Well I was going to tally up the season average until I realized I never saved this years attendance on my phone. With that said I'm sure the average didn't move much.
If the stadium deal falls through I think the number one reason will be lack of attendance. I doubt the state will allow a 25K stadium to be built on their land when you struggle to get people.
Code: Week 5 Season Average(2014) Weekly Total Jacksonville 10,875 8,318 Indianapolis 10,524(10,510) N/A Minnesota 9,146(5,175) 9,058 Ft. Lauderdale 7,290(3,243) N/A New York 7,071(5,042) 3,383 San Antonio 6,427(6,474) 7,252 Tampa Bay 6,235(5,509) N/A Atlanta 4,688(4,461) N/A Carolina 4,573(4,533) N/A Ottawa 3,859(2,593) 3,461 Edmonton 2,610(3,838) N/A Season Average Week Average NASL 2015 Spring 6,466 6,294 NASL 2014 Spring 5,427 6,616 Difference 1,039 Don't worry I got ya.
You didn't expect a poor attendance at 2PM on Mother's Day against probably the worst away draw in NASL? I think all of us expected this to be the worst attended game of the Spring when the schedule came out. The "El Plastico" probably didn't have much effect at all, as there isn't a huge cross over of Red Bull fans.
Eh, I'm not really buying that excuse. With how big the Cosmos fanbase is said to be it should have been decently attended. Plus I never really see MLB and MLS teams having trouble drawing a crowd on Mothers Day. Anyway hopefully they'll be able to bring it back up to their usual 5-6k crowd next game
Unfortunately there isn't a huge crossover with any fans it seems. I would love for the team to delve deep and you know, start marketing the team to local fans like most teams do. Seems like most casual fans either don't know the Cosmos exist or aren't inticed enough to go to games. The bad game in my opinion was the Brooklyn game, playing in a park in the city and near mass transit and you don't sell out? That's bad.
You are not buying an excuse that a large % of usual attendances are families and they would prioritize spending time with their mom and family than come to a soccer game? I immediately assumed this would be sub 5K. The next 2 home games are more typical games, if they don't get back up to that 6-7K range these last 2 games then maybe its time to start panicking.
I wouldn't say that, they seemed to have a lot of crossover fans that came for opening day (the challenge is to hook them as more regular attendees) and have come in the past. I am not sure what you want them to do, outside of spending millions and millions of dollars. They are on a lot of Queens and LI public advetrizing, they do radio spots, they do what they can on social media and word of mouth, they are involved in a lot of local organizations, etc. What they don't have, and can't buy (or don't want to buy), is the cache that comes with being in MLS.
Agreed, being Mothers day and an early Sunday game affected them more than the MLS NYRB vs NYCity match and even as an FC Edmonton fan I realize they (and Ottawa) don't seem to be one of the best draws for the US NASL clubs. So the Cosmos loose momentum after the 12.5K sellout opener by playing Ottawa @ MCU and then this Sunday's poor scheduling vs the Eddies with a weak turnout. Could've been planned better for sure.
Cosmos need a new ticket sales department or training for the ones they have...I heard about a place in Blaine that does that. I wonder what it would take for the Cosmos to use that?
There are also a couple of NASL FOs that have had good results that I'm sure the Cosmos could consult with.
They should call Peter Wilt ASAP. The Cosmos need to be doing whatever Indy's doing to get that attendance higher.
I have absolutely no idea (because I live extremely far away), but maybe the Cosmos is targetting the wrong crowd, or newyorkers don't care about minor league sports.
No doubt about that but the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Blast drew flies. Times have changed of course but IMHO Peter Wilt has done a wonderful job
From what I'm seeing its like the team over values the name and does very little on the marketing side, at least in the city compared to NYCFC and to a way lesser extent the Red Bulls. I was on the Cosmos boards a while back telling people that if the Cosmos didn't get there act together the media push from NYCFC was going to make the Cosmos irrelevant in the eyes of many new yorkers certainly seems like thats whats happening.
Have the Cosmos tried appealing to the community they are in? I get they are trying to be a NYC club, but from what I understand it is a bear to get to their current stadium from NYC.. Maybe if they appeal to the people that live near the current stadium they might get better attendance?
At this point it's all rhetoric... As long as the Cosmos ownership group has money to burn it's minimally different then what MLS single-entity went through at their start... The difference we are talking about is one team and not several. Attendance will become more relevant once we have a stadium. I think that basically is keeping in line with what Stover said at the townhall. We are still talking about a league that messily split from another league not to mention some teams folded before the league was fully formed and some went to MLS. So all things considered they should have a few more years to get the house in order. As for not joining MLS... No means no... Until it doesn't.
The attendance issues the Cosmos are having won't be solved by the stadium because the stadium will never come with attendance figures the Cosmos are posting. If they could get Indy numbers I think the stadium would be a forgone conclusion but they haven't and I think the state is simply putting off the bidders till they get a better offer from somewhere else. The Cosmos should get out of Hofstra ASAP and move to MCU if they can, from what I read MCU has nicer amenities and its close to mass transit. Hofstra's location isn't helping at all.
Unless the Cosmos can magically have only two other major sports franchises in the area i don't think Wilt can do much better here. I like Wilt, he connects with people, but that job is a lot easier when your local competition is low.
Yes, they are routinely in the LI communities have several local partnerships and sponsors, are very involved int LI youth soccer, put on clinics at schools all the time, etc. They spent a lot of money developing Mitchell Field for the public (and use it for training). The are doing many many things right, but they have two major issues, the first is these relationships are not fully realized (especially on the sponsor side) because of restrictions at Hofstra and the second is that frankly the NASL right now is not something that many fans of the sport care about, especially in a market with two MLS teams and the most accessible TV following f any clubs in the world (so many local SGs for these foreign sides).