2003 WUSA attendance thread

I thought they were gonna pull at least 7k especially with Mia playing in town and the so-called FCII rematch.

 

Re: Re: 2003 WUSA attendance thread

Yes, we were thinking that was pretty sucky attendance under the circumstances. On the other hand, the weather that morning was miserable - it was just pouring down rain when we were on the buses approaching Raleigh. That might have discouraged a lot of people, even though it did clear up nicely.

 

Average Attendance: 6,808

Atlanta's really helped.

Another dismal attendance figure is SJ's 6042...with no TV for the match

 

Really good attacking soccer today. Too bad the attendance figures stunk

 

I meant to watch the tv game today as a warm up for the MLS opener. What did I miss?

Maybe attendance will improve? The tv crowd today looked good for being so small.

 

Atlanta attendance is probably hampered because most school systems in the area are on Spring Break this week. A lot of people go out of town for Spring Break. April 12ths attendance may also be down, since they aren't back yet!

Look for improvements on May 3rd and 10th.

 

i'm just going to take a swipe.
If we're taking attendance do you want people to say "here" or should they just raise their hands?

 

Re: Re: 2003 WUSA attendance thread

The pregame rain eliminated any hope of a walk-up crowd.

 

And moving the game to the afternoon for the national TV audience may have reduced attendance. A lot of kids in the local soccer leagues had games Saturday afternoon and couldn't make the match.

 

SJ lobbied hard to not host any PAX games this season. SJ's attendance was dismal last season with the 1 pm PT starts on PAX. Too many kids & their folks had their own leagues to attend to during that time slot.

 

Odd. The original expectation was 5K in year 1 to grow. Started higher (thanks to 35K in RFK for the first match, plus two DHs) and moved lower. Wow.

Guess you can't market to PTHs, eh, Lynn?

 

6,500 was the stated goal for Year 1.

 

Still,the numbers came down just like in MLS (the Novelty Wears Off Factor).

 

Just a question and one that will no doubt start up a debate; What is the best time for PAX(or any channel) to have the one game of the week? I would argue for Saturday night at 8:00 ot 7:30 PM EST. It would solve the problems of missing out because of games. It would be better for the West Coast people. So what do you all think? Perhaps 8:00 or 7:30 at Friday night would be better. Also it would get rid of the problem(Much smaller than people claim) of conflicting with the MLS. But now with the new deal it would conflict with my ideal time but it's still not as big a problem as people claim.

 

Why would you want to do this?

 

I think the best time slot would be 7:30 PM. Even the left coast games would kick off at the reasonable hour of 4:30 PM. Here on the right coast we could get a full afternoon of youth soccer and other activities in before heading off to tailgate (or whatever we do in Boston because there is no place to tailgate). MLS would prefer the 7:30 slot, too. That was the target time for the ESPN games in the early seasons, but MLS got bumped too many times by other events.

 

4/12 Herndon Stadium - 4,672
4/12 RFK Stadium - 7,268

This will be the last WUSA season if attendance continues like this.

 

Atlanta never supports its sports teams all out; look at the Braves. But that's inexcusible. Is it possible FC3 may not sell out, even at Torero? *shudders*.

BTW, WTF happened to the Breakers today? That looked like a scene from National Lampoon's Animal House; the "thank you, sir; may I have another?" scene.



Paul

 

The RFK attendance is disappointing, particularly considering that you couldn't have asked for better weather.

 

That's true. The weather was just perfect.

 

Come on folks - did you really expect WUSA to show an increase in attendance this year?

The players are being asked to cut their salaries - how do you think that plays into their motivation to market the sport now?

The TV deal with PAX technically puts them on a ton of tubes - but not many people actually watch, recieve or like PAX - so the "exposure" is not as great as it would seem on paper.

The magic that rubbed off of the WNT from Atlanta 1996 and WWC 1999 has well...rubbed off.

Everyone has now gotten their Mia Hamm fix - and for those who didn't until last year - it was a disappointment.

The real fans are all those that are left - and while those dedicated fans will be rewarded with a Mia and league that are much better - the casual fans are on to the next interesting thing in the world.

The good news seems to be that WUSA has adjusted it's business model. So while their original year one projections were for 6,500 averages - they may not need to increase beyond that given the cuts in the front and back office.

Local sponsorship has increased and that helps. Hendrickson seems to be committed - and despite all the talk about the media giants pulling out - that hasn't happened yet.

I'm curious to see how much the ESPN2 games are costing WUSA - and whether if that's a gamble - pays off.

Is it a prudent move - or a sign of desperation in trying to reach the audience and potential advertising dollars?

I've said it before and I'll say it again - it's too bad WUSA couldn't work with MLS to share resources and help eachother operate more efficiently.

Aside from Hendrikson's bank account I don't see any reason why this league has a chance at making it.

The WWC in China now looks to be cancled - the stars are getting older (Mia, Brandi and Foudy) and the new stars (Wagner) are going to be nowhere near as recognizable since there just aren't any big draw events to market them like the Atlanta Olympics or the 99 WWC in the US.

The casual fans are gone - and if WUSA HQ numbers are to be believed - have left in droves. IIRC - Lynn said that season ticket sales were up. So if attendance is down - that means that most of the casual fans are not attending games.