I can't locate an attendance figure for the Friday match between the Crew & the Dynamo, I'd like to read a report from anyone who went out for it. Following on twitter I had the impression that the Crew had the better of it, sucks for me. Mostly I'm interested to know how Atlanta responded to the opportunity to see some league action, if only pre-season.
I was at the game last night, and in full disclouser I suck at estimation, I would think that there was around 500 people. I was a little disapointed wit the turn out.
Oh well, maybe there'll be a turnout Sunday afternoon. It sounds like they didn't get enough media attention and/or didn't promote the event as well as they might have. These kind of events may be a tough sell in the early years. They have something to build off of. Chattanooga put about 4300 in the seats for CBus v NERev. That was in the rain I think so that might be someplace to look to see what works and what doesn't. If they could bring out The Galaxy v RBNY for a preseason match next year I bet there'd be a buzz in Atlanta. They could also bring the Silverbacks into the mix, that worked in Orlando and Charleston they both had some pretty nice crowds even with bad weather (in Charleston) at times.
I was there, and the real issue on Friday was the sub-40-degree weather. The fans that were there were really into it (especially in the far-side stands), and there will be some Atlanta United supporters there on Sunday. Luckily, the forecast for Sunday is highs in the 60's, which will help draw a bigger crowd to an already impressive venue. It was encouraging to see promoters for the 'Backs and Atlanta United there, since I hadn't interacted with either in a while (or ever). If you're going tomorrow, wear black and sit in section 116 with the MLS to ATL supporters. They handed out flyers and were pretty excited about getting a team here and organizing meet-ups before and after the match, so I'll give them some pub: http://www.uniteatlanta.com/ http://atlwantsmls.com/ See you in Kennesaw on Sunday!
That must have been the group I saw getting people to sign a petition on the way out of the stadium. Nice job by them. I thought the crowd today was decent, and certainly better then the other 2 games from reports. If I had to guess I would say about 1,500. There were a lot more people on the east side then the west side. I think the main reason more people didn't come was the complete lack of marketing in the area for the games. The only reason I knew about it was because of this forum. I didn't even see a big sign outside the venue advertising for people who just happened to see it driving by. The only place I saw or heard any ads at all was the Atlanta Beat website. I'm sure it also didn't help that the teams playing weren't the most popular teams in MLS and didn't have any stars really. Brian Ching would be the closest to a star and he got hurt Friday and didn't play today. With all that said, we had a good time at the game today. The stadium is really nice and parking was convenient. I wish the beer was less then $6 but that is what you have to expect these days(although I hear beer at the Silverbacks games are $2.50 so I certainly plan on checking that out). Houston was certainly the better team today and they sat back a lot more in the second half after they were already up 2-0. Both goals were very good. New England got a goal in the 85th minute to close the gap but then Houston got a third goal about 2 minutes later to put the game out of reach.
The only publicity of the weekend I saw was tonight at the laundromat, a full-page ad in an Hispanic newspaper.
I was at all three games, and I think you guys are selling the crowds short. The stadium, from what I understand, seats 8k. From my estimation, you around 500 on Wed. (cold, rainy, weeknight), 2,000 on Friday and maybe around 3,000 on Sunday. The only major marketing I heard was them running commercials and giving away tickets on 680 The Fan. That said - I don't know how much marketing could do to get 8,000 people to fill the stadium on 3 nights...like has been stated...not alot of marketable stars. That said - getting anywhere from 5-7k people out over 3 days to watch 3 kind of blah MLS teams isn't bad...especially when most of the attendees don't follow the league religiously.
It could have been more then I estimated yesterday, it was hard to guess exactly how many were on my side and it was certainly the side that had more people. I expected that with the ticket pricing as well, I sat about 10 seats from the midfield line on the east side for $20. Sitting in the same area on the west side would have cost $50. I think they should have made the seats behind the goal $10 and they would have brought in a lot more fans having a lower starting price point. $20 lowest was too much for a preseason friendly of MLS teams.
I had a great time at the Sunday Match. It would have been much better had anyone spent a few bucks to advertise it. It is mind blowing on how poor soccer is advertised in Atlanta. If they really want a large crowd there they should have pulled a team with a Mexican star...could you have imagined if the Red Bulls with Henry and Marquez. The hispanic media would have filled the stands.
I said this before the friendlies occurred. How they cannot sell for 10 is beyond me. IMO, the promoter was looking for a quickbuck (Loudermilk).
When I said that Aaron's was the title sponsor that does not mean that they were necessarily the promoter. If anything it is highly unlikely that that Aaron's was the promoter. In most cases, such as NASCAR, the promoter is the operator of the facility and they sell the sponsorship rights to the event.
I thought it as well when they first announced the pricing and especially since they had behind the goal and the east sideline all general admission. It looks like the Beat have basically done the same thing for their season with the east sideline and behind the goal one big general admission group at $15 a seat.
Aaron's wasn't the promoter...they were a sponsor. I do agree, though, the Beat, who put this together, should've priced the tickets lower. There's a certain point where you're losing money by pricing tickets too high, and I think they were at it...especially considering these events weren't going to sell out, and people were sitting pretty much anywhere they wanted to...and weren't being stopped from doing so.
It's the attitude of the soccer "powers that be;" "You know when the game is, if you want to show up, do so, if not, don't. We shouldn't have to tell you. We're soccer; advertising is beneath us." That's it in a nutshell. Not just here, but in a lot of other place too. And it sucks.
That was how the last Auburn basketball coach Jeff Lebo was. Since he was a UNC guy it was very apparent that he felt it was beneath him to do anything outside of showing up and coaching the team. He sure liked to complain when no one showed up to the basketball games though. Of course in the end he couldn't get recruits in and got fired. Hopefully soccer people don't make the same mistake long term.
Had a great time at Sunday's game. Comments/observations: Nice stadium, nice home for Atlanta Beat & KSU women. Too bad that KSU does not have a men's team - they could probably field a good team with the talent in the NW Metro. Of course, I expect the stadium to get re-purposed to include KSU's proposed gridiron football team. Ticket prices were a bit high - this was preseason after all, and not a lot of big names were playing. A section for $10-12 would have been good, or maybe a package of all 3 games for $30. If this takes place again, it would be cool to have the Silverbacks in the mix, and actually award a trophy cup. As far as advertising, I heard it on 680 The Fan, got emails from Georgia Soccer and our local club, lots of coordinated facebook notifications & tweets. The Hispanic station 105.3 FM was at the game, so presumably they had advertised on-air. Advertising for soccer probably has to make the most of limited dollars, which is why it is targeted on people already connected to the sport. Wider notice would definitely be good, though.
I did not like the ticket pricing but I understand it completely from the Beat standpoint. If this game had $10 tickets and the Beat charges $15 for theirs, people would be saying "Why would I pay more for WPS?". As far as the Hispanic crowd I felt that is was non-existent. Get some Mexican players or other big names and the crowd will come.
There were quite a few on Friday night, especially in section 104. Best part of the night: our 3 rows chanting "SE... LO... PER-DIO!!!!" when a Crew player missed a wide-open shot with the goalie's face in the grass.
Well, it was just a preseason friendly. They could have gone with $15 to be the same as the Beat games though if that was an issue to them. I still don't get why they would have the east side and behind the goals one big general admission section. I would split them up in 2 different sections but maybe they just didn't want to have to have people there checking tickets to make sure people were going where they were supposed to.
Hey everyone, I am one of the guys behind the group you saw at the stadium with the petition. We are trying to get some things done to show that there is organized, passionate support for soccer in Atlanta. One thing I am doing is running the website www.atlwantsmls.com. Right now, I will freely admit the website sucks. It was the best I could do in a couple of days to get it up before the events last week. I have some big plans for it, though, and I work with a rock star group of people who get things done! This is a call to anyone...everyone...interested in bringing an MLS team to Atlanta. I want to hear your thoughts and if you want to help, I would gladly appreciate it. You can email me at matt@mattstigall.com We are accomplishing some amazing things already after existing for only 2 weeks! -Matt
Thanks! Honestly, I was a little disappointed with the turn out at the games, but I know that Atlanta could support a team. I think the marketing for the events was horrendous as people I know who support soccer didn't even know about the games. My ultimate goal is to get emails of people who care, and be able to use those emails to let them know of events around the city. The more emails, the better. So far, we have received lots of great feedback. Again, if you want to be a part of it in any way, don't hesitate to contact me at matt@mattstigall.com. -Matt
Bottom line is really whether there's more membership in organizations trying to push MLS for Atlanta now than before. If so, then it's been a success.