Code: % of season completed 16.70% Year Average Median %<10K %>20k 1996 25265 24592 11.5% 65.4% 1997 17027 13352 26.9% 26.9% 1998 15511 13037 12.5% 21.9% 1999 14553 14215 34.4% 18.8% 2000 13571 12922 28.1% 15.6% 2001 14694 14505 19.2% 7.7% 2002 17133 14065 8.7% 21.7% 2003 14634 14586 28.0% 20.0% 2004 15779 13417 28.0% 36.0% 2005 14732 12499 28.1% 15.6% 2006 16959 16666 15.6% 28.1% 2007 14780 14130 15.6% 15.6% 2008 15611 15271 17.1% 31.4% Final Numbers Year Average Median %<10K %>20k 1996 17406 15093 21.9% 26.3% 1997 14619 12733 25.0% 16.3% 1998 14312 11871 26.6% 16.1% 1999 14282 12973 32.3% 15.1% 2000 13756 12690 34.4% 12.5% 2001 14962 13431 26.6% 17.7% 2002 15821 14108 17.1% 18.6% 2003 14898 13641 23.3% 18.0% 2004 15559 13285 24.7% 25.3% 2005 15108 12619 27.1% 17.7% 2006 15504 14175 18.8% 18.8% 2007 16770 15353 8.2% 29.7%
It is interesting to note that as choppy as this year has felt attendance wise, we are arguably off to a better start than even last year when comparing similar amount of season played (2008 is better in 3 of the 4 categories we track). 2007 had an awesome last half of the year though. Not sure if we can expect the same in 2008.
The additions of Blanco and Beckham mid-season last year will be impossible to top, but it is possible that a team or two will find a designated player who may help their attendance some.
http://uskickblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/2008-mls-attendance.html as a league, down 6.8% from last year's total.... but given the "beckham" large crowd games haven't been factored in (and won't happen with the same zeal this year), its not a big deal. what worries more is the number of very low attendances... Chicago getting 15,000 isn't too bad, even though I'd like to think they should be getting 18-20,000... Columbus getting 6,000 and NE getting 8,300 for a game is a bit more concerning... overall though, not a bad year so far..
That's really poor statistics right there. You are extrapolating from the first part of the season and claiming a 6.8% decline? Andy_B's method is the correct way to go.
I know this isn't a very sound way to project the attendance, but if you factor in the same rate of change from last year's 16% to 100% then we'd have an attendance of 17,700 by this year's end. I doubt the attendance will grow as much in the end of the season this year though. We won't be seeing almost 70k in giants stadium again or a sold out RFK.
¿Wouldn't it be nice if last year's eye-popping category (<10k, which can't be replicated because of KC) were to be replaced by its cousin (>20k)?
I think it has. Or at least not lived up to the potential. If the Toronto game and the Houston game were not in the middle of a 4 game home stand it would give people more time to buy tickets and get hyped for the games. I think people might have said "I can watch them next week" or "I'd rather see them play San Jose/Chivas" which resulted in 20k and 23k for the two games in the middle of the 4 home games.
this is a bit apples and oranges as you are both correct. chitrader was referring to the short term numbers, of which 4 straight LA games certainly have helped, even if they were not maxed out. You are referring to the more long term implications of having a bunch of home games in a row will not maximize attendance which is also true.
Bad stats (look at the chart) and harping on stats based on some Nasty early season weather in C'Bus and NE. By the way, 15,000+ in Columbus over the week-end. You'll not see anything close to 6,600 again, barring a monsoon or something.
My thoughts exactly; the >20k number looks pretty good so far. Ultimately though, I wonder how useful that number is going to be? Specifically due to Colorado being capped at 18k and Chicago right at 20k... basically the >20k number is ultimately going to = # of sellouts. Columbus, Dallas, and Toronto don't have capacities much larger than that either.
Obviously the final numbers are going to be down because of the abscence of Beckhamania, but I think there's really positive trends here. The beginning of 2007 and 2008 both lack a headline grabber like Beckham last year, so they're comparable, and 2008 is significantly better. Factor in the small, temporary stadium issues and this is looking like a very good year.
I know it's a bit late now, but I'd be interested to see how many <6k crowds we see. Every season until 2007, we were seeing a few of these - but by contrast, we've now seen a crowd of 6,600 in Columbus, and 9,000 in NY and some people are actually shocked! It's also worth pointing out that the announced crowd looks fairly realistic in pretty much all cases now. So when they announce a crowd of 9,000, you can bet that the crowd is at least 6 or 7,000. Certainly none of this "12,000 in NY" when a quick count suggests barely 500 are in the stadium.
All indiciations so far point in the right directions. The grassroots movements that are taking place in KC and Columbus seem to be gaining traction and will slowly rebuild the fanbase of those two clubs. A few bad weeks in the beginning, but I'm very pleased to see the total numbers for the season so far where they are.
Not so fast, in OHIO things aren't looking good at all. http://www.dispatch.com/live/conten...ew26.ART_ART_04-26-08_C1_D6A1MD4.html?sid=101
what the hell is this dude's problem. That was 5 days ago before our latest attendance of 15,221. Are you a dunce. Here I got a site to check out for you. http://www.crewonespot.blogspot.com How many fans have a podcast done by fans? I think other than us TFC. I think we are fine diphead. Stop going around with that same article. Before our last pretty good attendance.
Make it three then. Could someone give me a link. I like listening to others, improves ours and makes us think of ways to be better.
Perhaps you were out of town last week and missed the Week 5 attendance thread. Article was already discussed there.
For starter,why don't you act like a civilized person and take in the attendance issues in a positive way for the team or for the league,instead of neg talk.
He also started a thread in MLS: General with the same info. Sounds like a big Crew fan. A better title for his other thread would be: "Crew Attendance Is Alarmingly Okay."
It's at the UnitedMania site. Here's a link to the page announcing the new date/time: http://www.unitedmania.com/section/32/content/3443 The Screaming Eagles had a podcast the past two seasons, but I think that's been shelved for now, since Dave Lifton, the man who put it together, seems to be busy with other stuff this season, including his own very worthwhile but non-MLS-related (music, mostly) podcast and website, which is here.
When teams suck for years on end, attendance suffers. It's no big deal. Numbers don't jump overnight, either. We've been watching our attendance erode for about 2 years now, but I think the worst of it is over. Columbus will be fine, if they keep winning. They're strong, they have a fan base, and they have a stadium.