By John Denton May 22, 2017
ORLANDO – Whether they were showing their strong support for the Orlando Magic or simply enjoying a night out at the state-of-the-art Amway Center, fans turned out in near record numbers this past basketball season.
Average attendance at Magic games this past season was 17,753 – the highest mark over the past five seasons. That mark qualified the Magic for 15th in the 30-team NBA. Dallas (19,789), New York (19,774), Miami (19,643) and the Los Angeles Lakers (18,949) were the only non-playoff teams to have higher home attendance averages than the Magic.
Those numbers spoke highly of the fan support considering that the Magic finished just 29-53 and missed the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season. Orlando was 16-25 at the Amway Center, including home wins against Washington, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Toronto, Milwaukee, Memphis and Detroit (twice).
Fans also turned out this past season in record numbers for big Magic home games. Not only did the Magic play before 14 sellout crowds at the Amway Center – four more than the previous season – they also drew four of the six largest crowds in franchise history. The Magic also set the record for the largest crowd to ever see a basketball game in Orlando when 19,458 fans attended the season-finale against the Detroit Pistons on April 12.
A big reason for the Magic’s success at the box office has been because of their strides in marketing to groups and single-game seekers. The Magic led the NBA in group sales – a product of their work in marketing their product to domestic and international tourists.
Also, the Magic ranked in the NBA’s top five in single-game ticket sales for second straight season.
Fan interest in the Magic wasn’t confined to just attendance at the Amway Center. Fox Sports Florida, the exclusive television network of the Magic, saw usage of the Fox Sports Go app rise 44 percent with Magic-related content. Additionally, the Magic’s social media outlets eclipsed an audience of 5 million this season.
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