I will say, Boston seems like it has its front office's shit together. As I got myself a field seat for Boston, I did have to order it over the phone. Yesterday, less than 24 hours after the game, I got an e-mail from an account executive (may or may not have been the one I spoke to over the phone) who apologized that they weren't able to introduce themselves to me at the game, asked how my experience was, and of course the sales pitch of reaching out to them if I need anything the rest of the season. I do hope Abby Smith is able to make a full recovery and come back strong next year as this team hopefully starts to come together.
Went to most of the D3 William Smith invitational women’s soccer tournament this weekend in Geneva, NY. [#4William Smith; #20 Puget Sound; #24 Oneonta; #Rec. Votes Denison] Spoke to just a few of the parents and asked about going to NWSL games; FWIW A Chicago Dad of a Denison, OH defender said yes they’ve been to Red Stars (and Fire) games and commented that Benedictine was a little out of the way and liked that they are in Toyota Park now. A Walpole, MA Dad of a William Smith attacker said yes they’ve been to Breakers games (and Revolution games). A Seattle Dad of a Puget Sound player said yes they’ve been to Reign games, and liked them. (didn’t mention Sounders). .....also, I have seen contingents of William Smith players at Flash Games from time to time. William Smith in Geneva is just over an hour away from Rhinos Stadium.
In Portland: Attendance of 17,152 & it sounds like next Sunday's Thorns vs. WNY game will be a sell out. Amazing. #BAONPDX #NWSL https://t.co/TthrX84evS— Jamie Goldberg (@Jamiebgoldberg) September 5, 2016
Reliable source tweets that Sunday's Thorns v Flash game is a sellout. If so, attendance will be 21,144.
#NWSL week 17.5 attendance (all midweek games):PORvHOU 13752WASvSEA 3039CHIvFCKC 2068SBFCvORL 2055BOSvWNY 1435Avg 4469— Steph Yang | Horrible Soccer Goose (@thrace) September 8, 2016
They didn't do it for attendance. They did it to squeeze a 20-week season around a 3-week Olympics break. Every 4 years we'll get one bad weeknight.
Every 4 years will likely get more than 1. But I hear ya. I'm just wondering if they might've been better served by putting it on a weekday night in the summer when schools out.
Even if Houston comes up short on attendance at the final, at least we'll know overall playoff attendance should be great with POR and WSH hosting the semis.
#NWSL week 18 attendance:PORvWNY 21144ORLvSBFC 6788HOUvBOS 6107SEAvWAS 4574FCKCvCHI 2303Average: 8183— Steph Yang | Horrible Soccer Goose (@thrace) September 12, 2016
Correction on the Reign attendance: Tonight's attendance is 4,711. Thank you Reign FC fans! #SEAvWAS— Seattle Reign FC (@reignfc) September 12, 2016
I put this on Equalizer in a comment thread; might as well put it here , too - Here's a quick list of the teams/cities with their population (of the metropolitan area defined by the US government) and the average attendance as a percentage of it, expressed as a fraction of 1%*: Chicago 9.5M -- .03 Houston 5.9M -- .10 Washington DC 5.6M -- .07 Boston 4.6M -- .08 Seattle 3.4M -- .13 Portland 2.2M -- .70 Orlando 2.1M -- .42 KC 2M -- .16 WNY/Rochester 1.1M -- .36 Sky Blue n/a My general hypothesis is the bigger the population, the lower the attendance is as a percentage of the population
You really have to consider the distance these stadiums are from the populations you are listing. The Spirit play quite a ways away from DC. Not to say your hypothesis is necessarily true or false, just that you really need to take this distance into account.
I am not sure what all the stadiums are like around the league - KC plays in a very small venue...probably holds less than 4,000 (I'm pretty sure sellouts are in the 3,000+ range). They play 1 or 2 times per year at Sporting KC Park as well (although I think once this year - we went to that one and they seemed to have solid attendance there).
Chicago, Houston, Orlando, Portland, and WNY all share a stadium with the local men's outdoor team, so in theory can hold 15k+. Seattle's Memorial Stadium can hold 12k though they usually only open around 7k (Houston similarly usually only opens around 7k). Washington's Soccerplex has a seating capacity under 4k but has often had over 5k at games thanks to ample non-seated space. Boston and Sky Blue are at local college soccer stadiums, also seating under 4k (Boston this season has regularly had well over 3k, while Sky Blue always seems to struggle).
good point, of course. In particular I was wondering whether it's a fair basis for Washington Spirit and I'm not even sure what (if any) Metropolitan Statistical Area Germantown is part of. Also of course the stadium capacity has to be considered when there are sellouts or near-sellouts.
The entirety of Montgomery Country is included in the Washington MSA, so Germantown falls into it. (As, surprisingly, do Frederick County to Montgomery's NW, and even Jefferson County all the way in West Virginia!)
TONIGHT'S ATTENDANCE: 4,027Thank you, fans, for closing out our 2016 season with a sellout!#BOSvWNY— Boston Breakers (@BostonBreakers) September 25, 2016
Provided by STATS LLC and NWSL -Sunday, September 25, 2016 https://ussoccer.app.box.com/s/p58bqdab8s07o5oy9yr17zveesoghqd5 GP 100 Total 555,775 Avg. 5,558