This is not intended to be a political statement. However, I find it interesting that in a region where the major employer is an ever expanding Federal Government folks are worried about layoffs. Seriously, if you want to talk about how bad things are come to Michigan. I'm thinking something else is going on here. I just don't know what.
The March, 2009 unemployment rate for the District was 9.8%. The region as a whole has a lower rate, but keep in mind that not everyone here works for the Feds. Even when people keep their jobs, there's been a huge uptick in savings rates across all income levels. People are simply not spending as much of their disposable income, particularly not on entertainment. Retail sales are down, etc. The evidence is all around. There's nothing else going on here, the economy is the largest single factor in the attendance drop to date. Any other drops would just be noise from the data (things like weather, etc). Attendance is down for MLS, MLB, etc.
Again, not trying to start a pissing match or get political. But lets look at the larger picture. Info provided by the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics: "Eleven of the most populous metropolitan areas are composed of 34 metropolitan divisions, which are essentially separately identifiable employment centers. In February, the two divisions that comprise the Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich., metropolitan area registered the highest jobless rates: Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, 14.6 percent, and Warren-Troy- Farmington Hills, 12.9 percent. The divisions with the next highest rates were Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Mass.-N.H., 12.1 percent, and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif., 11.0 percent. Bethesda-Frederick- Rockville, Md., reported the lowest unemployment rate among the divisions, 5.4 percent. Nashua, N.H.-Mass., and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va., posted the next lowest rates, 6.2 and 6.3 percent, respectively. "
We might have jobs, but I sometimes want to keep mine and money is still tight. I know I can't afford to go to games right now and I'm not a season ticket holder this year. To help the economy and as a sign of patriotism, I have been to all three home games and plan to be pissed off at Open Cup prices on Wednesday. (How are tickets the same regular season price for an Open Cup play-in game against an opponent that we will see the very next week in a regular season game?) What better way to show you're proud to be an American than spend money you don't have?
ok on the one hand we have a team that plays in a league that is the second most valuable league in the world behind the nfl, which has huge media exposure and money, playing in a new stadium, and is playing "america's game" on the other hand we have a team playing in a league that struggles to gain any credibility, little media attention, playing in a dump of a stadium and is playing the "foreigners game" And to show for it the nationals get 5000 extra fans. Now how did they get a new stadium again and DC United missed out???
well lets look at the nats first 5 games this year 40,386 20,494 19,026 fri 19,864 sat 16,974 sun wow and average of like 18k for the 1st weekend series? thats terrible. 26th out of 30 teams in the 2nd year of a stadium only higher than toronto cincy pittsburgh KC
All I'm saying is that DC is not immune. Sure, DC's rate is lower than Detroit's, but that's not the point - DC's rate has been increasing over what it was. Times are harder than they were. If you want to account for why the attendance has changed, then looking at how the economy has changed is a logical place to start. The Delta is the relevant piece of information here. Furthermore, my point about savings rates is that people are being more frugal whether they lose their jobs or not. Savings rates across the US have skyrocketed. Retail sales are down. Sports attendance is down. There's every indication that people are saving a lot more of their disposable income rather than spending it. Yes, DC is better off in the larger picture, but that larger picture isn't particularly relevant to sports attendance. Furthermore, just because people haven't been laid off doesn't mean mean they're not hurting. I have plenty of anecdotal evidence from DC of friends that have been laid off or forced to accept rather large furloughs or pay cuts. Incomes are down, and spending is down accordingly. Finally, perception is more important than reality. People perceive that things are bad, hence they are spending less even if they still have their normal incomes. They're saving in case they do lose their job several months from now. Anyway, if you're looking for a reason why attendance is down, the most obvious explanation is usually the right one, all else being equal - and the economy is the most obvious explanation.
Friday was the first game I've attended in over a year. I essentially had season tickets of some sort for over a decade until last year. Part of the reason I didn't attend as much was one of my friends moved away. Also, the season ticket prices kept creeping up and I got tired of the ongoing stadium talk. I also got a little bothered by the fact that (theoretically) in David Beckham's first year, you could somehow order a half-season plan A and half-season plan B for the same seat and somehow not end up with a home ticket against the LA Galaxy. That just annoyed me. By the way, as to jobs, I don't think I see a construction company as a DC United sponsor anymore. If you think about the labor supply for the construction industry, that probably does have a direct impact on attendance.
Not that I really care about comparisons between DC and the Nats, I would be interested to know the averages for the Expos in the last and second to last seasons in Montreal. Is it much better now? Probably not. The pivotal data in this discussion is going to be more related to spending than unemployment, and spending is down in every market regardless of unemployment. At this point in the season, I've actually probably spent more on DCU than I did at the same point last year, as I havent used any of my flex tickets. The only difference for me this year was I knew I had a tax bill coming rather than a refund, so I bought my plans later than usual, but now that I'm paid up to Uncle Sam, I'm spending normally again. Of course, my "normal" spending is exceedingly thrifty compared to the recent norm in America. Do walk up sales get the benefit of the promotional pricing? I assume not, and if that's the case, then it's no wonder sales are down. The walk ups at United games have decreased dramatically over the years. Part of it because of changes in marketing and fan demographics, but it's also due to the availability and ability to buy on the web, and direct through United's office. I remember in the beginning I used to do walk ups and the lines were VERY long. That's more impulse than planning your attendance weeks and months ahead, which is what I do now, and the more impulsive an expenditure is the less likely people are going to engage it in the current climate. I'm not too worried about this issue until midseason, when the data sample is large enough to really say anything.
Friday was the first game I've been able to attend this season. With the economy slowing down affecting my job , I have to be a little more frugal. Things might be picking up, so I'm hopeful I can attend more games.
Yes - it is a lot better. Montreal 2003 Attendance: 1,025,639 (16th of 16) - 12,662 per game Montreal 2004 Attendance: 749,550 (16th of 16) - 9,253 per game Washington 2005 Attendance: 2,731,993 (8th of 16) - 33,728 per game -- Washington 2008 Attendance: 2,320,400 (13th of 16) - 28,646 per game Washington 2009 Attendance: 116,744 - 23,343 per game, so far http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/WSN/
Sometimes if you ask, the ticket window people know about promotional prices and can apply them. They knew about "College Night," but I recall some promotion last season where you had to go to a specific ticket window and even there nobody knew anything and would send you in circles trying to save a couple dollars.
Not only is the economy hurting those with one job that people want to hold on to as well as save in case they can't, but I'm sure a good percentage of younger people have picked up a 2nd job if they can in addition to what they have so they can save more.
Yeah, I know it's rough in other places, probably more than in DC. My employer (non-profit) has just finished the 3rd wave of down-sizings since last October. I'm hoping to hang on until #2 Wino-son is out of college in 2 years. In the last several months, 24 of my friends/co-workers have been laid off. #1 Wino-son was laid off at Christmas and has not found a job yet. Even though we may be (as a region) better off than most, some of us have been hit hard, as well. I really can empathize with the folks in Michigan, Ohio, & etc.
Wow. Which section was that? I'm in 307 and folks in my area for season tickets are begining to complain about prices ($40 day of game). MLS and DC United are fun. They are a better team and League than most around the world give them credit. Having said that they are no EPL side. United needs to be aware of pricing themselves outside the level people are willing to pay, given the wide range of choices available in the world.
Section 304. It use to be full but few of us are left. Same goes for 305, which I do not know if it was premium or VIP in years past but it has been empty so far this season. These are seats that are under cover. I am not sure if the lack of numbers are due to season ticket holders or walk up but there are plenty of empty rows this season.
This topic is coming up more now(Bog, SI, BS) because it is obvious crowds aren't what they should be. As I said on the Sports Bog FWIW, I had problems with pricing before the season began and not just now that not as many people are showing up.
I'm pretty sure full season ticket price for Dinamo on supporter side is like 1 ticket in Barra :/ average DCU tickets are more than average bundesliga prices (19 euros) LOL Add in shit economy, no marketing, etc and you get less people
Aren't most of the other sg seats behind the goal? As SE/BB are primo sideline kind of comparing apples and oranges, no? DCU has been slowly ratcheting up the price so when we moved to new stadium we didn't have the giant leap like what happened in in LA with Rose Bowl to HDC move (it more than doubled in 1 season!) But now that we're not going anywhere fast they might want to hold at the current rate. K
That is one reason SG season tickets are normally a bit discounted, but La Norte's cost is still above most other tickets. I've never really bought into that reasoning for the increases. I've always seen them more as general inflation than anything else.
If I remember correctly, 305, 306, 307 and 308 were all VIP sections. 304 and 309 were Premium. If United has expanded the sections for VIP pricing I think that is a huge mistake. They are clearly having an impact on long time season ticket holders. Also, now that the new Stadium has gone poof, the reason to hold onto your seat for priority seating in the new stadium has gone. I will agree with you Falc, I have never seen so many empty seats on what used to be long time season ticket holders that came week in week out, good team, bad team.
If anything, I think United needs to go in the other direction - they need to offer more ticket price points. I can get into a Nats game for five bucks. Yeah, there are more of them, etc. but I think United could benefit a great deal from having more variation in the pricing scheme. Maybe it's just me, but I think a big reason why the supporters sections have seen more growth (at least anecdotally) is because it's a much better deal in terms of overall seating location, atmosphere, and price point.