Forget Ronaldo. The rape allegation has some evidence (a rape kit was done, there's a transcript of him admitting that she said no more than once or twice and that he apologized afterwards, he transferred $380k to her, etc.) behind it. He'll be well advised to stay away from the US for few years. Even if this case can be hushed up, the moment a Ronaldo to wherever deal is announced there will be a more claims. Some will turn out to be Julie Swetnick-type grifting, but even that one took a few days to become obvious. Others . . . Part of the singing-a-big-name idea is to give the sponsors the media exposure they crave. Being associated with rape claims isn't the exposure they have in mind.
Heh, probably a more pro US crowd than any of USA-Brazil,Mexico,Colombia And that isn't saying much at all lol
20,211 in Cincinati for the playoffs. 7,511 in Phoenix which is a club record for what could have been Drogba's last game. 11,569 in Sacramento Thos are numbers MLS would have been OK with some years back for the first round of the playoffs. USL is looking more solid than ever.
The Phoenix Soccer Complex has 6,200 seats so it must have been packed. If they can afford an air-conditioned stadium they should be a shoo-in for MLS.
71, 812 in Atlanta (53,002 average, that's fvcking AMAZING!!!!!) 20,249 in DC United 19,684 in Montreal 23,642 in Orlando 18,021 in Philadelphia 19,096 in FC Dallas 22,000 in LAFC 52,242 in Minnesota (23,902 average, I believe it won't be long before they expand the stadium) 21,144 in Portland 17,474 in San Jose ????? in Houston
390 games at 22K per game is 8, 580, 000. With 25 games to go the crowds stood at 7, 901, 647. 11 games this week should crack 300K going on the above post. Meaning 8.2 million, which is a mega number TBH, thus say 370 to 380 to reach 22K, in 14 games or 27K per game, not impossible but unlikely. The 8.5 million I think will be passed and that will be one hell of an achievement, rather than dwell on missing by a few the 22K, enjoy quite a well attended season.
New state record for a soccer game in Minnesota I believe. Or is it only a record for a local pro team?
I really, really wish more folks could experience this. Yes, we're still working on original chants and stuff but today had the largest tailgate set up yet, 70k+ people around town wearing United gear, signs everywhere, solid press coverage... Atlanta has been desperate for a sporting identity and the team and fans have seized on this in a huge way. As a loooong time soccer fan this has been absolutely amazing to see and you can see the joy on the faces of die-hards knowing we get to be ourselves on this kind of scale. It truly is like a full-on NFL atmosphere sometimes. I used to dream about soccer getting coverage like the NFL. Never presumed it would surpass the popularity of the other big sports and know full well the realities both for today and the future, but man how f*****g amazing that we can have gameday experiences like these where there are games aplenty going on, national TV coverage, playoff scenarios and other news stories playing out and even several places with large, loud crowds?! For all our gripes about MLS we're catching glimpses of heaven compared to past years in US soccer history, and I'm so friggin' grateful to be a part of this. I hope and pray more cities match this enthusiasm someday. What a great day that would be.
Pretty unique position. Atlanta United's regular season attendance of 901,033 exceeded the full season attendance of...All 30 NBA teams in 2017-18 (in 24 fewer games)All 31 NHL teams in 2017-18 (in 24 fewer games)All 32 NFL teams in 2017 (in 9 more games)The 2018 Miami Marlins (in 64 fewer games)— Mike Conti (@MikeConti929) October 22, 2018
Yeah, on the flip side, looking for some, ANY, news coverage of the Galaxy's huge game today. CBS local sports? Nope. Not a peep. ABC 7 - Ok, it's the top story on a day the Rams, Chargers and Clippers played. That's... amazing. Fox 11 - No mention NBC Los Angeles - What Galaxy? They do have an article on the rise of axe throwing though. LA Times - Mentioned below the fold. Daily News - Also mentioned below the fold. Ok, overall being top news on ABC and mentioned on others makes me feel... ok about this roundup </offTopic sorry="true">
This 12 games played to a 45k capacity and 5 games played to full capacity. I see you guys increase the full capacity games to 7 games and 10 at 45k that would put total attendance around 950,000 (56k). Is there any chance the non full capacity (45k) could increase?
We know from the team that next year will have a minimum of 6 games at full-house. Technically it's 42.5k. The extra comes from SRO tickets. Going up from there means opening up the third tier part ways and I don't know how convenient that is. Can they confine folks to a particular section to minimize staffing and clean-up? Can the curtains be drawn in sections? I think their approach will be to keep doing this until they find the balance between how many times each configuration sells out.
I am certain the curtains can be put up in sections. No way that it is all one continuous piece. As for the other questions I have no idea. I would hope they are are at least considering opening some parts of the upper deck. The game I went to was a 45k game and I had SRO tickets. I stood up on the endzone area of the 3rd deck (behind where the tifo goes up). They had movable fence type barriers up to keep you from wandering around the rest of the upper deck. Seems they could utilize these to open up more of the 3rd deck but people people confined.
I'm sure the curtains are in sections I just don't know how easy/ graceful it would be to keep one section up. Could be the flick of a switch, could involve a lot more. The main thing is getting the demand level right. Having one side of upper deck open and full sounds good, but opening a whole section and getting it half or partially full sets people up for the notion tickets are always avaialable, and at that point the profit-per-ticket goes down. Do they want to see that? At this point I'm willing to just trust the team. They obviously know what they're doing so far.
I trust them too. They have done this all perfectly. I still think they have to be considering opening some more sections up. Will they do it, who knows. Blank made a comment this year (I think it was half time of the all star game) that there was still room to grow.
Indeed. Imagine this getting even bigger?! If we ever sell out 70k for a season in my lifetime I might be so giddy I'll actually consider forgiving my ex!
That level of support would probably be top 15 in the world. It's mind blowing. Of course then the question becomes whether Blank is competitive enough to keep putting out the best possible team. Does he really care about MLS Cup, or just wants to do enough to fill the stadium?
This year 5 and next year 6, you guys will set yet another attendance record. 11 x 45,000 = 495,000 06 x 71,500 = 429,000 17 games 924,000 / = 54,293 *-Yeah I know it's 42.5k, but every non-full capacity was 45k+ this year. Maybe you guys could do what Seattle does just open up sections in the upper when there is demand. Yeah if it's just a couple of sections it might not be worth it, either way I'm jealous of you guys.
Blank's goal, as he has repeatedly offered, is to first make the fans happy, then hire good people to run the teams and get out of the way. He wants trophies and to the extent that's the fans' lament he'll do what he can. Early signs suggests he's doing exactly this but the true test will come when there isn't a Tata Martino to lead the team.
Yeah I wish you guys could have kept Tata until the end of next year's CCL... We really really need an MLS team to finally win this thing again...
Well Tata hasn't officially left yet so hope springs eternal. All announcements thus far are informal and contradict the latest words from Tata and AU.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I think averaging 70K would be higher than top 15 in the world - maybe top five. After a relative handful of superclubs around the world, Atlanta's current attendance is pretty damn impressive for anywhere. On a whole different scale it's been great seeing my DC United selling out new Audi Field. I can tell you that through "dynamic pricing" they are figuring out how to leverage maximum revenue out of 20K. But I can't argue - you should expect to pay more to see a big act play in a small venue rather than a large stadium.
Article on The Guardian's web site today about Atlanta's success and attendance. Will try to provide link later when I have more than my phone available.