The Ottawa Fury (USL PDL) held their home opener last night and the crowd was disappointing to say the least. OK, this isn't the EPL. this isn't MLS. This isn't even USL-1. But we have spent the winter hearing just how many tens of thousands of soccer players and fans there are in this city. Where were you all last night? Apart from one small group of VERY vocal 'english-style' fans who made an impressive entrance with flags and chants etc, the crowd was sparse on a beautiful summer evening. For the first time since the possibility of MLS in Ottawa was raised, I had concerns about it's possible success here, if we were ever to get a team. Here is the Fury schedule, with the next game on Sunday night: http://www.ottawafury.com/pdlMen-pdlschedule.php Let's try and get a few more soccer fans to Algonquin College tomorrow!!
Would it be nice if they got more fans sure.However low crowds at the pdl does not mean there are not fans in the city.You really can say wow the low crowds for a pdl team may mean low crowds for a mls team.Take toronto for exzample they had not great crowds some nights real bad crowds yet look at them in the mls.No ottawa and toronto are not the same but my point is low attendance in one league does not mean low attendance in another league.There are some fans they will not support anything but pro in some cases the top level.As much as i love the pdl it is not pro and it does not appeal to a good number of people.I would be a bit worried if ottawa had a pro team and they avg less then 1000.As for the fury what may be hurting them a bit is playing the games at algonquin.
I completely agree that PDL fan numbers are meaningless in comparison to potential MLS numbers, but I was just surprised how few people were there to watch the best soccer that Ottawa has to offer. The Fury themselves operate 14 teams, but I would be surprised if there were more than 100 people there to watch the home opener of their premier team. I'm not sure that Algonquin College is a bad location either. It is relatively central, close to the highway, served by much better roads than Lansdowne, and has much more parking than Lansdowne. In fact, you can park within 30 yards of the entrance. If you find MLS watchable. PDL is not a bad standard of soccer at all. The Fury would probably even have beaten TFC this last week And if you don't like the coffee at the Algonquin Soccer Complex, you can even walk to Tim Hortons at half time.
I don't think PDL numbers are completely meaningless. Don Garber and Eugene Melnyk may not care. But if you want somebody to start a USL1 or USL2 club in Ottawa, I bet that a prospective owner would care. And City Hall will care too. They are a lot more likely to help fund a SSS if there are 3,000 crazy fans supporting a low level team that plays in a field surrounded by bleachers. Baseball fans attend their local minor league team and follow their favorite MLB team. Hockey fans attend their local OHL/Q/Dub team and follow their favorite NHL team. Football fans (in England) attend their local Football Conference club and follow their favorite Premiership club. IMO real soccer fans in Canada would attend their local club's matches and follow their favorite MLS/EPL/Serie A club. I generally enjoy live sports (even a a lower level) more than televised sports. But it is most fun when you are watching with a couple thousand of like minded people.
As for hockey yes some citys that have nhl teams have strong support.However city like montreal and toronto do not really get great support for there major jr teams.Would a owner like and say wow they don't support a pdl team so they likely won't support a pro team.Or would they say it might be risk but were going to try it.
It is sad when PDL or W Soccer gets crowds of a hundred, while CIS football gets over 3000. I used to think there was no soccer market in Ottawa, then came U20 and then Melnyk with his MLS plan which make me think that it could work.... Now I am again back to square one. There would be nothing worse than to land an MLS team, then only get crowds of 3 or 4 thousand to the games. Then the MLS team would either fold or move away. The CFL at its worst (Renegades' last season) with bad management and stupid stunts had 18 000 average to their games. Even the Gryphon Football team who play at the CEGEP in Gatineau outdraw by 2 (or 3) to 1 the PDL or W. Unless PDL or W can get over a thousand as an average crowd, I think it is a dead issue. If you can't get 1 000 for a top notch W or PDL game, you won't get 20 000 for MLS in Ottawa.
I'm not sure you need a thousand for a PDL game, but I do agree with your points. I would expect to see more than 500 for a PDL game.
You really can not compare pdl/w league to pro sports.Why its a good brand of soccer it is not pro sports and there are some that will not support anything but pro sports.You can not really use the logic that if they don't get over 1,0000 a game they won't support mls.Again toronto did not have great attendance in division one yet they one if not the best support mls teams.So no its not a dead issue i think to really measure if there is alot of interest there should be a pro team if thats division 2 or 1.But even if there is not alot of support again that may not mean a mls team would not bhe supported.I am not saying ottawa is like toronto but my point is just because a lower level of soccer is not supported that does not mean a mls team would not be supported.
The official attendance was 347. However, on the same night, Kalamazoo - 138 Lancaster - 125 Laredo - 1350 Victoria - 1442 (played Timbers youth team) Spokane - 337 Vancouver - 66 Baton ROuge - 413 Forest City, Rochester, Fresno, - unreported The night before, you had: Michigan - 248 KC - 126 Austin - 327 Hollywood - 79 Virginia - 74 Saturday, you had Chicago - 64 So, 347 on your first night is very respectable. It's PDL - people see that as glorified high school ball. It's hard to get people excited about low tier soccer especially when there is no real connection. In St. Louis, the PDL team only draws in that same area 250-350 range. Conversely, the Saint Louis University Billikens (where people do have a connection) draw 2000+ sometimes hitting 6000.
If you still want MLS in Ottawa, tell Ottawa City Council, like this recent letter in the Citizen: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Sports/Melnyk+proposal+deserves+another+look/1696185/story.html
With both the USL PDL and W leading the league, I find it amazing that they draw crowds of 300 on a good day. This doesn't bode well at all in Ottawa for soccer
That was my first thought as well, when I went to Fury games this year, but looking at the rest of PDL and W attendances around the league, it isn't bad. The quality is just so far removed even from MLS, let alone from what you can see on tv.
Good crowd and atmosphere on Saturday night - well done Ottawa. At one point the guy next to me said "I'm going to come to more Fury games next year - this was fun". Hopefully the crowds will build next year.
I really don't think it impacts the future in terms of mls etc that much.If you look around the league ottawa is about middle of the pack in attendance.I have said this before you can not really compare pdl/w league to mls and say if they only get that many here they would not support a mls team.Now if ottawa had a pro team in the usl and had attendance issues then i think there may be reason for concern.
And an article about Ottowa http://www.rednationonline.ca/Articles2013/OttawaFuryIfYouBuildItTheyWillCome.aspx
That number is not season ticket sales is something else, some fundraising he is doing. So I still have no clue about their season ticket numbers.
I emailed the team and asked what their season ticket count was up to. I did get an email reply but was told that the season ticket count "is not information we can readily provide at this time". I have to take this as a polite way of saying "we aren't telling" because I can't believe the team doesn't have ready access to its own number of season tickets.
Are there soccer fans in Ottawa? For sure, and good players as well too. I can speak from the perspective of a person who came to the city to work, instead of being born and bred in the city. I rmb when I moved to Ottawa, I was pretty disappointed to find out that our highest level was 4th tier in the NA pyramid. Everybody has a limit to what they would watch, and for me and a lot of footy fans, that was a level too far below. However, I became quite excited when I heard about NASL coming and so I even went to check out the PDL last season and came away more impressed than I thought I would be.
The thing is that a lot of footy fans in Ottawa come with other allegiances, or more likely, do follow the European leagues but do not think that MLS/NASL is worth their time. The only way to show them that such thinking is wrong is to take them to a live match in Toronto, or Vancouver or Montreal. Often, they come away impressed, and see that the level is higher than what they expected, and they start following the league more and more. I think that we can do the same for the Fury and for the NASL. And even back in 2009 for the PDL Bring yo friends, bring yo family, drag them if you have to, pay for their ticket if you have to, but you have to show them to convince 'em.
I received another email from the team saying that they hope to be announcing season ticket total updates soon via their website and social media. I'd love to see Ottawa get a huge number of season ticket holders like some of the other NASL clubs. Even a modest number like 1000, however, would be a good sign and something to grow from.