I meant the next home MLS match on 6/23. The weather is likely to be good. There will be other things going on that weekend. Maybe the Clippers are playing. Is that Comfest weekend? But there's no reason the Crew shouldn't get a decent crowd, bigger than this past Saturday.
I gave two reasons within my leading question. I would imagine those two reasonably impactful facts can be considered more of reasons than some people stayed away on a Saturday due to Pride Night (your reason given). Do not mind me as I go out on a rather short limb.
My son's club team won the ODU Turf Challenge to start the season and got a buy 1 get 1 free ticket deal from the Crew along with the medal for the 6/29 game. They won the Warrior Classic 2 weeks ago and got the same offer. So, the FO is out there talking with these tournaments trying to generate some traffic. Hopeful for a couple of nice turn outs for the next 2 games.
That’s whack when my kids won tournaments we got free tickets in upper deck . You can’t beat free, but it was all marketing because the tournament offset the price in tournament fees.
Some promotions will be more successful than others. I would have thought that the Crew's pride night would fall in pride week, later in the month. But maybe they were advised the gay community had other plans then. Anyway, why haven't we had an announcement of a dollar night? That's a promotion that draws reliably. Is there a "bring your pet night" this season? It seemed reasonably successful the last couple of times.
Does it worry anyone else that we are still giving out so many free tickets and attendance is as low as it is? I found it interesting on Counter Attack on SiriusXM FC today when they were doing the MLS whip around they mentioned Columbus's problems on the field, and in the stands. Now, I'm on record saying attendance doesn't matter, but really....it's gonna be this way with digs from the media until we get a new stadium.
I’m hoping there are a few splash summer signings, as has been hinted at, that can help get the team back into the local consciousness. Right now, the Crew just isn’t a priority to the Columbus sports fan. Other events, like the Memorial, Jackets, anything really, takes precedent. That’s what the FO needs to overcome. I am confident they will, but losing 8 of 10 doesn’t help.
I’m hoping there are a few splash summer signings, as has been hinted at, that can help get the team back into the local consciousness. Right now, the Crew just isn’t a priority to the Columbus sports fan. Other events, like the Memorial, Jackets, anything really, takes precedent. That’s what the FO needs to overcome. I am confident they will, but losing 8 of 10 doesn’t help.
Yes it does. But to be fair, we don’t know the propensity. My guess is there is a budget for this. One thing I’ll say about our crap numbers... they look like honest crap numbers. I still think we can change this paradigm before the stadium opens. I agree with Stanger’s points about what the FO has to overcome. Dr. Edwards and Bez should have a keen understanding of what this market requires to be successful.
It's tough to expect great attendance numbers when you lost 8 of the previous 9. It's tough when you've been away for a couple of weeks. It's tough when Tiger Woods and the Memorial are going on. It's tough when the front office is still battling uphill to make this team relevant after the last few years. It's tough when we're plagued by injuries. The German women just posted a video this week with three stars starting off with the question "Do you know my name?" as a promotion to the Women's World Cup. You could probably put a video like that together with guys like Santos, Mensah and Zardes and the average fan in Columbus would not recognize them. So, yes, until we give this new ownership group a year or two to make a dent, i won't be surprised by attendance figures like we had on Saturday.
I don’t think things will drastically change until the new stadium, simple as that. Everything is lame duck about the organization until then to be honest.
Well, the whole league is off during Pride Week this year, aren't they?? I think they got as close as they could.
Question for the room: How many years do you expect the New Stadium Bump In Attendance That We've All Been Praying For to last? One season? Two? Will it be a paradigm shift? Me? I think that the Stadium Bump lasts about 1.5 seasons. Columbus has proven to be a 15,000 people at a soccer game town. I don't think that a new building to play soccer in changes that.
I tend to agree with you. I've said in other posts in this thread that we are a after the new stadium bump we are a 15-16k on average team/city. I've also said there isn't anything wrong with that. I will add that I am unsure that any big signings this summer, next year will dramatically move the needle attendance wise for the team. Maybe by secondary nature of an improved on field product we will see an attendance bump for a winning team. But is there anyone on the Crew's radar that is automatically gonna bump up full season tickets by 1000? Or get more than several hundred people to check out a game or two over the summer. I don't think those players exist so much for MLS anymore. Not when you can watch any league in the world from the comfort of your home on any given weekend. Maybe a Zlatan or Carlos Vela was the last of that breed. But really looking down the line, Wesley Sniejder, Balotelli, Juan Mata, are any of those guys really moving the needle? I doubt it.
I'm not too worried about free or discounted tickets. Especially those that get offered to folks that are involved with the game at some level. The tickets in my situation were billed as "the kids won free tickets!" While the fine print offer was for 1 free youth ticket with purchase of $30 adult ticket. Fifteen dollar upper deck seats as a promo is not unreasonable to do from time to time and is likely a typical group rate. I would not be surprised if the new stadium bump lasts until a season of ineptitude makes folks take stock of why they go. The new place will totally change the game day experience. People can make a day of it downtown, use public transit, etc. It's up to ownership to pounce on the change/bump and keep it rolling. The Bluejackets managed 3 or 4 years of sellouts right? I think similar is doable.
Yeah, I'm not sure that Columbus, Ohio is a market where a big name on the team will drive attendance on it's own merits. Columbus is a frontrunning city - again, not that there's anything wrong with that - and unless that big name brings an LAFC-level of winning to our area code, the casuals will still decide that they'd rather go to whatever festival/concert/sporting event is also scheduled for that Saturday night and will "go to a Crew game some other time."
Currently our attendance average is at 12.9K. We have a terrible schedule with games in predictably crap weather. And I'll bet we still average 16K for the remaining home matches. If we finish this season close to 15K it will be a good recovery. There's nobody the team could sign who will move the needle publicity wise. But plenty of players out there who would help the team play better and move up the standings. We need a Pozuelo type attacking midfielder. And a keeper who is an upgrade from Kempin. If we got them in early July, we could still make the playoffs. The less ground we lose in 2019, the less we have to make up in 2020. I"m not sure the new stadium will bump attendance that much. It depends on the pricing. If it's more expensive than Mapfre, the team will be back to discounting heavily to get casuals to attend.
I do not understand why moving the stadium downtown will improve attendance! I have been a season ticket holder since 1996 and have never had a problem with attending games at OSU stadium or at the Fairgrounds!.If fans are going to suddenly go to Crew games because they are downtown it will shock me! From what I hear it will be more difficult to get into and out of the stadium area! The parking will be further away! The prices for tickets will be much higher! As a season ticket holder since the beginning I hope you are correct that everything will be wine and roses when we move downtown but as an old man who makes a three hour round trip just in driving time,I just don't see the big jump in going downtown! If you are a soccer fan but you can not find your way to the current stadium' going downtown isn't going to help!
I'm with you on most of what you said and believe that the new stadium is most definitely not designed for us. We're the die-hard live soccer junkies. We show up every week, sit in our seats and focus on the game for 90 minutes and go home. Sadly, there are only 10,000 of us. There may be a few more created over time, replacing those lost through attrition and maybe increasing our numbers if we're lucky. The new stadium does nothing for us and really isn't meant to. It's designed to attract the casual fan. There are half a million or more of those in central Ohio. Combine the 10k of us with .2% of them each week and we have sellouts. People go out on Saturday nights spend $100-$200 on entertainment. Maybe not every week, but many times a year. Having The Crew be that choice once or twice is all it takes. Just shy of no one does that now. A new bright shiny stadium with transit, other things to do before and after, wifi, etc. makes that a possibility. From there it can become a way to increase the numbers of us die-hards. That's my hope at least.
I'm just quoting this for emphasis. I may not be a believer that the new stadium will mark a sea change in Columbus Crew SC's attendance pattern, but everything you said above are all of the reason to build a new stadium.
This certainly isn't my world, but a downtown stadium simply has to be a vastly improved experience for business customers who'll be buying suites. You want to impress out of town guests? Potential clients? Well, getting stuck in traffic out at the state fair grounds then spending two hours in a budget sports facility isn't really going to do the trick. A shiny $200M stadium in the Arena District, on the other hand, with happy hours drinks beforehand, in the core of a thriving metro area...
I think this is the crux of the discussion. And frankly, it's also why you hear all of the "the attendance doesn't matter" talk. It's a key reason that Tony F*ckFace wanted to move. He couldn't get any support from Columbus businesses. What company is going to pay money to buy some seats to impress clients and potential clients only to have them sitting in the hot sun next to my fat ass in Premier East? And then when the hour long weather delay happens they have to go stand under the metal bleachers while water drips on them? CCS was a wonderful moment in soccer in the US history, but it's time has come and gone. I will miss the place dearly. But you know who won't? My neighbor who goes when his season ticket buddy needs a last minute sub for the game. Those that mentioned the casuals are hitting it on the head. We also know from various STC themed research articles that the new stadium bump, or the new team bump only last a few years before the shiny wears off the new toy. The FO better be prepared to combat that. We will finish this season sub 16,000 average attendance, which as others have said, is disappointing. Not even "mildly disappointing", but straight disappointing. I, like many others, severely underestimated the amount of damage inflicted in the 18 months from 10/17 - 02/19.