Orlando Solar Bears plan to break record, fill Amway Center

The Orlando Solar Bears have seen their attendance dip just a bit from last year, but still rank third in the ECHL with an average of 5,994.

The Solar Bears have not had as many weekend games as previous years and that has hurt attendance some. Saturday’s game against the Kalamazoo Wings for Faith and Family Night is expected to be one of the biggest attendance games of the season. Last Saturday’s game against the Indy Fuel had the second highest attendance of the season behind opening night.

With Orlando beginning to turn things around on the ice — the team has climbed its way back into the playoff race with 13 points in the last eight games — there certainly should be some more interest and intrigue growing in the team.

One more marketing trick to fill the Amway Center cannot hurt.

For the Solar Bears’ March 19 game against the Adirondack Thunder, the team hopes to pack the Amway Center and open the upper bowl for the first time. They plan to do this by following the Orlando City model and giving out plenty of opportunities for free tickets for fans to experience their first Solar Bears games.

For the three home games this weekend — Feb. 26, 27 and 29 — and the games March 17 and 19, fans can go to the Amway Center box office show them the Walgreens app on their phone or tablet and receive up to four complimentary tickets for the March 19 games. There will be 2,000 complimentary tickets handed out (assumedly, all in the upper bowl).

The Solar Bears are currently averaging 5,994 fans this year. On Saturdays this year, the Solar Bears are up to 7,322 average announced attendance in eight Saturday home games. If they sell out this game, that would get them to the number they had for opening night. Of course, the Solar Bears had 8,544 for last Saturday’s game and are expecting as much this weekend.

There is definitely the possibility for this promotion to create a lot more buzz and a lot more anticipation for the game. Let alone get new fans in the building to watch the Solar Bears play.

It should make for an interesting night at the very least as Orlando needs every point it can get to make the Playoffs. A packed house would certainly add to the energy.