Pre/In/Post-game: Tampa Bay Rowdies vs FC Edmonton 4/14 7:30pm EST

Just win.

 

Come on Rowdies fans,lets pack Al Lang Stadium saturday night and watch our boys beat FC Edmonton.

Tell all your soccer friends about our home opener this saturday night.

 

and the tailgate party http://www.facebook.com/events/232855696790506/

over 100 rsvp'd so far on facebook alone, which means the actual will be far higher. We had food prepared for 300 people at last years playoff game tailgate and every bite of it was gone well before we marched into the stadium.

 

Come on soccer fan's,lets shoot for selling out Al Lang Stadium. Tell all your friends who play and follow the sport about our home opener this saturday night.

 

Here's an ad that will appear on the tbt* newspaper this week promoting this Saturday's Home Opener!

 

Cool. Thanks for posting.

 

I don't think we sell out this game, but 3000-4000 would be a good showing. Of course I want to sell out this game, but I'm being a realist. Prove me wrong fellow Rowdies fans.

 

I don't know, I'd be disappointed if we don't beat last year's home opener numbers. We drew roughly 4k. I think we'll do something like 5k ish and it'll hopefully settle in around a 4k average. Will be happy with that and thrilled with anything more.

 

You're probably right Francis,I just believe that we should have the mindset to strive for a sellout. A crowd of 3-4K will be good.

 

I WON'T be satisified with a crowd of 3000-4000. We can do much better than that. Anything over 5000 would be awesome!

 

Wow. Satisfied with 3 or 4 thousand?

I will give this ownership credit for one thing. They seem to be able to avoid the embarrassing sub 2 thousand crowds, even for midweek games.

What they can't do? I have said it elsewhere on these boards. Both the Strikers and Rowdies seem unable to pull a 'big' crowd. Home opener, rivalry match, or the Independence Day matches should be twice what their normal crowd is of 3,500. The Rowdies SHOULD sell out Saturday's match. They SHOULD sell out the Independence Day match.

Minnesota had over 8,500 at their opener and they were last in attendance last year. If the Rowdies can't sell out their 7,000 seat stadium for their home opener, then that is unacceptable. Period.

Not being negative, just honest.

 

Tell all your Eurosnob friends about our home opener this saturday. You know the ones who follow an EPL or La Liga team on tv but can't be bothered to show up and support our local team.

Keep spreading the word about our home opener!

 

Also try to get the MLSsnobs

 

It is pessimistic, but you're not entirely wrong.

Will you be at the Home-Opener this Saturday?

 

Well, this is still minor league soccer so I really should have no expectations. I would love to see a sellout every night, but just like yourself I'm not being negative, just being honest too.

I agree with you that if the Rowdies don't/can't sell out their home opener it is bad, and it is unacceptable.

What does it have to take in Tampa Bay for people to show up at games? Winning? Free tickets? I've lived here for 15 years and the fans are so ambivalent with these sports teams. You even have teams that win and they still don't show up. So, I personally think its 2 things: (1): soccer is a fringe sport, (like hockey) in this area and (2): some of these fans down here just don't get it.

My boss raised an ever bigger question talking about the "casual fan" in this area: what would happen say in 20 years if there is no professional sports franchises in Tampa Bay? Interesting.

But back to the original subject, Tampa Bay-Ft. Lauderdale should sell out for every derby. I look at the 70s, and almost every Rowdies game was sold out. What happened? Was it the team? The sport? The fans?

 

You, like a lot of the people who didn't go through the original Rowdies need to be corrected. (Not a jab, just a public service)

No. The Rowdies did NOT come close to selling out every game. Their best average attendance was never higher than 30,000. They played in Tampa Stadium which had a capacity of 71,000 in all but their first year when it seated 46,000. So, no, the Rowdies did not sell out almost all their games.

Did they have good attendance? You bet. It was a sport that didn't have history at all in this area. The Rowdies invented youth soccer in this area. That is what got folks to the stadium. So did a winning and engaging team during an era that the Bucs were the only competition and they sucked.

This is a different era and a different ownership group. It is going to take a lot of money and hard work to make a dent in the market here. Lower ticket prices would help. A seven or eight dollar ticket would do wonders. Make it the same price as a movie. Get real, I can buy a ticket to the Lightning for the same price as a Rowdies ticket.

There is no real buzz in the community about this team. I have talked the team up during preseason the past two years to friends and family, but this year I wanted to see if anyone mentioned the team without my prompting. NOT A SOUL HAS MENTIONED THE 'HALLOWED' ROWDIES NAME THAT WAS SO IMPORANT TO GET. That is scary. I wouldn't have heard them mentioned on the radio either unless I knew in advance.

Sad. That said, I am trying my best to be there on Saturday night and bring someone with me that has never been to a game. Trying to sort out my schedule.

Go Rowdies.

 

I concur with everything you said in your post. Thanks for also clarifying.

I'm just tired of discussing the marketing/attendance woes for this club. This is a professional sports club, they certainly should have the resources to do all of the above that we are complaining/discussing on. Why hasnt it been done? This team has been around since 2008, and started playing since 2010. The FO has had plenty of time to work on marketing/attendence for this club.

It's put up or shut up time with the FO. Be proactive. If we don't, we fold. Plain and simple.

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70dWUUQSe50&feature=g-u-u&context=G2a3f643FUAAAAAAABAA"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70dWUUQSe50&feature=g-u-u&context=G2a3f643FUAAAAAAABAA[/ame]

New Rowdies Commercial

 

Nice. Now they need to play the heck out of it here locally.

 

Where did you read that the FO said "if they get anything over 3k it's a profit"? Bc if that's true I find it very interesting. Can you post the link/direct me to the article?

In regards to this I look at it logical perspective:

Iif you have more people coming to games, more money. More money, better players. Better players, more wins (possibly) More wins, more championships. And everything inbetween. That's for us as fans. We want an owner for our sports team to draft, recruit and pay players well. That all takes money.

Now imagine if you're an owner. Now it's about business. You have more patrons coming to games, you can afford all the amenities of a team, stadium, etc. With more people coming to games, more money. More money for you as an owner to get coaches, training staff, etc to get better players, more wins, more championships to help you get that new stadium that since you cant pay for, tax dollars would have too. So getting to my point; Patrons dont show up you could actually lose money. Unless you're wealthy. (rich and wealthy are 2 different things to me). Losing money is not a good business model.

Both sides of the coin. (including tangents)

 

The Rowdies need to get on Good Morning Tampa Bay on Channel 13. They were on there last year.

Bend it like Belcher.
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/good_day/charleys_world/bend-it-like-belcher-040611

 

1. Sold Tickets I assume.

2. I am sure it varies from each team because of travel, rent, etc.

3. I doubt any NASL team can make a profit with only 3K+ tickets sold (and no TV deals).

4. I can only think of 3