that is from 2012 and it seems off from the numbers given by the GMs in the SportsBuisness article that FootieBusiness quoted. I am going to go with the 10K number for RSL that was in that SBJ article from 2013 that FootieBuisness tweeted since they were spot on with the other numbers.
CONFIRMED:Seattle Sounders FC ---------- 32,000 (2013)Sporting Kansas City -------- ~16,000 (2013)Portland Timbers FC ---------- 15,250(2013)Toronto FC -------------------- 14,400 (2013)Vancouver Whitecaps FC ----- 13,000(2013)Philadelphia Union -- 12,000-13,000 (2011)Houston Dynamo ------------- 12,000 (2013)Los Angeles Galaxy ------------- 8,500(2013)Montreal Impact --------------- 7,500 (2013)Real Salt Lake ----------------- 10,000 (2013)Red Bull New York ----------- ~7,000 (2012)Chicago Fire -------------------- 6,000 (2012)Columbus Crew ---------------- 5,000 (2012)New England Revolution ---- ~4,500 (2013)Colorado Rapids ---------------- 4,175 (2013)San Jose Earthquakes --------- 4,000 (2012)Chivas USA -------------------- 2,500 (2013)UNCONFIRMED:DC United --------------------- 5,500 (2013)MISSING:FC Dallas
some speculation by a local writer about the crew. nothing official enough to replace the number we have: http://www.dispatch.com/content/sto...-to-be-far-short-of-10000-season-tickets.html
Official Update! Exciting "We slightly exceeded our revenue in 2012 with a little over 8000 subscriptions. This is the sector that we must continue to develop, admits Legendre. We also see that there is an appetite for mini-season packages, more and more people want a taste of Saputo Stadium. " http://www.lapresse.ca/sports/socce...nterne=cyberpresse_B9_sports_257_accueil_POS1
CONFIRMED:Seattle Sounders FC ---------- 32,000 (2013)Sporting Kansas City -------- ~16,000 (2013)Portland Timbers FC ---------- 15,250(2013)Toronto FC -------------------- 14,400 (2013)Vancouver Whitecaps FC ----- 13,000(2013)Philadelphia Union -- 12,000-13,000 (2011)Houston Dynamo ------------- 12,000 (2013)Real Salt Lake ----------------- 10,000 (2013)Los Angeles Galaxy ------------- 8,500(2013)Montreal Impact --------------- 8,000 (2013)Red Bull New York ----------- ~7,000(2012)Chicago Fire -------------------- 6,000 (2012)Columbus Crew ---------------- 5,000 (2012)New England Revolution ---- ~4,500 (2013)Colorado Rapids ---------------- 4,175 (2013)San Jose Earthquakes --------- 4,000 (2012)Chivas USA -------------------- 2,500 (2013)UNCONFIRMED:DC United --------------------- 5,500 (2013)MISSING:FC Dallas
I would think in light of the Bob Hunter article the Crew's number could change a little. They have confirmed its 30% higher than the last report 5k number.
Comments mine. So seven teams are in really good shape. Another eight are either doing ok but can improve or need to continue to make progress. And four are struggling to awful. We've come a long way, but still a ways to go.
I don't know if you've had this discussion at some point, but speaking generally, in terms of various leagues and sports, what percentage of the stadium to teams ideally want to have season tickets for? The Impact have said their target is 10,000, so ~50% (probably based on realistic expectations rather than ideal levels) Portland could obviously sell every ticket for the season if they wanted to, but have held at ~75% Seattle looks to be about ~80% The habs have sold out every home game for years and have a 10 year waiting list that cost $200 just to wait in line for. They've also held stready at about ~75% Is that a common target worldwide?
While I don't disagree that there is a way to go, those numbers need to evaluated in terms of the money generated by sales. LAG may only have 6,500 season tickets sold, but at the prices they charge that may generate a gross revenue number in excess of some of the teams that have larger numerical bases. And, over time, gate revenue figures to become a smaller percentage of the team's revenue given the growth of sponsorship revenues and broadcast revenues - see LAG's deal with Time Warner for example. The number of season tickets sold is interesting and informative, but can't be viewed in isolation to evaluate whether a team is or is not "in really good shape."
Uhm.... thanks for raising the question, because looking back at it, I take my "if true" line about Colorado away. I actually think that is about right. If I could edit that post, I'd take that tag off of that comment. As for Columbus and NE, same reason why I would doubt a number from Dallas - too many games where there is such a significant gap between announced and in-stadium attendance, as well as other games that don't indicate a strong season ticket base. Also, significant overall fluctuation between high, medium and low numbers. A stronger season ticket base levels that out. And fwiw, I would order them Colorado/Dallas/Columbus/gap/NE in terms of where I think they really are. The first three have had more than one or two really strong games (17,000+) a year and have gotten away from the sub-12,000 games for most matches, but it still happens and there are often games where the announced and in-stadium attendance is more than just a little off, even factoring in the usual practice of most sports teams and announcing tickets out rather than butts in seats. New England is bad, although not Chivas awful - surely you're not asking why I question NE claiming 4,500. If you are, go back and look at most of their games. Obviously, they have shown the ability to get to a full house, so the capacity is there. But they haven't been as consistent as RSL. And from what I've seen, Columbus, Dallas and Colorado have had similar attendance numbers over recent years, so I think they are more likely in the same neighborhood. But at the end of the day, this is a bigger point - teams below 8,000 season tickets that aren't otherwise selling another 10,000+ on top of it have work to do, wherever they actually are. And in LA and NY's cases, they need to be closer to 10,000 to 12,000.
Sporting KC has actually allocated 14,000 seats for full season tickets, and has sold them all for 2013.
CONFIRMED:Seattle Sounders FC ---------- 32,000 (2013)Portland Timbers FC ---------- 15,250(2013)Toronto FC -------------------- 14,400 (2013)Sporting Kansas City ---------- 14,000(2013)Vancouver Whitecaps FC ----- 13,000(2013)Philadelphia Union -- 12,000-13,000 (2011)Houston Dynamo ------------- 12,000 (2013)Real Salt Lake ----------------- 10,000 (2013)Los Angeles Galaxy ------------- 8,500(2013)Montreal Impact --------------- 8,000 (2013)Red Bull New York ----------- ~7,000(2012)Chicago Fire -------------------- 6,000 (2012)Columbus Crew ---------------- 5,000 (2012)New England Revolution ---- ~4,500 (2013)Colorado Rapids ---------------- 4,175 (2013)San Jose Earthquakes --------- 4,000 (2012)Chivas USA -------------------- 2,500 (2013)UNCONFIRMED:DC United --------------------- 5,500 (2013)MISSING:FC Dallas
it was just a bad number from using less than 100% reliable sources. the previous link to the 16K number was an article saying they'd sold out their cap ... but not listing the cap ... somebody else said they'd seen on twitter the cap was going to be 16k ... it was just poor sourcing is all but it is fixed now.
I guess my question is - do any of these numbers include season ticket equivalents? Like two half-seasons = one full season?
my understanding is that is standard for talking about and discussing ST numbers .... they count both full season tickets and equivalents. that is just my general understanding about how this things are talked about in both soccer and sports business, unless somebody has proof to the contrary i think that is the safest assumption.
That's 14k full season tickets. The also sell partial plans, and most teams report FSE or Full Season Equivalents as their total season ticket number. Whether it's 16k or not, I don't know.
I would guess that San Jose is somewhat above 4,000. Back in the fall they said 2013 season ticket sales had surpassed the 2012 totals. Those wanting seats in the new stadium purchased season tickets for this year to get a higher priority.