USAsoccer's *official* 2004 WNBA attendance thread

[tcmahoney]

It's one of those sure signs of summer -- the WNBA season has started, which means USASoccer will be coming by poring over his WNBA attendance stats.

All WNBA business and attendance talk for the 2004 season goes here. Enjoy.

[Andy_B]

Opening game attendance in PHOENIX was 10,493. Their largest crowd since 2001.

Andy

[dcajedi]

I will be at the Mystics-Sting game tomorrow, the first time I am going to a Mystics game. We could be pretty good this year with Holdsclaw and Beard.

[kenntomasch]

Bookmarking...she's so close now...this girl is half his age....

11,920 in Charlotte
8,002 in Indianapolis

Remember - comparison stats here (http://kenn.com/sports/basketball/wnba/index.html) (I need to add the 2003 data to the team numbers, though).

[dcajedi]

I was told that only upper-level tickets were available tonight and was put in the eight row on the corner to the left of and behind the team benches.

There were at most 2,000 people in the upper deck. The announced attendance was 18,232. Yeah right.

[kenntomasch]

You do know what "announced attendance" means, right?

[dcajedi]

You do know what "announced attendance" means, right?

Oh of course. I've been going to Capitals games all my life. :D

The Washington Post did a real interesting piece next year showing how badly the Wizards padded their attendance, even during the Jordan years. I suspect the Capitals are even worse.

[kenntomasch]

No, I mean you continually try to draw a relationship between the number of people in the building and the announced attendance figure. There's not supposed to be one.

It's supposed to reflect tickets sold, not tickets used. The Mystics may very well, in fact, inflate the number of tickets they ostensibly sell, or count giveaways in the total, but you cannot divine that by the number of people who are in the building. In this sport, or any other. Without the number that they're not going to give you, the actual number of tickets people paid for, you have no way of knowing how padded any announced attendance figure is. In any sport.

[tcmahoney]

Here's an interesting look at me Storm:

Storm eyes attendance opposite M's games (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2001936541_stormwatch23.html)

Now, I can go back and point out weekends where the Mariners had a home stand the same weekend that the Huskies and the Seahawks played, and all of them had full houses. So I'm rolling my eyes at this a little bit.

But the Huskies and Seahawks have the advantage of playing football, which is enshrined in our national culture. The Storm, and for that matter, the A-League Sounders, don't have that advantage.

How big a factor is that? Kenn?

[kenntomasch]

How big a factor is what? M's games on Storm games? Or the fact that football has a natural environmental advantage?

[Andy_B]

Kenn,

Heard anything for the overnights for the ABC game yet?

Andy

[kenntomasch]

Way too early, so, no. Their usual is around 1 for a final national rating. I would be surprised if this was much different when all was said and done.

[Andy_B]

Way too early, so, no

Why is it way too early for the overnights for a Saturday game? I thought the overnights for Saturday games were available on Monday's? Or am I confusing something here..

Andy

[nancyb]

The place where I work has a Recreation Committee, which purchases and resells tickets to games, plays, etc. I got an email from a member of the committee saying that the Mystics had a great deal for us for the opener - $10.00 for club level tickets. No minimum purchase required and interested parties could deal directly with the ticketing agent, not go through Rec. Committee members. I wonder how many other seats they sold like this?

[kenntomasch]

Why is it way too early for the overnights for a Saturday game? I thought the overnights for Saturday games were available on Monday's? Or am I confusing something here..

Andy

No, no, no, sorry. My bad. It's not too early for the overnights to exist. It's too early for me to have divined them. I don't have any more access to overnights than anyone else, they're catch as catch can. I just happen to be the one who collects all the information and stores it as it comes across. :)

[dcajedi]

The place where I work has a Recreation Committee, which purchases and resells tickets to games, plays, etc. I got an email from a member of the committee saying that the Mystics had a great deal for us for the opener - $10.00 for club level tickets. No minimum purchase required and interested parties could deal directly with the ticketing agent, not go through Rec. Committee members. I wonder how many other seats they sold like this?

Based on the people disguised as empty seats on Saturday, I'd say a lot.

[kenntomasch]

I think that phrase was first used in 1960 or 1961 in a story about the New York Titans at the Polo Grounds when they announced some wildly inflated number.

In other words, it's over 40 and well past its sell-by date.

[numerista]

... past its sell-by date.

... an expression that's apparently over 30 years old itself.

http://www.richmond.com/output.cfm?ID=3863

[kenntomasch]

Good to see the irony wasn't lost on you.

[USAsoccer]

It's one of those sure signs of summer -- the WNBA season has started, which means USASoccer will be coming by poring over his WNBA attendance stats.

All WNBA business and attendance talk for the 2004 season goes here. Enjoy.

Tchmahoney! My thanks to you...who would ever have thought those many years back that this would become the annual rite of summer!

:D

Well, I have to admit that I was scared to start this thread, partially because I thought I might get yelled at for posting it here, but I must admit that it is fun to be back on my favorite part of the boards (Business and media).

Just for the record, I don't want anyone to think that I am this huge WNBA fan. It was only that the league sort of caught my attention, and I started doing comparisons from year to year, and well, the thing took on a life of their own.

Of course, nothing I will ever do can compare to Kenn's excellent website, but in the spirit of the thread, I do have these tibbits to offer!

First, here is a break down of yearly attendance:

1997 9,662
1998 10,864
1999 10,189
2000 9,072
2001 9,075
2002 9,344
2003 8,826

Pretty stagnant!

Now, the league is going to be taking a month off for the Olympics. This hits them during a period of time when they usually draw their best crowds. Furthermore, the GOP convention in New York is impacting on the Liberty, who will have to play at Radio City for about a month.

Since New York is one of the top draws, it could have a big impact on the WNBA overall attendance.

There is this article concerning the WNBA TV coverage (the WNBA is going international!)

http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2004/05/24/daily26.html

Also, I leave you with this:

Last season (the lowest average attendance in league history); only one team drew under 9000 for their home opener, Detroit at 8435. There have already been three under that this year (Indiana at 8002, Houston at 7146, and Seattle at 6624) with three to go, two of which averaged fewer than 8k for the season last year. Only three teams drew more on opening day this year than last year (Phoenix +1190, Washington +99, Charlotte +10) while five were down more than 1000 (New York -1688, Houston -2512, Seattle -3064, San Antonio -5087, Indiana -10343).