowd recently. A game between the Vegas Golden Knights and Toronto Maple Leafs at T-Mobile Arena also drew just 15,977 fans, well below the building’s hockey capacity of 17,367.
Never seen so many empty seats at a Golden Knights game. pic.twitter.com/4xJdul7wgj
— luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) October 9, 2026
Still, Thursday’s attendance raises questions for the Oilers, particularly if it becomes a recurring issue. Edmonton remains one of the NHL’s biggest markets for hockey, but even the most devoted fans have their limits when it comes to the cost of attending games.
There is an argument to be made that this could also be fan frustration after the Oilers took a major step backward last season. That said, they entered Thursday’s game with a strong 5-0-1 record, suggesting they are back to being a contender once again.
If ticket prices, concessions, and parking continue to add up, the Oilers may find that filling every seat at Rogers Place is becoming more difficult than it once was.
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