Arena Football breaks numerous attendance records

[Andy_B]

From the Arena Football League official site

The Arena Football League set a regular-season total attendance record with 1,827,623 fans attending games during the 2004 season. The figure is 25-percent higher than the previous regular-season record of 1,458,830 set in 2003.


TOP FIVE REGULAR-SEASON TOTAL ATTENDANCE SEASONS

SEASON ATTENDANCE
2004 1,827,623
2003 1,458,830
2001 1,217,673
2000 1,145,134
1996 1,132,821



The AFL averaged 12,024 fans per game in 2004, up six percent from 11,397 in 2003. It was the third consecutive average-attendance increase and marked an 31-percent increase since 2001 (9,155).

SEASON AVERAGE
2004 12,024
2003 11,397
2002 9,957
2001 9,155



Including total attendance, six AFL attendance records were set this season. The AFL reached one million fans faster than in any previous season (81 games vs. 88 in 2003) and Week 1 (128,175 total; 14,242 average) broke four AFL attendance records – highest Week 1 total, highest Week 1 average, highest total for any week, and highest average for any week.

[fidlerre]

if MLS gave away tickets as much as Arena Football did we'd break records every year.

[da_cfo]

if MLS gave away tickets as much as Arena Football did we'd break records every year.

Bingo.

Arena Football League papers its houses (just like WUSA did in year 1).

The San Jose Sabercats, owned by the Fry brothers (Fry's Electronics chain), gives away thousands of tickets to Fry's customers every week who spends $50 at Fry's.

In addition, the Sabercats sells thousands of end zone tickets for $5 each.

Granted, MLS does some giveaways and MLS has group sale deals with youth soccer organizations which net MLS clubs less than $5 per ticket.

[JayRockers!]

And they've been adding teams the past couple of years as well.

Thx,

Jay!

[kenntomasch]

After a contraction following the 2001 season, they went from 16 teams in 2003 to 19 this year, adding Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Austin.

2004 - 19 teams
2003 - 16 teams
2002 - 16 teams
2001 - 19 teams
2000 - 17 teams

[dcajedi]

The Soul made a huge impact on the attendance. I think they sold out or came close to selling out every game and because of Bon Jovi's involvement made quite a splash early on.

[BenchRobSmith]

Of course, much of the gain in average attendance came from moving the Buffalo Destroyers (2003 average attendance: 7622) to Columbus (2004 average attendance: 16,286).

That's not to say it's not a laudable accomplishment, but the increase in attendance league-wide isn't as impressive as they'd have you believe.

Oh, and I'm not really aware of any "papering" going on here in Columbus. The Destroyers sold a ton of season tickets - the final season ticket count was over 10,000.

[fidlerre]

Of course, much of the gain in average attendance came from moving the Buffalo Destroyers (2003 average attendance: 7622) to Columbus (2004 average attendance: 16,286).

That's not to say it's not a laudable accomplishment, but the increase in attendance league-wide isn't as impressive as they'd have you believe.

Oh, and I'm not really aware of any "papering" going on here in Columbus. The Destroyers sold a ton of season tickets - the final season ticket count was over 10,000.
they did get a great season-ticket drive and sold lots...but they have also been giving away a lot of tickets. as a bluejackets season ticket holder i was sent 4 tickets in the mail to 4 different games for free from my season ticket rep. so there is 16 tickets that were given away and never used...and if i got them, i am sure many other season ticket holders were given tickets as well.