220 spectators – the average attendance in the SDHL regular season this past season.
The largely empty stands led to the league doing in-depth interviews earlier in the season and then holding a workshop with all the clubs.
"Credibility is by far the biggest problem," Angelica Lindeberg, commercial director at SDHL, told SVT Sport at the time.
'Clubs more persistent'
Now the conversations have led to an audience strategy (see fact box).
"We've been talking for quite a few years about the issue and that it's been a problem. But I see a more persistent and ambitious will among the clubs, that now we do this for real and not just talk about the issue," Lindeberg said.
Among other things, the clubs will be rewarded financially depending on how well they work with audience recruitment. Some will revolve around clubs identifying four so-called spectator matches during the regular season and attracting at least 1000 spectators to them.
The league will also expand its central support on the issue and raise engagement and knowledge with a new audience council.
The goal: to increase 500 percent
The goal is for the average attendance in the league to increase by 500 percent by the 2025/2026 season.
Angelica Lindeberg believes that the clubs' most common input has been the resource issue.
"All clubs are a bit withdrawn in terms of how much they dare to wish and hope that we can achieve. But I think that's a good goal, because then we'll end up a little over 1000. Then there are associations that don't have an occupancy that meets that, but this is about raising the league's average," Lindeberg said.