For two seasons in the early 1990s, the National Hockey League played a series of neutral-site, regular-season games in non-NHL cities and expanded its regular-season schedule from 82 games to 84 to accommodate them. They may have been used to gauge interest in potential expansion/relocation cities, but three of the four markets with the highest attendance in the limited showcase of games never did receive new or relocated teams.
With mostly poor weeknight dates – there were only four Friday and seven Sunday dates, and no Saturdays among the 50 games – it’s not a huge surprise that the average attendance for the series of games was just 11,196. The experiment wasn’t repeated in the lockout-abbreviated 1994-95 season, nor has it been attempted in the years since.
| Tue | 10/13/1992 | Calgary 4, Minnesota 3 | SaskPlace | Saskatoon | 8,783 |
| Tue | 10/20/1992 | Toronto 5, Ottawa 3 | Copps Coliseum | Hamilton | 7,186 |
| Tue | 11/3/1992 | Washington 4, Chicago 1 | Market Square Arena | Indianapolis | 8,792 |
| Tue | 11/17/1992 | Quebec 3, Toronto 1 | Copps Coliseum | Hamilton | 17,026 |
| Wed | 11/18/1992 | New Jersey 3, Buffalo 2 | Copps Coliseum | Hamilton | 6,972 |
| Tue | 12/1/1992 | Los Angeles 6, Chicago 3 | Bradley Center | Milwaukee | 16,292 |
| Tue | 12/8/1992 | Montreal 5, Los Angeles 5 | Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum | Phoenix | 12,276 |
| Wed | 12/9/1992 | NY Rangers 6, Tampa Bay 5 | Miami Arena | Miami | 12,842 |
| Sun | 12/13/1992 | NY Islanders 4, Edmonton 1 | Myriad Convention Center | Oklahoma City | 11,110 |
| Tue | 12/15/1992 | St. Louis 4, NY Islanders 3 | Reunion Arena | Dallas | 11,251 |
| Mon | 1/4/1993 | Montreal 2, San Jose 1 | ARCO Arena | Sacramento | 11,814 |
| Mon | 1/18/1993 | Winnipeg 8, Hartford 7 | SaskPlace | Saskatoon | 7,756 |
| Mon | 2/8/1993 | Pittsburgh 4, Boston 0 | The Omni | Atlanta | 12,572 |
| Tue | 2/9/1993 | St. Louis 3, Hartford 1 | Carver Arena | Peoria | 9,013 |
| Tue | 2/16/1993 | Calgary 4, Philadelphia 4 (OT) | Riverfront Coliseum | Cincinnati | 7,973 |
| Fri | 2/19/1993 | Quebec 5, Tampa Bay 2 | Halifax Metro Centre | Halifax | 9,584 |
| Mon | 2/22/1993 | NY Rangers 4, San Jose 0 | ARCO Arena | Sacramento | 13,633 |
| Mon | 2/22/1993 | Detroit 5, Philadelphia 5 (OT) | Richfield Coliseum | Cleveland | 13,382 |
| Tue | 2/23/1993 | Winnipeg 8, Ottawa 2 | SaskPlace | Saskatoon | 7,245 |
| Mon | 3/1/1993 | Vancouver 5, Buffalo 2 | Copps Coliseum | Hamilton | 17,098 |
| Thu | 3/11/1993 | Minnesota 4, Vancouver 3 | SaskPlace | Saskatoon | 12,006 |
| Tue | 3/16/1993 | Boston 3, New Jersey 1 | Providence Civic Center | Providence | 10,554 |
| Tue | 3/16/1993 | Washington 4, Detroit 2 | Bradley Center | Milwaukee | 9,836 |
| Sun | 3/21/1993 | Pittsburgh 6, Edmonton 4 | Richfield Coliseum | Cleveland | 18,782 |
| Thu | 10/21/1993 | St. Louis 5, San Jose 2 | ARCO Arena | Sacramento | 7,144 |
| Sun | 10/31/1993 | NY Rangers 4, New Jersey 1 | Halifax Metro Centre | Halifax | 8,200 |
| Wed | 11/3/1993 | Pittsburgh 6, Buffalo 2 | ARCO Arena | Sacramento | 10,117 |
| Tue | 11/9/1993 | Anaheim 4, Dallas 2 | America West Arena | Phoenix | 8,143 |
| Thu | 11/18/1993 | NY Islanders 5, Montreal 1 | Copps Coliseum | Hamilton | 17,008 |
| Thu | 12/9/1993 | Dallas 6, Ottawa 1 | Target Center | Minneapolis | 14,058 |
| Thu | 12/23/1993 | Vancouver 4, Calgary 3 | SaskPlace | Saskatoon | 11,429 |
| Fri | 12/31/1993 | Philadelphia 4, Boston 3 | Target Center | Minneapolis | 10,855 |
| Tue | 1/4/1994 | Tampa Bay 1, Toronto 0 | Copps Coliseum | Hamilton | 17,526 |
| Wed | 1/5/1994 | Montreal 2, Quebec 0 | America West Arena | Phoenix | 11,393 |
| Thu | 1/6/1994 | St. Louis 2, Hartford 1 | Richfield Coliseum | Cleveland | 6,956 |
| Sun | 1/16/1994 | Detroit 6, Tampa Bay 3 | Target Center | Minneapolis | 8,764 |
| Mon | 1/24/1994 | Calgary 3, Los Angeles 3 (OT) | America West Arena | Phoenix | 14,864 |
| Mon | 1/24/1994 | Vancouver 5, Edmonton 4 (OT) | SaskPlace | Saskatoon | 10,801 |
| Wed | 2/2/1994 | Washington 5, Philadelphia 2 | Richfield Coliseum | Cleveland | 8,312 |
| Tue | 2/8/1994 | San Jose 4, Chicago 3 | ARCO Arena | Sacramento | 14,182 |
| Tue | 2/22/1994 | Florida 3, Winnipeg 2 | Copps Coliseum | Hamilton | 6,291 |
| Thu | 2/24/1994 | Detroit 3, Hartford 0 | Richfield Coliseum | Cleveland | 11,621 |
| Fri | 3/4/1994 | Winnipeg 6, Ottawa 1 | Target Center | Minneapolis | 6,388 |
| Tue | 3/8/1994 | Chicago 3, Anaheim 0 | America West Arena | Phoenix | 13,847 |
| Wed | 3/9/1994 | NY Rangers 7, Washington 5 | Halifax Metro Centre | Halifax | 9,200 |
| Fri | 3/18/1994 | Buffalo 2, NY Islanders 2 (OT) | Target Center | Minneapolis | 8,016 |
| Wed | 3/23/1994 | Florida 1, Toronto 1 (OT) | Copps Coliseum | Hamilton | 17,096 |
| Sun | 3/27/1994 | New Jersey 5, Quebec 2 | Target Center | Minneapolis | 6,222 |
| Sun | 4/3/1994 | Pittsburgh 6, Boston 2 | Richfield Coliseum | Cleveland | 17,224 |
| Sun | 4/3/1994 | Los Angeles 6, Edmonton 1 | ARCO Arena | Sacramento | 10,363 |
Here’s a chart of cities ranked by their average attendance for their neutral-site games:
| Hamilton | 8 | 106,203 | 13,275 |
| Milwaukee | 2 | 26,128 | 13,064 |
| Miami – x | 1 | 12,842 | 12,842 |
| Cleveland | 6 | 76,277 | 12,713 |
| Atlanta -x | 1 | 12,572 | 12,572 |
| Phoenix -x | 5 | 60,523 | 12,105 |
| Dallas -x | 1 | 11,251 | 11,251 |
| Sacramento | 6 | 67,253 | 11,209 |
| Oklahoma City | 1 | 11,110 | 11,110 |
| Providence | 1 | 10,554 | 10,554 |
| Saskatoon | 6 | 58,020 | 9,670 |
| Minneapolis -x | 6 | 54,303 | 9,051 |
| Peoria | 1 | 9,013 | 9,013 |
| Halifax | 3 | 26,984 | 8,995 |
| Indianapolis | 1 | 8,792 | 8,792 |
| Cincinnati | 1 | 7,973 | 7,973 |
| TOTALS | 50 | 559,798 | 11,196 |