Gee, those supporters sections don’t look real full to me. (Ducks). There seems to be a real social media movement to try to encourage/shame fans and the media to attend Dynamo games but a few Orange Kool-Aid drinkers aren’t going to reverse a half-decade of cheapness and FO errors.
This reddit thread on attendance is decent - we’ve got some Orange spin on having the lowest YTD average attendance since BBVA opened and maybe some of the Robertson years but talking how much the attendance has increased since the Montreal game - most of the growth due to heavily discounted tickets. Sounds like a lot of Canetti-speak where you cite a figure but give it no context (like TV ratings have doubled but the gross amount of viewers is very small) http://www.reddit.com/r/dynamo/comments/bitsts/dynamo_attendance_keeps_increasing/
i was going to setup a reddit account, so i can join a new community...then i read that some of them don't consider Rico Clark a Dynamo legend. those are not my people.
Off the top of my head, attendance increased every year at Robertson. Wasnt until 2014, maybe, that it started going down.
Dynamo announced home attendance averages. Robertson: 2006 15,493* 2007 15,883 2008 16,939 2009 17,047 2010 17,310 2011 17,694 ------------------------ BBVA Compass Stadium: 2012 21,015 2013 19,923 2014 20,117 2015 20,658 2016 19,021 2017 17,500 2018 16,906 *sometimes you will see this as 18,935 but that included a double-header at Reliant Stadium that drew 70,550 as part of a double-header with a Club America-Barcelona game. It looks like this year is 14,602 so far.
Dynamo "announced" attendance of 16,521, which seems almost unfathomable given the below pictures (and spare me the whole "they don't show the whole TV camera side, etc." there wasn't people packed in those sections either in other pics). At this point, I think the announced figures may be even further off of reality of actual tickets sold than in prior years. The announced figure means 75% of the capacity of the stadium was distributed as tickets and there can't be more than 35% of the seats actually filled. Even throwing in 2,000 folks in the concourse (another apologist claim) you still aren't at 50% of capacity. Did 5 or 6,000 people buy tickets and just not use them? With this weeks made-up err . . . "announced" attendance the Dynamo average is now up to 14,921 per game which happens to be just above the Dallas average of 14,905. Coincidence? 1124785041886928896 is not a valid tweet id Huge Texas Derby game today between 2 very good teams on a 85 degree, sunny day in Houston, and there are maybe 10,000 people there. Not good especially when there are a TON of soccer fans in Texas. #HOUvDAL pic.twitter.com/G53IxS39A2— MLS Buzz (@MLS_Buzz) May 4, 2019
From the official Empty Seats Pics twitter account Announced crowd of 16,521 for the #TexasDerby in Houston. #MLS (https://t.co/RR2R5vhxdT + https://t.co/F9CJRHWnKd + https://t.co/UJiWyCqvHu) pic.twitter.com/qSxsHvlzVm— Empty Seats Galore (@EmptySeatsPics) May 5, 2019
Based on the pics from the other games I'm beginning to think that maybe the whole league could benefit from lower ticket prices and better marketing. Doesn't seem to be just a Houston problem.
These pics are the canary in the coal mine for MLS. Selling expansion teams for $200 million while existing teams play to 50% capacity with minimal TV ratings. All I can assume is that the value of SUM from all of the things they get a cut off outside of MLS is quite lucrative
Read this about Philly - similar to Houston, results seem unimportant in drawing fans - and no easy solutions http://www.philly.com/soccer/philadelphia-union-attendance-sergio-santos-alejandro-bedoya-kai-wagner-20190506.html?zage
From that article: "The team’s longstanding emphasis on marketing to families with soccer-playing kids contrasts with marketing to the young urban professionals who are the core of nearly every other MLS fan base." We have mentioned this same issue for us here in Houston. The family buck can be made for sure, good on any FO with this segment. Yet any wise MLS FO ought to go long on the 18-35 male, working class, middle class and upper middle class segment. Also this same 18-35 Female version for the Dash tickets. These are the fans that can be locked in, that an FO can build a core culture around. As I have witnessed it in USL and MLS, with the soccer moms, once their kids stop playing soccer, they have little link to the sport, little interest in going to pro outdoor soccer matches after that. So after a few seasons of them buying tickets, which is great, they disappear. Then your FO has to find the next soccer mom and her friends and convivence them to keep coming out. It is a cycle that does not deliver on ROI like the mentioned 18-35, have money and time and friends concept. "There are risks within the soccer-family crowd, too. When the kids care about more sports than soccer, many don’t choose the Union over the Phillies (even before Bryce Harper arrived), 76ers or Eagles". Been saying this for years as well, MLS still isn't "cool" , or more like "cool enough" for American pre teens and teens in the eyes of their peers. So even if they play the sport, they join in with their peers and focus on the traditional teams in their city. MLS HQ up in New York still has not gotten this message! That association football needs to be stripped of it's pre conceived image and re sold to the American public. It is not difficult, the sport sells itself, so do the players with skill and flair. For too long those in charge of soccer in our nation are often like the dorky kid that wanted to get invited to the cool kids pool party on the weekend but was intentionally left out. Why, for wanting in so bad that he would trade his own way of being just to be seen with those that looked cool. As I always say, it is far better to be hated for who you are, then to be loved for who you are not!
35 here, I am a history teacher in HISD and the Dynamo offered us free tickets. First game July 7th, 2018, today season ticket holder. As you so aptly say, "the sport sells itself" you have to get people to the games. Now, I love soccer and of course the Dynamo are my club. This is coming from a man who never played a game of soccer in my life, only ever watched the World Cup and I am a head football coach. Still, the game hooked me.
I love sports... but for me soccer is the perfect spectator sport: for the most part, I know when the game starts and when it will end, the action is non-stop for 45+ minutes, then I get a break to go to the bathroom, refill my drink and get a snack. Unlike baseball, there is no standing up/sitting down between innings to let people thru, there are no endless timeouts like in basketball, there is no 30 second or 1 minute "commercial break" between downs like in football, unlike hockey I can follow the ball (I can't see the puck), a match is just 90+ minutes, not 3 day like cricket and no scrums like rugby (that just looks weird to me). Wow, that was a long sentence!
I hear you, I never liked basketball because as you elude to, it's like both teams have unlimited timeouts then there are the fouls. I grew up a die hard football fan, and though I still watch it is nowhere near the amount I used to. The reason, I'm sick of the t.v timeouts and the replays and the flags. You are right, soccer is the best spectator sport, everything is set to keep the game flowing.
NFL football has definitely taken a step back in say the last 5-10 years because of this. Almost like you can't have two consecutive plays run without a flag being thrown and there must be timeouts before and after kickoffs. I know that VAR has changed things a bit in soccer but it still moves at a good pace.
tonights announced attendance: 13,327. That is about 60% of capacity. Take a look at the below pictures and even assuming no-shows does anyone think 60% of seats were sold? Given away? #Houston #MLS RT @rjboccomino: @[me] lotta orange on dollar dog night pic.twitter.com/wXF02tqaFu— Empty Seats Galore (@EmptySeatsPics) May 16, 2019 I like the guy in this thread who said "decent for an early Wednesday kickoff" #HOUvPOR at the national anthem pic.twitter.com/GtogUXBxgm— Victor Araiza (@victoraraiza) May 16, 2019
yeah one thing that gets me, as a huge Dynamo fan, are seeing those thousands and thousands of empty seats, but I can't afford to take me and my family to see the games. I'm sitting at home watching the game wishing I could be there, and I'm sitting there looking at 10,000 empty seats . Now that 713 series thing is a good start. Unfortunately I haven't been able to make one of those due to obligations, and I don't know if they have another one of those coming up. I'll have to try to make one of those.
The 713 is a good promotion and will keep bringing people in. They just need to deliver on the hot dogs and quit trying to be tricky with the bait and switch.
Come get hot dogs for $1! Just wait in line and miss 20 minutes of the game since there is no TV Oh sorry! We ran out! We will be getting more in another 20 minutes. But if you are in a ‘hurry’ you can by a hot dog next door for 7:50 with no line!
I’ve been invited to participate in a 2nd year STH focus group. I hope it is a good venue to share my opinions and experiences, like my recent visit to the Audi Club, and not just a wine & dine to make sure I renew for 2020. I don’t know if this is something new or not, but I wasn’t invited to a focus group last year, or when I shared STs at work.