Crew afraid more Cincy fans would be in the stands than Columbus fans? Loughnane also said #CrewSC has made it a general policy to play minor-league teams in smaller venues. Hence, Jesse Owens.— Shawn Mitchell (@shecky218) May 19, 2016
Probably. USOC is a small draw tournament. If 1500 FCC fans showed up they'd probably make up half the crowd.
He went on to say, "we have no comment on Cincinnati except that Cincinnati is a great CREW SC market"'hahahahahah what a ********ing lying piece of shit. And no, this game has already got ppl bickering on the sports talk radio and fans taking shots on Twitter. This was 100% a "we're gonna try to big league Cincy" ******** them. Cowtown sucks
That big stadium is one thing Cincinnati has that Sacramento doesn't have. Sacramento's attendance was limited from day one by the lack of large venues in the area. Hughes Stadium at Sacramento City College, the temporary venue used for the early matches, is the largest sports venue in the entire Central Valley; the nearest stadium larger than Hughes is 82 miles away in Berkeley. Even at 11,442, Bonney Field is the fourth-largest outdoor stadium in the greater Sacramento area, and none of the three larger ones can accommodate a full-size soccer field. HOWEVER... from an economic perspective, renting Nippert is probably not as favorable as owning a stadium even if the capacity is much higher. I don't know what UCincinnati is charging in rent, but in the early years of MLS when they were playing in giant football stadiums, most MLS teams would have had to average over 40k just to break even.
Keep in mind that there has been a long term relationship between FC Cincinnati's ownership and UC. Both the ownership and the university have said that money is not an issue. The Lindner's have been quite generous to the university and community over the years. It would be remiss to say some sort of quid pro quo was in place, but it would be surprising if a stadium deal could not be worked out that was acceptable to MLS while still lucrative to FC Cincinnati and the university.
What I found for FCC's rent. FC Cincinnati paid for new turf and a locker room renovation at Nippert Stadium before this season. The club's contract calls for it to pay UC $5,000 per game and an additional $20,000 for the season to use the stadium, locker room, weight room and other athletic facilities for practices and game preparation.
Oh, that's a much better deal than MLS teams used to get in the 90s. $175k or more per game, plus having to pay for cleanup, security, and such separately, and getting little or none of the profit from concessions and parking, was typical.
It's pretty wild that the conservative radio has been pretty welcoming. Lindner must have some influence over these guys.
Yeah. 1530 has been very supportive (they host FCC games). I boycotted 700 back during on me of the streetcar votes and only listened to Reds games. I wouldn't know or care what they are saying Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Well, you know what they say about Dems vs. Republicans? Dems like to fall in love and the Repubs like to fall in line. Guess the radio jocks are falling in line with the message from on high
From a local's perspective and as season ticket holder various observations from attending matches. Crowds are larger and more enthusiastic than anticipated. Back in January goal was to average 10-12,000 fans, right now average is 17,000 and feel confident won't drop below 15,000. The supporters groups have grown almost every week going from a couple dozen to several hundred since January. People come from all over, so a good mix of young and old, but definitely notice the amount of people in their 20s and 30s that never saw in previous attempts. Also, these fans are buying stuff, with merchandise shops having lines and selling out many items and having to restock. At matches I see roughly half the people wearing FCC memorabilia. I even have seen it around the city multiple times already, unheard of just five-ten years ago. The stadium, while obviously being on UC campus, does feel like home with signage and given recent renovations and planned future renovations I'd say it is on par with several MLS stadiums I've been to (Chicago, Columbus, etc.). I know cost control is an issue, but I'm not sure how much better it would be from Lindner to find a location near as good and have a better financial outlook than has now. Speaking of ownership, the Lindner family is a major reason for this club feeling legitimate to residents, sponsors, and local media outlets. Local news actually covers FCC and does so with enthusiasm. Even the old newspaper sport writers that grumbled a bit at first have slowly changed their tune to accept it. Even with all this ambition the club has preformed beyond expectations. They have announced more hires to facilitate growth as goal is not to settle, but rather to strike while the iron is hot. I don't see this as some flash in the plan, there feels like a genuine growth of interest. I have convinced multiple people to attend and every single one has come away impressed and bought additional tickets for future matches. Given all this momentum and good things going right now the only obstacles I see is MLS desire for SSS and if they just think Cincinnati is too small. Personally I see Cincinnati being in line with Orlando and Sacramento and hope all three are in MLS in the future.
loving all these come-out-of-nowhere stories of the league. Hopefully Cincy keeps it up the next few years and shows itself Sacramento-East. That will be tough to say no to in terms of the round of 28. I wonder what next "out of nowhere" story will be. Nashville, Raleigh/tri city perhaps?
FC Cincinnati 2017 Season Attendance Statistics Total - 259,437 Average - 17,296 Best - 24,376 #1 in average attendance in USL all time #1, #2, #3 in total attendance for a single USL regular season match (24,376 - 23,375 - 20,497) Already buzz around 2nd of October playoff match that we could possibly beat 24,376 given demand has already pushed number past 10,000 so quickly and have a week to go. Not to get ahead of self, but know big push is to lock in and increase season ticket numbers as FC Cincinnati was actually 2nd in USL in that category for 2016. If the base number can increase could see the average climb higher for 2017. In the meantime enjoying the ride and excited for playoffs.
I just read that Cincinnati broke another USL attendance record as it drew 23,144 fans.Those are better than most MLS teams. Not bad for a team that just started a year ago.
How many seat you think San Jose could sell for its home opener if tickets were $5 & $10? I too like what Cincinnati is doing (& i'm a Crew fan), but It is a little overblown. I hope they do get into MLS but I will be shocked if they pull those kind of numbers when ticket prices hit $30-$40/ticket. More people might start going back to Reds games.
Not sure. Having your own stadium will help sell tickets. San Jose has been selling out their games ever since they built their own stadium. Whether everyone goes to the games at Avaya is another story but they've pretty much sold every ticket since they've opened.
San Jose would never sell that many. Since I recall going back to 1974, other than an MLS opener , they never drew that many fans. At least not consistently or like Cincinnati is doing now (for what is for many) minor league soccer,
yeah I was a little disappointed when San Jose initially announced 18K, I thought that would not be enough. I think that seat number is just right now.
The club stated last year they needed 10,000 average ticket sales at the prices they set across various sections. They managed 17,000, so they saw no reason to raise prices and reduced promotions. Having all those people there meant buying merchandise and concessions at far greater rates than anticipated. It is why the club recently opened a downtown store as demand for merchandise has been so high. Part of the strategy is getting people to a second division is a bigger ask than a first division in American sports. Getting as many people as possible helps spread word of mouth and has raised awareness in the area dramatically. Also makes for great optics that this is a legitimate sport and club. I honestly don't know what more we can do to live up the standards some other fans set. The instant we were getting high numbers the shift began. You make it seem like tickets are all $5 and $10, when that is not true. $10 is the cheapest single ticket and it is at the ends. $5 is for 20+ group sales. There are significant number of sections that are at $20 and $30 along the sides and the suites are more (they are sold out, much like the Bailey so no way to know exact price). If we are not doing enough to show support at USL level, then who has and who is?