It wasn't THAT empty. Well outside of TRE anyways. The rest of the stadium filled in quite a bit after kickoff. For being "empty" there sure were a ton of people funneling out to Lot A 10 minutes after the game had ended
When we can read "UNION" clear as day on the seats during the TV broadcast, I would say it certainly is that empty
I feel like it's different now, especially with the protests. In the Sak protest, people were mad. But now people just don't care. Bigsoccer feels empty these days, and reddit is busier, but there isn't much anger over there, just a lot of apathy. This is also the first year that it really seems like renewals are going to be way down. It's bad that nothing excites me about this team next year, but watching the team get what it deserves seems most fun.
But as long as the franchise valuation keeps rising with MLS's tide, these number don't really matter to Sugarman? That is, they aren't any kind of incentive for him to make changes, just kind of embarrassing for us? Do I have that right?
Yeah, I don’t think it means much, but it does drive home the point of how much Sugarman and company has been driving this team into the ground year after year... no reason to think 2018 won’t continue the decline. We were 19th out of 22 in attendance this season... we beat out Columbus, Colorado and Dallas, not great company.
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports...-television-radio-septa-transit-20171121.html Very surprised that they let that number out. With this year's average of 16,812 sold, that puts the actual butts-in-seats average around 13,750. I know they are glad that it's "not too different," but that's not a good sign when fewer people are buying and the same % aren't showing.
We'll never get the numbers but it would be interesting to see the difference in concession and merch sales year to year. That's where they're losing money on empty sold seats.
And also an apathetic fan base. I haven't bought Union merch in probably three, going on four years. I just don't find a reason to anymore. None of the players really interest me enough to buy a jersey, plus they'll likely be gone in a season or two. I don't need more scarfs and its not like they're doing anything exciting that I might show up and drop some money on a novelty item for a special game or something.
This. Show me you care about my fan experience by putting a team on the field that does more than tread water and I will reciprocate. That's swell that you doubled the size of the staff in your ticket office, but maybe if you tried spending on scouting and better players, the tickets would sell themselves.
I spent less than $100 in stadium this year. Usually only bought water on hot days. I really don’t understand the rationale behind cheaping out. Any dollar spent on DPs we want to see and who help us win more games comes back in sales. Playoff tickets add at least another million in revenue as well.
If you really want to get that number down to $0, there are water fountains along the conncours and they usually let me bring empty water bottles in through security.
Honestly I think the most frustrating part for the 20 of us here in the nexus is we see how high the ceiling of this team could be.... the Philly market is being totally squandered by this ownership.
I completely disagree with this. The stadium location was not an issue when this was new and shiny. It’s an easy excuse now when the team sucks and the organization isn’t competitive with others. I don’t think we’d be packing them in in Fishtown either.
You can get free bottles of water or soda by scribbling your name (or pseudonym) on the Designated Driver list at Guest Services. Refill at halftime. Save $10/game which is $180 per season.
Did you/they think this feeling would last forever? And while Fishtown might not have been perfect, or sell out every game, a downtown(ish) stadium is so important to this league. I mean you can't really knack support. Chester is not a great drive, and every team with a similar location struggles, no matter what their product on the field looks like. It's hard to survive without a good team or a good stadium location, but the Union are holding on, for now (I'm really interested in retention rate this offseason)
Isn’t Kansas City comparable to Chester? I still think The Chester stadium location is one of the best locations possible if you are building outside of the city limits... from what I can tell the access is much better than Frisco, Bridgeview and Commerce City. Obviously the site near Sugar House would have been infinitely better and has more potential long term (and I still pull my hair out thinking about it) but there is absolutely no reason this team should be struggling to sell and fill a modest 18,500 seats in the current location... Chester impacts the amount the team can draw in the long run sure, but 20kish numbers in Chester shouldn’t be far fetched if the team was being run correctly.
If they didn't suck or could attract and (more importantly) afford a Giovinco-level player, people would show up.
Not really. Like TES, SKC's stadium is in a suburb 15 miles away from downtown and right off an interstate, but that's where the similarities end. Childrens Mercy Park is in a shopping center with neighbors such as an Applebee's, a Cabela's, a Great Wolf Lodge, race track etc. Basically, things to do before and after the game where the average citizen isn't afraid to spend time after dark, whereas TES is in an industrial area of a city with a reputation of not being safe to hang around after games.
First that Fishtown locale was a pipe dream. Like King Pitor said: They don’t know what they are doing, they have NO MONEY. That was basically Sak trying to deflect heat off of himself. That was not going to happen. The state and county told them: no Chester, NO MONEY. That said: Being in the burbs doesn’t hurt RSL orSKC. Chicago was better this season and so was their attendance, and RBA has steadily been filling up for several seasons now. He’ll even those lowly revs manage to draw a decent crowd all the way out in Foxboro. Carson isn’t exactly easy to get to or close to downtown LA either. If the Union were a winning team, TES would be full.
Chester is not the ideal location, but I don't agree with all the internet hipsters who insist that a downtown stadium is key to MLS success. MLS teams need to attract folks who can drop $50 on a seat - and most of them will need convenient parking because they will be driving to games with their families (who all will be sitting in $50 seats).