It does seem to be the second worst of the three Uniteds in the league, from an attendance perspective. So yes, changes must be implemented.
I thought Minnesotans loved snow. The forecast should only help. Who wouldn't want to be at the club's first MLS home game? In the snow is a marketing bonus.
How can that be offside? He hasn't taken the bloody free-kick yet! The referee's a wayne currr! The referee's a wayne currr!
i'm skeptical about minnesota. there just isnt much buzz with them. I think they should've signed at least 1 'somewhat big' name. recent debuts NYCFC- 45k+ (sold out venue) OCSC- 63k ATL- 55k if minn only fills 65% of the stadium in the debut, it will be a bit of a disappointment.
meh. 30k for a debut is an objective disappointment, given the other most recent debutantes. no real other way to spin it.
I politely disagree. The high numbers are the exceptions and should be celebrated as such. If Minnesota or anyone comes in and even averages close to 20k then that's nothing but a positive for the league, I say, because it means they're likely to swing a profit and it puts the pressure on the teams that are truly struggling at the gate to get their butts in gear. That they may or may not swing any games with even better numbers is simply a bonus. Plus, if they happened to have their new stadium and simply played all their games in that, without any chances at some huge number, surely we wouldn't hold that against them? Heck, last year folks were still questioning if Atlanta would average more than 16k per game. A few teams have come in and set a high bar, but I don't think that should become the expectation. Simply the hope. You may see the stadium as half empty, but I choose to see it as half full, because lord knows I can recall a time when MLS would kill to see stadiums half full!
"It's like the defenders were frozen in place" BTW rumored new DP signing from up north, WAY up north
By the way, on the Atlanta crowd, last year Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football teams' largest crowd in Bobby Dodd stadium: 53,932. Through seven home games they averaged 47,503 per game. Now I don't believe Atlanta is going to beat GT's average attendance (although it is not beyond the realm of possibility), but that Atlanta's debut crowd is larger than GT's largest crowd in GT's stadium is still quite the statement.
Nah that's entirely subjective. If they sold no more tickets they would be ~10k over last years league average. Not every club that comes in needs to get 50k+ to be a success. It didn't take us long to go from struggling to fill stadiums to being spoiled and cynical. Maybe we should focus on attendance blemishes (CHI, CLB, NER, etc) before we hit the panic button over 30-freaking-thousand
Looked into this just for giggles... For the remainder of Atlanta's games at Bobby Dodd the capacity will be reduced to about 45k while the upper deck of the north end receives some behind-the-scenes TLC. The normal capacity at Mercedes Benz will be roughly 41k with the upper deck restricted. So, IF they manage to fill 95% of normal capacity and then sell out one of the games at a fully opened MBS, you're looking at about 42k for the season's average. Lord knows what I'd do if that happened. Right now my lofty aspirations would be to come in above 35k. Who knows what the crowd will be like as the season reveals all the foibles of being a new team, or if the concession woes from Sunday scare some other folks away. But if we simply averaged the 33k from season tickets sold then we're still the 2nd largest crowd in the league. Yeah, I'd take that in a heart beat.
Getting around 32-35k would be a pleasant surprise to me. The marketing for this team is god awful, and there has been little to no promotion over their season. Throw in the weather forecast of 29 degrees with a chance of snow. Keep in mind that most of us crazies up here will suffer through the weather to watch, but casual fans see that forecast and will pass until warmer days.