In 1992, the NHL farmed out 24 regular-season games to neutral sites, the result of a rare collective bargaining win for the players (pre-Gary Bettman, of course) that bumped the season to 84 games and had them split profits with the owners for those contests.
The first few games of the experiment were ... unsuccessful. They drew 8,783 in Saskatchewan for the Flames and the North Stars, a game that had to compete with Eric Lindros's first game in Quebec City as a Flyer on TV. They drew 7,186 at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton for the Leafs and Senators because the Blue Jays were in the World Series that same night.