MLS Not the Only League with Poor Playoff Attendance

[nancyb]

Cry me a river of tears, Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Capitals is complaining about poor attendance and scheduling problems at the facility.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64569-2003Apr20.html

[Justin O]

Someone needs to figure out some kind of average post-season attendance to team payroll ratio for the Capitals and DC United! It might make DC United fans feel pretty good about where they are!

[nancyb]

Playoffs and DC United. That sounds good to me.

[kenntomasch]

I'm sure the Caps will have an easier time with scheduling in the second round.

Oh, wait...

http://www.laughinghyena.net/LogoServer/hockey/TampaBayLightning1.GIF

GO BOLTS!

[Lanky134]

I was at all three games, so I'm absolved from Ted's wrath (well, except for my 0-4 lifetime record in Caps playoff games). But you can't schedule a game on Easter Sunday at 3:00 in the afternoon and expect a sellout, game 6 or not. We were screwed out of Thursday because of the Capital Classic high school basketball game, which forced us to play on consecutive days (thus making it difficult to rebound from the difficult loss on Tuesday night).

This isn't the first time that the Caps were screwed because of scheduling problems. Two years ago we had home ice advantage against Pittsburgh, but were forced to give it up because Pittsburgh's arena had some Latin dance exhibition planned for nights on which the Penguins games were scheduled. The exhibitions, by the way, barely drew any people to the arena and one of the days might even have been cancelled.

It must be noted that I am not, in any way, using these as excuses as to why the Caps lost. But I can see why Ted is upset.

[monster]

Originally posted by Lanky134
It must be noted that I am not, in any way, using these as excuses as to why the Caps lost. But I can see why Ted is upset.

But the connection is just what the AEG and MLS people keep harping on - control of facility. You don't usually see it rear its ugly head in the NHL and NBA, but when it does, it's a bitch.

The advantage MLS has is building these mid-sized facilities that they control where the corrolating band competitions and high school championships can play, but not rule the day.

[Lanky134]

Originally posted by monster
But the connection is just what the AEG and MLS people keep harping on - control of facility. You don't usually see it rear its ugly head in the NHL and NBA, but when it does, it's a bitch.

Control of facility is essential not only for scheduling, but for the revenue necessary to put a winning team on the field (though it doesn't seem to be helping the Washington Wizards much). Yeah, it would've been nice to have had a big crowd on Sunday, but what I was getting at with my disclaimer last paragraph was that I don't think it would've helped. There were big, loud crowds there Tuesday and Wednesday night and it didn't give the Caps a win. On-ice leadership from the blueline, winning face-offs, and accurate shooting are far more important to creating a winning hockey team than when the games are scheduled or how many people show up.

But this isn't the place to discuss that.

[Dr. Wankler]

Originally posted by Lanky134
Two years ago we had home ice advantage against Pittsburgh, but were forced to give it up because Pittsburgh's arena had some Latin dance exhibition planned for nights on which the Penguins games were scheduled. The exhibitions, by the way, barely drew any people to the arena and one of the days might even have been cancelled

Latin dance in Pittsburgh? Boy, that's a marketing nightmare.

[_chachi]

the metros had a larger crowd than the nets on saturday.

[neilgrossman]

Originally posted by Dr. Wankler
Latin dance in Pittsburgh? Boy, that's a marketing nightmare.

The hockey team isn't great at making money either.

[kenntomasch]

Hockey-Specific Stadia are obviously the key to the whole deal.

[AndyMead]

Originally posted by monster
The advantage MLS has is building these mid-sized facilities that they control where the corrolating band competitions and high school championships can play, but not rule the day.

Except that control of the facility doesn't necessarily help in playoff situations - especially when you book in advance.

We needn't look any further than last fall's US Open Cup final in Columbus. It was played on a Thursday night because CCS was rented out for the weekend.

Whoever books CCS obviously decided that it was better to take the money from a guaranteed booking, rather than wait to see if A) The Crew advanced, B) when the game was planned to be played, and C) if USSF would then award the game to the Crew.

It's like the Tennis match running into the MLS game on espn2 last Saturday. Most women's matches are only two sets and are rather predictable time-wise. If the Capriati/Davenport match had been over in two sets, the MLS game would've been seen in its entirety. The third set overlap is the lesser of two broadcast evils. If the tennis had been blocked at an extra half hour, espn2 would've had 1/2 an hour of dead time to fill on a Saturday afternoon - and program schedulers don't get career advancement for that sort of thing.

[kenntomasch]

My math is not all that good, but it looks to me as if in that most recent tennis tournament at Amelia Island, 23 matches went 2 sets and 23 matches went 3 sets. Whether that holds up all the time, I don't know, those stats aren't readily available. But it makes sense to me that a match could easily go three sets, especially as you get later in the tournament when the players are (ostensibly) more evenly matched.

[Casper]

Originally posted by AndyMead


It's like the Tennis match running into the MLS game on espn2 last Saturday. Most women's matches are only two sets and are rather predictable time-wise. If the Capriati/Davenport match had been over in two sets, the MLS game would've been seen in its entirety. The third set overlap is the lesser of two broadcast evils. If the tennis had been blocked at an extra half hour, espn2 would've had 1/2 an hour of dead time to fill on a Saturday afternoon - and program schedulers don't get career advancement for that sort of thing.

There was plenty of time for a three-set match - but not a three-setter that started half an hour late because of the match before IT. If Davenport-Capriati had started on time, we barely would have missed kickoff.

[monster]

Originally posted by AndyMead
Except that control of the facility doesn't necessarily help in playoff situations - especially when you book in advance.

We needn't look any further than last fall's US Open Cup final in Columbus. It was played on a Thursday night because CCS was rented out for the weekend.

Whoever books CCS obviously decided that it was better to take the money from a guaranteed booking, rather than wait to see if A) The Crew advanced, B) when the game was planned to be played, and C) if USSF would then award the game to the Crew.

It's like the Tennis match running into the MLS game on espn2 last Saturday. Most women's matches are only two sets and are rather predictable time-wise. If the Capriati/Davenport match had been over in two sets, the MLS game would've been seen in its entirety. The third set overlap is the lesser of two broadcast evils. If the tennis had been blocked at an extra half hour, espn2 would've had 1/2 an hour of dead time to fill on a Saturday afternoon - and program schedulers don't get career advancement for that sort of thing.

I forgot about that CCS stuation. So maybe I should have said "try to control" the facility because - just like anything else - people are involved.

Like the TV situation, this will never be perfect. And like the TV situation, far too many fans will scream that someone is out to get the sport when in reality, the majority of problems fall into the area of "sh!t happens."

Playoff attendence is a tough one in any sport because of the last-second planning often involved. Having your own "house" only minimizes the potential problems.