There isn't any obvious excuse for the somewhat-lower-than-hoped-for number. The weather was great. The Jazz didn't have a playoff game last night. RSL played on Friday. The electronic billboards still ran advertisements for the game. 8500 might be our usual average. Having said that, I do think that the afternoon games might prove to be more popular for the Royals. The stadium is in a suburban area, and a lot of the fans so far (this is just my impression, of course) seem to be young, childless couples. Some of this demographic might prefer to stay in the city on Saturday nights. Also, parents might be more inclined to get their kids out for a 7 PM game once school is out in a few weeks. It was a weekend, but still. I do have hope that the attendance numbers will gradually improve during the summer. My biggest fear, really, is that people might have been a bit turned off by the Royals' anemic offense during the home opener. We don't have the most dynamic team in the league...
Maybe Amy Rodriguez, now that she's active, can change that. Despite the age and being back from two seasons when she was stopped by pregnancy + an injury, she doesn't look like she's declining much.
Not really sure the second game of the year means anything, though a couple years season lows have been in Late April. It probably had as much to do with day of the Week and school. This was a Friday when school is in session, so it needs to be compared with games from past years that were similar. It could be a double whammy of school and season. It’s hard for families to go home from work, eat, and then head back to town. In 2016, for instance, the season low was on a Wednesday in September (13.7K) sandwiched between two weekend home games that drew 17+K and 21+K. That was in the middle of the run for the shield. The second lowest day was July 4 weekend. 2015 the 12K low was July 3. People left town. 2014 was just under 11K on a Wednesday in May. 2013 had about 10k on a Thursday in early June.
Hence why I pointed out last year's low was nearly identical, too. POR had nearly the same attendance for the same 2nd home game, but still had 17k+ average.
Someone who was at the game speculates less than 2k in Houston: http://www.dbcgreentx.net/blog/five-games-two-points-one-goal
Well, after holding fairly steady in attendance for their first two home games, the Dash have regressed... Right now, the only returning teams whose current averages are better than 2017's season averages are the Red Stars (buoyed by an outlier double-header) and the Spirit. Granted, three returning teams have only had 1 or 2 home games thus far, so hard to pass full judgement yet, but really hope they pick up a bit by the time they hit 4 home games in the books. Even with that team-by-team general drop, replacing KC and BOS with UTA has thus far resulted in 2018's current overall average being a quarter larger than 2017's season overall average. Granted again, the two lowest-drawing teams are also the two with just one home game thus far, so expect that 25% bonus to drop.
For some context about rises and falls in attendance: MLS had consistent year-over-year drops in attendance from 17,406 in 1996 to 13,756 in 2000, then plateaued at ~15k for the next six years. Six of the nine original teams that survived the 2001/02 contraction either have never beaten their 1996 attendance or didn't do so until 2014 or 2015. (NER's best attendance was in year 2, and the didn't otherwise beat their year 1 attendance again until 2015.) As long as each individual team has their books balanced, I wouldn't worry about viability too much, at least in terms of minor attendance drops. The question of increasing league minimum standards is the one thing to bring book-balancing in to question as costs rise.
MIght I suggest (once again) that lack of scoring is what keeps soccer from becoming a truly large, professional sport in the U.S. We don't have a soccer history and folklore to support the game the way the Europeans and Latinos do.
Yeah scores from beyond the line should be 3 points. You do get that MLS attendance tops the first division in Argentina, Brasil, and France, right? It’s the sixth best attended league in the World. https://www.statista.com/statistics...iums-in-the-world-by-average-attendance-2010/ Average attendance was higher that the NBA last year. The number of registered soccer players is six times the population of Uruguay.
Yeah, Clive is more on-point than you are here. MLS may not be the draw that MLB or NFL is, but it draws more than the NBA and NHL - lack of scoring is NOT holding soccer back in the US. Also, it's the 7th-highest attended soccer league on average worldwide and the 14th-highest attended sports league (of any kind) on average worldwide.
Consider in this discussion the MLS was foundering badly in 2000, when there was a a contraction in its fifth year more pronounced than the NWSL this year. They just had to find what works and go after it.
I've gotten cautious about reaching conclusions from the Thorns' available seats charts, but if what I think I'm seeing is what's actually the current situation, I'd say that the Thorns/Reign game on Saturday will have very good attendance.
It took me close to two hours to get from the north side of Chicago to south side of Chicago for the game last night in horrid traffic with thunder and lightning starting a couple of hours before game-time and continuing on and off. Even season ticket holders I see there all the time weren't there. Midweek games are a killer for Red Stars attendance because the Chicago traffic is so bad. However, having said that, die-hards like me will be there no matter what. Those NWSL teams that don't have a big season ticket holder pool have to rely on walk-ups for attendance boost. In Chicago on a week day is very hard, unfortunately.
Two separate issues. I get you need a season ticket base. Todo that you need to cater to older, ( not kids- they don’t buy season tickets) but still relatively young ( late twenties, early thirties) base. They need convenient after work travel . I’m sure you know a lot more about the Chicago market. In Portland, the stadium is centered on the metro transportation heart independent on car traffic. Where in Chicago would that be?
16,054 in Portland for Portland-Seattle 2,065 in NJ for Sky Blue-Houston 7,551 in Utah for Utah-Washington
Thorns' attendance comparison, first three home games: 2017: 46,776 2018: 47,005 Virtually identical.
Steven GoffVerified account @SoccerInsider 21m21 minutes ago NWSL announced attendance Portland 16,054 Utah 7,551 North Carolina 4,068 Sky Blue NJ 2,065
Moderate recoveries for NC and NJ, still a bit of a slip for Utah (ahead of their first midweek home match).