While the Edmonton Oilers’ return to the Stanley Cup Final ended in disappointment, the series pushed spending near the arena to almost double the daily average.
In a recent report, payment processing company Moneris released the latest data on spending in Edmonton during the Stanley Cup Finals. After cataloguing spending during Oilers playoff games, the company tracked a growing economic response to the Oilers’ cup run that showed strong spending statistics in the finals.
Spending near the arena during the second Stanley Cup Final game in Edmonton hit an impressive 92 per cent increase over a regular, non-gameday evening. The jump in spending was the second-highest increase recorded during this year’s playoffs.
With back-to-back appearances in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Oilers’ economic impact shouldn’t come as a surprise, given that over those two years the team spurred a half-billion dollars in economic activity for Edmonton.
Moneris’ breaks down gameday transactions for debit and credit cards and compares them to non-gameday transactions to analyze how Oilers games affect local spending behaviour near the arena and throughout Edmonton.
It’s worth noting that there are other payment processing companies that local restaurants and bars might use, which this data would not include.
Unsurprisingly, the biggest increases in spending between gamedays and non-gamedays came both near the arena and while the Oilers were playing at home.
In the first round, the second home game saw spending rise to 89 per cent above average near the arena and 24 per cent across the city. It was once again the second game in the second round that saw the biggest spending increase near the arena at 69 per cent. It was the preceding home game that saw the biggest spending increase throughout the city at 13 per cent.
As impressive as it was for spending to hit 92 per cent above the average during the last round, it was the third round of the playoffs that took the cake for the largest increase for a single game spend, a 143 per cent hike in spending during the team’s second home game of the series.
As the team and staff pore over the result, looking for ways to improve next year, Edmontonians may find themselves similarly examining their credit card statements, looking for costs to cut after yet another expensive Stanley Cup playoff run.
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