Easy folks. It is what it is. Atlanta's numbers are a sign of progress for MLS and that's the important thing, regardless of comparison to other sports or leagues. The same can be said for MLS as a whole, for even though the league average didn't leap forward this year the numbers are still light years removed from the dark ages when MLS had 10 teams and a league average below 14k. That's the part that's most impressive for pro soccer in the US.
Of course I know that Atlanta United tickets are cheaper. That's why I brought it up. I don't know how much cheaper so I asked. And to make a point that appeared to be ignored. My point is that you can't say that the NFL attendance numbers are helped by having fewer games with also talking about price. I've brought up the same point when people talk about MLS outdrawing the NBA and NHL. Those have a lot more games at much higher prices. Atlanta has great attendance. That is not being questioned anywhere. NashSC is the one that was comparing it to the NFL.
Of course cost is a very important factor. I don't know if anybody knows the answer. Don't think this info is public. 2018 season tickets ranged from $28-490 a game (increasing for 2019, see link below). Obviously season tickets are cheaper than single game tickets. The game I went to I bought the cheapest I could. They were standing room tickets at around $40 each. Cheapest seated tickets were around double that. There are tickets that go all the way up into the multiple hundreds a game. So not sure what the average is. My guess is in the $100 range for average, very easily could be higher. Again with NFL having less than half the games (8 home games versus 17) makes a massive difference. So with less than half the games even if tickets do average twice the cost it isn't an insane comparison. Bottom line, to have 2 teams that are flirting (and passing some) with NFL attendance numbers is amazing and something to be celebrated. Some info https://www.ajc.com/sports/reaction...-season-ticket-prices/MyKFrp2N4dFrJjPZHxFrfK/
Yes that was before our owner drove it into the ground. Nothing is going to improve until he's completely gone. He sold 49% of the team, just needs to sell the other 51%.
Never popular enough to sell out a NFL stadium. Then again only 2 (1.5) teams can do that on a regular basis, others may do it once or twice per year.
Gotta think 2019 sets a new record, right? On the downside, Minny cannot average 23k again with all their games at Allianz. So a slight 3-4k hit there. But that should be countered by sure gains due to Portland's expansion. And then some. DC is in Audi all year, so no more 5k attendence for them. And Rooney is there all year. Columbus should be much improved from winning the atrendence Spoon for the first time (12k, thanks PSV!). Do not know how high it goes, but it has got to be better. And then FCC comes in with 18k STH and a 33k capacity at Nippert. Potential for slippage in Orlando, but everyone else looks fairly solid. Or at least same as last year.
I'd predict a continued decline for us. Perhaps slowed a bit with the departure of the team president, but there just isnt enough time for the new one (whose authority has been reduced) to make much impact.
I'm guessing it will be close to setting a record, perhaps barely so. Like you said, I think Minnesota's decline will be canceled out by a Columbus increase (around 3k), with everyone else staying stagnant or slight increase/decrease. Atlanta I want to say has one more full stadium game than last year, but I could see dips for Colorado/Dallas/Chicago/Montreal if they get off to slow starts (or never start....).
Regular season only, or including the postseason? Because Atlanta had three sold out full-stadium games in the postseason (one with overflow seating) this year. There's no guarantee they'll repeat that playoff run next year. Although I do expect they'll sell out the stadium as many times as they open it in 2019, if for no other reason than pure momentum from this year's run.
They are talking about regular season. They had 5 70k+ regular season games this year (someone can correct me if wrong, but i went through all their games). I don't think it has been announced but the theory seems to be there will be at least 1 more 70k game in 2019.
As mentioned by others, Portland will also average around 4k more this year. Stadium will seat 25k vs the previous 21k+
Yeah, figuring if the four teams I mentioned averaged 1k less that would cancel out that increase as well. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds throughout the year, that's for sure.
Crew average should increase by more than 3k with new ownership. We were around 12.5K in 2018, I think we'll be around 17K for 2019.
Season ticket renewals way down, based on anecdotal evidence. No "name" DP as of right now. They did bring in a new President, which may signal a more aggressive marketing and sales approach, and may still bring in a DP who can move the needle. Also, any concrete stadium news would improve sentiment, but, despite a little bit of smoke, it doesn't appear that we can expect stadium news anytime soon.
It's been my experience in conversation with other STH's that it has less to do with a stadium and more to do with being totally fed up with a horrendous office staff and their everyday boondoggles and the horse shit shoveled out by ownership. For an organization that prides itself on savvy and smarts, they've proven to be the opposite. Me? I've never considered myself to be the smartest guy in the room, hence I re-uppped on my tickets.
Just curious, what are some examples on this? My assumption has always been that the NYCFC organization is a victim of their own hubris...but I don't know much about how they actually operate on daily basis.
Nothing more than death by a thousand paper cuts. As far as fan services are concerned they've been long on promises and short on payoffs. Clueless ticket reps. A rewards program that's worthless (that's if you're ever even awarded your points). A ticket resale market that's totally bottomed out. People still waiting to be reimbursed for StubHub sellers fees the club promised to pay. An annual ST relo program that's a farce, etc... As for being under that City Football Group Umbrella? Two words for that: Eloi Amagat.
Agreed. My ticket rep keeps changing every few months, which can't be a good indicator of morale at the club. Also, there doesn't seem to be much of an attempt to attract the casual fan base that showed up in year one. I've not seen the fixtures advertised anywhere and I know of casual soccer fans that don't even know there's a team based at Yankee Stadium. Seriously, I invited a Man United fan from the Upper East Side to a game and they assumed I was talking about the Red Bulls.
Just knocked this chart up. Attendances by debut season (order used is from Wikipedia) View attachment 145253 First 12 clubs (1996-2006) Average - 17,638 Median - 17,991 Clubs 13-23 (2007-2018) Average - 26,497 Median - 23,211 However, if you think the original teams are failing it's not the case. Attendance changes 2005-2018. Kan +106% SJ +46% NE +46% Dal +39% NYR +24% Col +12% DC +6% LAG +1% Clm -4% (obvious reasons) Chi -14% Median increase between 2005 and 2018 +35% I excluded RSL as they had a expansion team boost but even so their 2018 attendance was 3% higher than 2005.