Oh, I never gave it a thought it meant 81k tickets, I read it as 9k total right away - largely b/c it didn't say it was buying 9k tickets *each* for the 9 teams.
Yeah, but the Alex Moran affect won't be in effect. How many soccer mom's and dad's were going to buy tickets just to take their kid because Alex Morgan was coming to town? And now she isn't.
Counterpoint: how many soccer moms and dads know that Morgan is out injured? And that said, Orlando still has Marta. That's a pretty big sell right there. Krieger+Harris are pretty popular too, though not quite up at the Morgan level. Besides, wasn't Rapinoe out injured for the Reign game at RBA too? An injured WNTer doesn't seem to hurt much.
League up 21% compared to last season. Every team still up from last season. A very positive sign. https://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2019-nwsl-attendance/
Some bump quantification: 1175963414742462465 is not a valid tweet id They also adjust the numbers for DC and NJ considering the larger venues use. Obviously a few teams still have home games left, so these numbers can and will change (likely to increase the bump size since season-enders are usually big draws). As a side note, they haven't specified yet what date they're using as the pre-WWC/post-WWC cutoff. I'm kinda surprised that UTA's bump is so small, but then again, when you're drawing 5 figures even before the WWC, there's not much to complain about. =-) HOU's bump is also pretty small in terms of overall numbers, but at the same time it's a +13.6% increase, which is pretty nice when framed that way.
Thought I would point out to you that if you are using the Soccer Stadium Digest in reporting your attendance figures, there is a discrepancy with the Reign numbers. Their numbers are for 9 games, when they have played 10 games. One of the earlier games in the season was not reported. To get an accurate figure use the attendance being reported on Wikipedia for the 2019 NWSL They show Reign for 10 games with a total attendance of 50,166 and an average of 5017. Total attendance for the league at this point is 704,285.
Thank you to the 8,314 who made it to our Home Finale! pic.twitter.com/hg1jLMuAou— NJ/NY Gotham FC (@GothamFC) September 29, 2019
A thousand less than their first game at Red Bull Arena, but I have to believe the lack of Alex Morgan, the 11 am start and it being NFL Sunday kept some people away.
The fact that it was "only" a drop of ~1k fans is, in my opinion, a sign that the 9k they drew earlier was not just a flash in the pan: like how the Spirit were able to draw 17k in their second big-stadium outing, there actually doesn't seem like there's a big fall-off involved. Sky Blue has a base somewhere int the 5k-7k range that they can reliably tap into just by moving closer to NYC to a stadium with proper amenities.
A Twitter thread with lots of statistics on clubs that have finished their regular season home games: 1178479040816021504 is not a valid tweet id
Yeah Tech Support is a great account I like seeing Chicago's stats, since it showcases both the effects of one-off (or, this season, two-off) "big games" as well as perfectly encapsulates the WWC bump. Seattle's got a nice bump signature too. That is, both teams have a fairly symmetric season, but the second half is raised up - and, importantly, doesn't seem to have shown any waring-off. DC and NJ have the bump signature too, but to see it better, you have to account for the asymmetry in their numbers. X-D
realistically, if SkyBlue moves to MSU and can get 3-4,000 a game, plus pair up with Red Bulls to play 3 games there would be a big step forward for the team. I'd even suggest a real double-header with Red Bulls. Offer a BOGO deal for the double-header.
Double-headers actually tend to be money losers. They don't really do much as far as cross-promotion to fan bases, and one team ends up giving up their gate receipts and any other follow-on revenue, which for minor league sports (and economically, NWSL clubs operate on minor league level economics) is the lifeblood. The 4 MLS/NWSL teams as well as the USL/NWSL Courage have some synergies, but if the games NWSL games are independently profitable, the incentive to double up is much reduced, plus all five teams end up with other complications. All the staff end up having to change shirts between games (adidas-Nike), you've got to redress the field and all the stadium advertising. It's often more trouble than it is worth. It made more sense back in the old WUSA days when even MLS teams were paying rent, and having DC United and the Washington Freedom double up, the were able to effectively halve their rent for the game. Sky Blue, to double-up with Red Bull, would basically have to hand over all ticket sales to Red Bulls in lieu of paying rent, and they'd forego any parking and merchandising money, and they'd probably have to forfeit a percentage of their team sponsorship revenue as Red Bulls would maintain full control of stadium signage for a double-header. At least with a stand alone Sky Blue game, they'd be able to cover up some of the Red Bull sponsor signs and put up their own, as well as net some money from tickets and possibly merchandise sales.
So, here's an interesting article about the Spirit's home stadium for next year: https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com...ns-after-upset-victory-at-maryland-soccerplex It sounds like the SoccerPlex is almost certainly going to be in the picture for next year. They do want to play more games at Audi, though. Also, there's the name-drop of Serga Field, where DCU's USL team Loudon United play. It kinda sounds crazy, but the Spirit might end up splitting next season between three home fields. While there is the small risk of alienating fan groups at each location due to not having a "dedicated" home field, I actually kinda like the idea, simply because it reaches more people and plays into the feeling that the DMV is the DMV - DC, MD, and VA - kinda feels appropriate in a way.
Some good news about NJNY's average attendance being over 3,000 is that, according to Merritt Paulson at least for the Thorns, 3,000 is the financial break even point. If that number applies also to NJNY, their average for this year suggests long-term viability.
Break-even certainly depends on team, but FWIW the Spirit owner said back in 2013 that 3,000 was what he needed to break even. Costs have gone up since then, of course, but 3,000 certainly is in the reasonable range for break-even.
That number absolutely doesn't apply to Sky Blue. The Portland Timbers already control and are paying for the venue, and the Thorns only require a small amount of incremental, mostly technical, staffing. 80-90% of the organizational and operational staff is already in place. Sky Blue has to fill in all of that gap as well as paying more rent for practice and game fields, and they're doing it for facilities where they won't get anywhere near the ancillary revenues of the Thorns. The Thorns also get to piggyback on a lot of the behind the scenes partnerships that offer economies of scaled when paired with the Timbers and the USL T2 when it comes to player housing, legal (visas), transportation, and other stuff that is mostly invisible to the public. I would be shocked if Sky Blue could reach break-even at Rutgers. I don't think it's possible. They just can run enough gameday revenue.
Sjo So would that be the case with all the independently owned teams, while Houston, Orlando, and Utah would fit under the Portland model. Where would North Carolina fit into it? Somewhere in between.
...reflecting on siberian thunder’s post, how much different is sky blue’s situation from the spirit’s? costs have increased, but haven’t ticket prices as well? 3000 is certainly not the breakeven line for all, but it might be close.
I don't know that most teams will ever really reach "break even". As revenues increase, the pressure to expand rosters and pay existing players more will increase with it. After the Olympics there'll be a lot of salary pressure as players look to Europe and the wage competition heats up. The key isn't "break even" it's "sustainable losses". How much is a given ownership group willing and able to lose year over year to have a cool toy.
Sponsorship is what's needed. Red Stars for example need a front shirt sponsor for one and IMO another investor with Arnim.