Ralph Engelstad Arena announces attendance totals The Ralph Engelstad Arena opened its doors to the community Oct. 5, 2001. Today, arena officials released attendance totals for the completed 2007-2008 event cycle, as well as the first seven year totals. Attendance figures are calculated from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30 annually. There were 501,133 guests who attended events at Ralph Engelstad Arena during the 2007-2008 event season. Over the past seven years of business, event attendance figures have remained strong. Ralph Engelstad Arena has averaged 451,429 event guests per year over the seven year period. These numbers include guests attending events and do not include daily tours. The strong 2007-2008 attendance total was driven by the 257,599 fans who attended Fighting Sioux men's hockey games which also lead the NCAA in total attendance at men's ice hockey. All but two games were sold out in the 2007-2008 season. The annual event attendance figure also included the 2008 World Men's Curling Championship, which attached 51,731 event guests and was the highest attended curling tournament in the world ever held outside of Canada. Year-by-year totals are as follows: 2001-2002, 330,000; 2002-2003, 425,930; 2003-2004, 409,592; 2004-2005, 627,501; 2005-2006, 440,723; 2006-2007, 425,124; and 2007-2008, 501,133. Total attendance was 3,160,003. "As we approach another busy event year, we would like to thank the community and facility guests for their continued support through the first seven years of business," said Jody Hodgson, REA general manager. "We look forward to the continued collaboration that continues to grow between UND, the greater Grand Forks community, and REA."