2017 - MLS Attendance discussion thread

Discussion in 'MLS: General' started by Yoshou, May 10, 2017.

  1. Yoshou

    Yoshou Fan of the CCL Champ

    May 12, 2009
    Seattle
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #1 Yoshou, May 10, 2017
    Last edited: May 10, 2017
    We are a third of the way through the season, so I figured now would be a good time to discuss the new way of just having a single attendance thread for the entire season. Is it working? Is it crap?

    Feel free to discuss and depending on the discussion, we can do a midcourse correction, stay the course, or something in between.
     
  2. GunnerJacket

    GunnerJacket Moderator
    Staff Member

    Sep 18, 2003
    Gainesville, GA
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    My only thought is keep the discussion thread open and add one new thread that is simply a running tally of the stats. We don't need the analysis that blessed our pages the past few years but if folks want to do that they may. Sort of a compliment to the 22k watch thread that would make it easier for folks to reference numbers.
     
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  3. sitruc

    sitruc Member+

    Jul 25, 2006
    Virginia
    Discussion on the General board (where I'm glad this thread is located) and numbers on the News and Analysis board. A majority of the discussion becomes YBTD level back and forth with a few posters that make all interest in discussion disappear. Instabans for any comment on N&A that says "looked like" or similar.
     
  4. aperfectring

    aperfectring Member+

    Jul 13, 2011
    Hillsboro, OR
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    I'm on the fence about the discussion being in General, and leaning a little against. I still like the discussion based on announced numbers only, and I fear that if the thread is moved to General, it will be more likely to devolve down to "looked like" all the time.
     
    JasonMa repped this.
  5. Yoshou

    Yoshou Fan of the CCL Champ

    May 12, 2009
    Seattle
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I would think we could keep the same "No discussion about it looked like ..." rule in place, couldn't we? I get that General is a little more lax on such things, but if the community agrees to it, the rule could be applied for this discussion thread?
     
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  6. Yoshou

    Yoshou Fan of the CCL Champ

    May 12, 2009
    Seattle
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yeah.. That's not happening.;)

    Which brings up something else, if there is going to be a second thread for discussions, the expectation is that the community will be enforcing the division between the threads and moderator involvement will be minimal. If we start getting buried in reports about comments being in the wrong thread, the most likely reaction will be to shutdown the second thread and return to the current state.
     
  7. sitruc

    sitruc Member+

    Jul 25, 2006
    Virginia
    I genuinely don't mind context being added to a number. I like knowing about the weather, other events in the area, fan/front office relations, promotions, etc.. Unfortunately, without consistent moderation*, the discussion devolves quickly.

    I don't want pages of complaints about a crowd. Shit happens.

    *This is the one time I'm not trying to treat @Yoshou like shit although I know it reads like I am.
     
  8. sitruc

    sitruc Member+

    Jul 25, 2006
    Virginia
    Maybe there should be a General Attendance Complaint thread.
     
  9. Yoshou

    Yoshou Fan of the CCL Champ

    May 12, 2009
    Seattle
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Still justified, btw. :)
     
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  10. whiteonrice04

    whiteonrice04 Member+

    Sep 8, 2006
    I think if there is a numbers thread and a discussion thread that the discussion thread should be completely open for people to discuss what they think the actually turnout looked or was. I think that is valid conversation and is important to the discussion about how well a team or the league is doing with butts in the seats. I get not wanting that type of discussion in a numbers thread.
    My 2 cents is if we separate into 2 separate threads then those that only want to discuss announced attendance can stick in the numbers thread. However, I think when Houston announces 18k and it is clear there was less than half that it is a valid topic of discussion (not in the numbers thread though).
     
  11. sitruc

    sitruc Member+

    Jul 25, 2006
    Virginia
    I now support Instabans on the General board too.
     
  12. whiteonrice04

    whiteonrice04 Member+

    Sep 8, 2006
    Discussing crapping crowds isn't a complaint. it is part of attendance. Discussing the reasons for a bad crowd are important to a discussion about attendance. Sure shit happens. At what point are we allowed to talk about it? After 10 low attendances by a team? After 17? Never?

    What is the point of discussing attendance in an MLS message board forum if you aren't allowed to discuss bad showings? Only being allowed to say how great the league is doing or a particular team is doing but never say anything negative is quite silly.

    Discussion doesn't mean only say what is good.
     
  13. Yoshou

    Yoshou Fan of the CCL Champ

    May 12, 2009
    Seattle
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #13 Yoshou, May 10, 2017
    Last edited: May 10, 2017
    As soon as TV cameras capture all areas of a stadium, including inside luxury boxes, concourses, etc, etc, discussions about "What it looked like" might be valid. The problem is, what you see in the TV cameras, or in a single picture, is seldom an accurate representation and these type of discussion always devolve into massive pissing matches between people who claim they were there and claim the concourses were packed, people who claim they were there and claim the concourses were empty, people who claim they weren't there and say it looked like more to them on TV, and people who claim they weren't there and say it looked like less to them on TV..

    Let's take the Houston example you gave. Even back when Houston was selling out every game, people claimed that it looked like less on TV and were basing this on the expanse of empty field side, sideline seats on the TV side of the stadium. The problem is, according to Houston fans, these seats are actually part of the luxury boxes and VIP club located immediately behind that section and, for potentially obvious reasons, people in those seats prefer to be inside the air conditioned luxury boxes/lounge rather than sitting out in full sun.

    Additionally, the cameras not only need to be able to capture all areas of the stadium, but also need to be able to capture all time periods of the game. Fans in certain markets (I'm looking at you Toronto and LA) seem to be incapable of making it to games for kickoff. As a result, there will invariably be a picture taken in the first half of a game that has a ton of empty seats, but if the picture were taken in the second half, those seats would be mostly full.
     
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  14. sitruc

    sitruc Member+

    Jul 25, 2006
    Virginia
    It's important for posters to understand what an average is too. Likewise, there are historical trends for most of the teams so harping on a single data point while also ignoring trends brings nothing to a discussion.
     
    JasonMa repped this.

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