I think that's the biggest difference between MLS backed teams and independent teams: marketing to a build in fan base whereby you can offer discounts and what not. From my vantage point, if the Reign where to have such a partnership with the Sounders, it will be a win for them so I can't think of any situation where they will not welcome such a partnership. Maybe something is in the works for that and we don't know about it yet. I mean I could see a situation whereby Sounders could sell Reign tickets to their existing fan base and maybe get a percent of each ticket sold?? I read an interview with Harvey where she stated they like to keep the operations behind close doors as much as possible. So we may not know about these things until it is finalize. I mean, we probably wouldn't have known about the move to memorial if that SPS document was not public.
Anyone who was at the game, how is Memorial Stadium? Is it worth playing there instead of Starfire? The football lines didnt look too bad on camera.
Other than the big black bits... I hope if the Reign do stay there long term, they pay to get a line-free FieldTurf installed.
Hey! Maybe THAT'S why the jerseys feature black so much! It's a better match than the "midnight black" of the crest, at least. X-D
Attendance after week 2. While not a drastic increase, it is steadily growing over the attendance at the same point last season.
Snapshot of the attendance so far. I think the biggest highlight is the fact that at this point compared to last year, there are ~2000 more people. Assuming that the lowest ticket price is $19, that's $38,000 right there.
Positive, but not anywhere close to what it could and should be. There were Wed. home games, so i'd not pay attention to those data points. These Sunday games are the real test. If things don't improve dramaticaly, i'd relook into a venue with alcohol. If you watch the Portland home games, it's an event with beer and food.
The Reign have had the biggest improvement in attendance from last year and you're still not happy? No other team comes close to the improvement. Reign are at +24.3%/+485, WNY are 2nd best with a +3.5%/+104. And that includes weekday games (which alone are +89.6%/+1094, so not sure why you would try to dismiss them). And no other team that changed venue has seen an improvement in attendance. Boston is down 22.1% and KC is down 55.8%.
Yeah, I think I'm at the point where I'm going to accept as a myth that Seattle is a soccer city. Seattle is a men's soccer city. All these people clamoring for the crowds that supposedly supported the Sounders women forget that year was an anomaly. Maybe we have been wrong all along and Seattle is just like any other city, except Portland, where you have to work had for your attendance. I think the front office is doing that
Hey, don't take it as an attack. With a team that good, and with the Sounders drawing 38k, I'm hoping for even more improvement. Gotta aim high right? (I wouldn't count Wed. because it's hard to get out of work to go to a match, so it's not a true measure of interest.)
Don't give up hope yet. Your data points include two Wed. With all the weekend games coming up, things could improve.
Well I'm actually excited about the attendance numbers. My post was in response to people on this board and others that insist Seattle should be pulling more than they are just because they are in the northwest.
There you go 4,018. Larger than any other number on the chart. And they should not be satisfied until they hit 6,000 and open more seats.
Do not conflate the success the Sounders have had with the Reign's attendance. That is one of the reasons the Reign are in the hole they are in. Predmore thought that all he had to do was have a soccer team and people would show up. He's since discovered that he actually needs to work at building a fan base.
While 2012 was an anomaly, the Sounders women have had decent support in the past. Here's their attendance history (as per Kenn's numbers): YearAverageRank 20017447 200214701 200328521 200433016 200520025 200651310 200746914 200840318 20095708 20105523 20115434 201243331 201310832 So 2002 and 2003 were really good as well. I don't know what happened in 2004... perhaps 2002 and 2003 were bumped up by doubleheaders with the Sounders men? (They were still under the same organization at the time). 2006-2011 were pretty consistent numbers, though, so I think that was more their expected turnout in 2012 without the NTers bump. For comparison though, here are the Pali Blue's numbers: YearAverageRank 200857613 200949511 201029915 201111123 201225117 201319019 And that's for a team that had lots of future NTers and won back to back W-League championships. So, I'd say the Sounders Women numbers were still pretty good all things considered.
NWSL site says that the match vs Chicago was seasonal record attendance for Seattle Reign FC so far, with 4.222.
Yup it was. That is also a franchise high, topping the previous high from the last home game. It is great to see attendance trending upward for each successive game. I've been on vacation the past few days and will be updating the chart soon. Another thing about the crowd during the Chicago match is that they were really vocal and the players appreciated that on twitter.
Seattle's attendance is up 55.5% over where it was at this point in time last season. That's a huge improvement! No other team comes even close to that. Seattle just needs to average 1198 for the remaining games to beat last season's attendance.
So biggest crowd in club history by far (+ 1.5K) an the team threw out a stinker. Let's hope those people weren't too disappointed. The players must have been impatient to get to their pride celebrations.