With the Portland Thorns finally hosting a playoff game, I'm tempted to bump a thread from the past, Portland Is the Story [edit: I bumped it]
Has anyone been keeping detailed attendance analysis of their own this year? I fell off that wagon about a season and a half ago... The official NWSL site's stats clearly list this year's total and mean, but I'm wondering about the median.
All the info is out there, so it shouldn't be too hard if someone wanted to organize it now. What interests me is how the attendance changed league-wide without including Orlando. Orlando obviously helped, but it's important to see how the league is improving even without jump-starts like that.
Year-over-year comparisons per team are always listed in any Equalizer article about attendance. Short story: most teams have improved noticeably, exceptions being NJ, DC, and HOU. (Technically speaking CHI dropped significantly too, but that was because they didn't have a double-header this year; taking that into account, they're basically even.) NJ and DC might be noise, since the change is only 200 and 300, respectively.
DC's drop doesn't worry me in the least. They were affected by weather, including one game (didn't they?) they had to reschedule to a Sunday morning. And they're close to capacity some games which puts a cap on how many people can attend. One of the interesting things I noticed when I bumped the "Portland is the Story" thread is how guarded the optimism was regarding the opening day attendance of 16K back in 2013. It seemed like most of us were hoping they could at least continue drawing 10K per game. As it turned out they drew 13K the first year. And of course this year they almost hit 17K per game.
Ask and you shall receive. Knock and the door shall be opened to you. http://www.kenn.com/the_blog/?p=8265
Sad thing is that a potential playoff game isn't even included in the various season ticket packages. I would've loved to have used one of my remaining flex pack tickets, but nope, having a season package only lets you buy the playoff tickets two or three days before the rest of the public.
Hopefully Orlando has a stronger team next season. Winning + a shiny, more appropriately-sized stadium could bring a nice attendance bump.
Didn't they announce Orlando in October last year? A full offseason (starting already) should make a differnce, too.
There's a conference call going on right now; RE finals attendance, it sounds like they're not willing to give a specific number for current ticket sales, but it's enough that they want to open the upper bowl at BBVA. Given that, I'd guess they're in the 4,500-5,500 range at the moment. More than the SF at the 'plex.
I don't remember when they announced, but IIRC they started playing a year ahead of schedule because Morgan wanted out of Portland. I agree that having the full year will help. Hopefully the season ticket baseline gets a bump from that, too.
I didn't hear it that way. What's more likely is that Portland offered them Morgan if they would come in.
That goes against everything that Orlando's president has said regarding the Pride coming in this year.
Why would they have done that? What did Portland gain by any expansion team coming into the league? Morgan's husband was already in Orlando by that point, wasn't he? Don't remember. But I am not seeing why it benefitted Portland to have Orlando come in for 2016 rather than 2017.
It gave them a way to ship Morgan and get a good return and get an economically strong new team into the league. And, get additional evidence that the league's long term financial success depends on having more MLS affiliated teams. Portland did not need Morgan for attendance, as this year's attendance shows. What I've heard, from a good source, is that there were reasons to ship Morgan elsewhere, and the reasons didn't have to do with what she wanted. She may have wanted to go to Orlando, but I don't think that was why the transaction occurred.
Cpthomas mentioned the economic side. Portland makes money right now. The only way Portland doesn't make money is if the league as a whole has trouble. So Portland (with self interest in mind) is doing everything they can to make the whole league stronger. Getting Orlando in was a big step to making the league as a whole stronger. This all on top of the Morgan items mentioned above naturally.
I don't have any connections/sources other than what I read and hear. "According to sources with knowledge of the deal, Portland would not have agreed to trade Morgan unless she had made her request for personal reasons." "Sources tell The Equalizer that the ability to acquire Morgan was a factor in Orlando’s decision to enter the NWSL in 2016 and not wait until 2017." On the other hand, Houston was announced in 12/2013 and started play in 2014. That's even less time than Orlando had. So fast starts aren't without precedent. Obviously Portland made out like a bandit on the deal. The Thorns were better after the Morgan trade and attendance went up. The league gained another financially strong team. Morgan gets to be with her husband. Everyone wins.
Paulsen will make even more deals to get more MLS clubs on board in the NWSL Why they are not expanding in 2017, want be because of him. Orlando is an example that the sooner the better, as far as he is concerned.
I think in terms of expansion, no one is ready to enter in 2017. We'll have Los Angeles & someone else(Salt Lake City likely) enter in 2018. Then two more in 2020.
For comparison, the WNBA final (game 5 of the Championship series) drew 19,000+. In general, it looked like the WNBA playoffs averaged 9000 to 12,000. The TV ratings I saw for the Championship series seemed to average around 500,000 (!). By comparison, the NWSL final drew 180,000 viewers. I think it's interesting because it shows the NWSL has a ways to go before catching the WNBA in popularity. Also because the WNBA is still commonly perceived as a failing league, one which requires perpetual life support from the NBA. I think that perception may be a bit inaccurate. For instance, the cable TV viewership of 500,000 is pretty solid,
Obviously a different set of circumstances and culture, but interesting to look at: Manchester City are the first women's club in Britain to average crowds of more than 2,000 over a season.More: https://t.co/AFSyMb1CpK pic.twitter.com/Pj4YWrsHwp— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) November 7, 2016