Good post. I think we also need to give more reflection on how a lot of this works from a league perspective, as well. Individually we all want our teams to be the next hot thing in the stands. Yet no league escapes the gradient curve with regards to team support because invariably the markets feature different sizes, different levels of success on the field, and different cultural elements influencing how the people will or will not support a team. Someone will always be bringing up the rear. The best you can hope for is to raise the floor in this regards such that whatever crowds they get leave the business sustainable. So I certainly don't begrudge fans of teams that have had bona fide issues at the helm and on the pitch because I know how tough it can be to motivate yourself to show up and be a real fan when you know the product is shoddy. Hopefully for the Fire the case is less about ineptitude at their offices but rather the way the league has raised the stakes and standards. Sounds like they have a fair investor behind them but one with perhaps less sports business savvy. (Edited to reduce comma overkill.)
not sure who does that chart but their LAG and NYC numbers seem to be off ... the MLS official weekly stat sheet agrees with my numbers for all the teams: https://www.mlssoccer.com/media-resources/stat-sheets
Alan Green is one of the most controversial commentators in BBC Radio history. There's no way he'll toe the corporate line. I can't believe he's left the BBC though. A typical quote "Oh, there's someone yawning in the crowd, what a surprise. How long have we got to go in this?" (It was midway through the first half.) https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2009/apr/21/alan-green-alex-ferguson-radio-five-live
Thanks for bringing the Brit perspective. I did not know any of this. Now I'm pretty interested in watching his broadcasts just from having this backstory.
He didn't leave the BBC. He is just doing this on leave from them. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...er-broadcasting-role-mls-side-atlanta-united/
26,539 in Toronto for the 2nd leg of the Canadian Championship. TFC won on the last kick of the game from Giovinco. Fun but awfully reffed game.
For NYCFC it's that Philly game a few weeks ago when they didn't announce an official attendance figure for a while…22k was cited by Marca…24.2k by a team staffer on his twitter account… They team belatedly accepted that 24.2k number…amidst everything else MLS does as the AmeriCan worldwide leader of soccer they likely haven't had an opportunity to correct their average...
okay i checked the official box score for the week 14; 6/4 game of NYC vs PHI and it does now show 24,290 and fixing that number in my sheet gets me to the same ytd average for NYC as in the graphic (22,559) ... https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/m...w-york-city-fc-vs-philadelphia-union/boxscore anybody got any idea where the LAG discrepancy might come from?
okay. i found that for the week 2; 3/12 game of LAG vs POR i had 20,982 but the box score has 20,928 ... so with that new number my ytd average for LAG matches the graphic (22,943) but it is weird that MLS's offical stats must have the same typo in it as i did originally such that our LAG ytd averages match but were both wrong? okay new ytd team by team chart below.
This is what the second largest crowd in @opencup history looks like. #CINvCHI pic.twitter.com/GyY5mCMvQ1— FC Cincinnati (@fccincinnati) June 29, 2017
Open Cup Attendance Data: Dallas - Colorado 4,131 Houston - Sporting 6,095 New England - DC 2,572 Miami - Atlanta 9,004 New York Red Bulls - Philadelphia 9,136 Cincinnati - Chicago 32,287 (New record for a non-final) San Jose - Seattle 13,442 Los Angeles - Sacramento 2,195 ( :-( )
Which is a rare case when the men take advantage of the larger crowd for a women's game. There is no way in hell that six thousand people were in the stadium for the USOC game. 6,095 is the attendance for the Dash/Breakers game that followed. http://www.nwslsoccer.com/games/info/7o6t3xcavxucxxdl5bttytqeh/ To be fair, There's probably some of that number that was there for, and only for, the first game, but the larger crowd was definitely there for the NWSL game. But fair is fair. Doubleheaders used to be a much bigger part of the presentation of professional soccer in this country, and in the vast majority, both games (or all three in the cases of the couple Gold Cup doubleheaders played with an MLS match in Foxborough) announce the same attendance. (I can remember one WUSA/MLS match from RFK that announced separate numbers).
I remember some crowds that felt completely different for Freedom/United "doubleheaders." The hour in between didn't help on hot, Summer days didn't help.
Atlanta United at midseason: Q&A with Darren Eales The highest average attendance is in our sights. After our game against San Jose (on Tuesday), we will have more cumulative people through the gate —more than 370,000 — which is more than 14 teams had in total last season. That just puts it into context. And we have 10 more games to go at home. We’ve sold more than 35,000 season tickets, which is incredible. ... The merchandise portal on mls.com sells gear for the 22 teams, plus LAFC and league-branded items. Twenty-five percent of the merchandise sales through that portal are Atlanta United.
I called this number before the season started. With 35k season ticket holders and the number growing I feel they absolutely have to open more than 40k at all the MBS games.
14,984 people (give or take) crammed mostly into the shady side of Toyota Stadium this afternoon because the rocket scientists at TSN thought it would be a good idea to have a late afternoon kickoff in Texas in July for their Canada Day broadcast.