The Knockout Round had an average attendance of 17,013, and that includes two multiples of 100 that look rounded. That's a little over half of last season's average. Last season had low attendances in Chicago and Houston and big ones in Atlanta and Seattle. Atlanta's Knockout Round game last year got almost as many people as this year's four games combined.
Yeah, but the Thursday games sold out. Basically no improvement was possible and had some great crowds. Also, we're the knockout rounds played over Halloween last year? That partially explains the "meh" numbers for that date.
How about the two Conference Champs playoff for the Supporter's Shield on the Wednesday and the Saturday after the season ends, with the MLS Cup play-in round games starting the next Wednesday, giving teams 10 days to sell tickets? The Supporters' Shield teams get a bye until the second round.
While true, I can see the merit in a conference tie breaker for the supporter shield in the future. A larger league more than likely means further segregation of scheduling between conferences. The conference champions will play almost, or possibly completely different teams, leaving the argument that "our conference was tougher this year". That being said, it's not important enough to risk injuries and play two games on short rest before the playoffs while the lower seeded teams are resting. Maybe a post MLS cup series as a last money grab for the teams and league, but as you said, the supporters shield is not about that.
Well, Columbus certainly didn't help the pro-playoffs argument. 12892 in attendance (again, low because of only a few days to sell tickets)
MLS doesnt get to decide how the Shield is handed out. It ain't their trophy. Never will be. Besides, there's been a stronger and weaker conference for years. Thems the breaks.
The crowd looked and sounded great on TV. I was surprised by the announced attendance. Looked bigger than near sellout announced attendances in Houston [emoji6]
On the play-by-play thread Sunday, stalwart poster Bill Archer disputed the 'official' attendance number, and I'll go off his observation since he's been to Mapfre Stadium numerous times. In live shots and replays, the only noticeable empty seats were in the upper decks on both sides. The lower bowl was pretty much full as well as the 'balcony' opposite of the stage. For me, the game looked and sounded like there were well over 13k in Columbus.
i was surprised by this this number as I stated above. I was also surprised by the RSL number after watching the game. I am starting to wonder if they are using a different metric for playoff announced attendances. Is it possible these are actual turnstile numbers and since we are used to the over inflated distributed tickets number, these crowds look bigger than what is announced to us?
Well, imagine a team attracts 14k with 3k no-shows in the regular season. That's 17k. When they attrract 15k in the playoffs, it's more people in the stadium, it's typically louder (more people + playoffs), but the attendance number is lower. Less no-shows in playoffs because often season tickets don't include that game, and no group/sponsor tickets.
I think the major hurdle a lot of these older teams face is they've been branded as minor league in their markets by fans and the media. So even though its an important playoff game, if the locals dont think much about the competition to begin with its hardly viewed as a marquee event. Dont know how you change that perception other then maybe a rebrand and a new stadium in a hip location of the city. Not an easy equation.
That's probably representative of the average number of turnstile clicks. They opened an second section for away fans but I guesstimated about 200. Timing definitely wouldn't have helped. About lines on the pitch. There were visible soccer markings at Centurylink yesterday, a NFL logo at Tottenham's game on Monday and rugby markings at Old Trafford last weekend.
As a someone who attended DC United's Thursday night game I'll say that I was surprised and pleased at the sellout, and by the early-arriving crowd that created such a great atmosphere. Of course everything fell inot place for us - a new stadium, new euro star, and winning all the time. But it's a positive sign that there's a pent up demand for soccer in the MLS 1.0 cities.
I'm curious, did DC have the playoff game as part of the season ticket package or did they sell all those tickets separately?
Kind of strange. I share season tickets with my brother. He tried to buy playoff tickets and it wouldn't take his credit card. He contacted his ticket rep and found out his credit card had already been credited with first round ticket purchase without his consent. Must be in the fine print of the season ticket agreement. I can see that ownership maximizes revenue in a small SSS by providing as few cheap tickets as possible. The only good deals are through season ticket packages but with those come as many friendlies and playoff tickets as they can get away with.
It was opt-out for playoff tickets. I'm not sure when the opting out period began or ended. I received an e-mail about the opt-out and that I would be charged, but nothing that actually would let me opt out(I wasn't going to).
I can't speak for other teams but that is the same crap our former Team President spouted all the time and it is just as much BS now as it was coming from him. He complained endlessly about how the media doesnt cover them and blah blah blah. Make the players and staff available. Give them interesting stories about your team they'll want to cover. Oh, this player spends his free time at the Childrens Hospital Cancer Ward? Without direction from the team, just because they want to help out? Tip someone off to get coverage, then support said player with an annual charity event. That actually happened here and it was, for years, the most popular charity event the team ran. Stuart Holden and Craig Waibel started it, as described above. Of course our TP screwed it all up but that's beside the point. It ain't going to be easy nor likely free, but teams can make themselves feel more major league and get more media coverage. They just have to work for it, rather than act like a petulant child when they dont get the requisite attention.