With the end of the PDL season, it is time to review attendance at our lower tier soccer teams. (At least for the only league that has reliable data available.) Overall, it was a down year for our Canadian PDL teams in terms of attendance. I'm not sure if the late start to spring had an impact, but even the better teams saw dips. The average attendance numbers (taken from the USL website) team by team are: 92 for newcomer Montreal (Impact U23 team). 95 for Vancouver (Whitecaps U23 team) up from 81. Vancouver's numbers are always suspect, however, as many games have the exact same reported attendance of 77. 179 in Winnipeg, down from 247 last year. 225 for the Lynx in Toronto, up from 143. 306 in Kitchener. This is down from 705 despite a great year on the field. Thunder Bay dropped to 615 from 783. Still marginally better than the upper 500s they average most years. London tumbled to 777 from 1146. Not their worst year ever but lower than normal. Still, they were one of just two teams to break 1000 for at least one match (they did it twice this year). Attendance stalwart Victoria dropped to 1314 from 1637. The difference seems to be that last year they had two huge games whereas this year all the games were in the normal range. They drew 1531 to the only Canadian PDL home playoff game (not counted in the season average) and have now have a streak of 16 consecutive regular season home games with a crowd over 1000 (17 games total including playoffs). As a group, the Canadian PDL teams average fell to 450 this year from 625 last season. As with most recent seasons, Victoria, London, and Thunder Bay have decent to good PDL crowds while everybody else just kind of bumps along on families and friends.
Going backward, the overall average is as follows: 2014 450 2013 625 2012 349 2011 404 2010 669 2009 716 The drop from 2010 to 2011 has a lot to do with adding poor drawing teams. That is, it wasn't caused by existing teams tanking. I'm not sure why 2013 was such a good year but this year seems to be more in line with the numbers from 2011 onward (which have the same number of teams).
With these numbers, there's no real point in looking at attendance, IMHO. Good to see more teams in the fold!
It is not terribly useful for the teams that draw tiny crowds. It is perhaps useful to look at trends in the teams that actually draw meaningful numbers of fans. Finally, I believe these numbers have something to offer in informing discussions about possible soccer teams and leagues in Canada. Victoria, for example, is frequently mentioned by advocated of a new CSL or of placing additional NASL teams in Canada.
The two MLS U-23 clubs really are not promoted as club witthin itself but rather part of the Academy system for players who have chosen University soccer route. With the CSA now looking to build within its own regional leagues as well as adding more higher level pro clubs. Victoria could be part of a Canadian NASL expansion movement. Problem is lack of NASL presence in the west at this time. Likely NASL expansion in the west or Northwest in the US will be unlikely. With FCE the furthest team west a move that could add Calgary and Victoria would be the best possible locations. Victoria already has a strong following and a pitch. While with the Flames LP adding the CFL stamps as well as a partnership with both Calgary Dino's and Mount Royal crowchild series and the need for Dino's football to have a CIS sized stadium. Building a smaller stadium next to McMahon on the Dino's campus could be used for CIS football and NASL soccer at a minimal cost. With the Dino's and Stamps new Training and locker room facilities already built on the site. Just a lot of speculation on my part but the Flames LP are looking for a new arena and stadium situation in the future for the big league clubs. That some modern reno's to McMahon already happening a secondary stadium for Dino's football opposed to the cavernous McMahon would be of interst to Dino's football and 13th man non profit support oganization.