Well, than it will be a little lower right now with ''only'' 5,190 fans for the Rhinos against Minnesota on wednesday
And that for a game against the Blues, I bet the Miami players were really impressed by that large crowd
The Miami community, ad nauseum, is not a hardcore sports audience. Nothing will change that. They support team when they win and they like flash. It has always been this way. The way it is and little will change that. I I said way back my brother lived in Miami for seven years and worked high up for AAirlines. He got tix to everything for free and I was down there a couple of weeks a year. I went one Panthers game, and it was because they were playing the Rangers, adn I, like 75% of the crowd was rooting for the Rangers...and th ePanthers were a playoff team that year and the Rangers sucked. I turned down all other events. Why? I was in S Florida and there are way to many other things to do. Hardcore sports and Miami don't mix - better be a big winner or have real flash or foregt it. Yeah, I know. Old tired cliche... ...that just fits. It is what it is.
USL1/A-League Code: % of season completed 80.0% Year Average Median %<2K %>10k 2002 2945 2151 41.8% 3.0% 2003 3145 2218 46.9% 3.8% 2004 3738 3061 32.0% 3.9% 2005 4320 3437 19.4% 8.2% 2006 4491 3194 17.9% 10.4% 2007 4657 4148 20.1% 9.0% 2008 5156 4531 10.6% 11.4% 2009 4584 3687 22.0% 11.4% Final Numbers Year Average Median %<2K %>10k 2002 3037 2185 40.1% 3.6% 2003 3335 2463 42.9% 4.1% 2004 3878 3107 30.9% 4.5% 2005 4527 3554 19.6% 7.7% 2006 4666 3370 18.5% 10.7% 2007 4771 4274 19.6% 10.1% 2008 5164 4510 10.9% 12.1% USL2/D3 Pro League Code: Final Numbers Year Average Median %<1K %>3k 2005 1680 1457 21.4% 11.9% 2006 1803 1703 14.1% 11.8% 2007 1575 1423 28.1% 6.3% 2008 1614 1629 26.0% 7.3% 2009 1608 1525 32.1% 7.1% Code: USL2 Total Team Avg Playoffs Real Maryland Monarchs 3649 608 Bermuda Hogges 7440 744 Pittsburgh Riverhounds 11778 1178 Crystal Palace Baltimore 11807 1181 Charlotte Eagles 11322 1258 760 Harrisburg City Islanders 18571 1857 Western Mass Pioneers 17130 1903 Wilmington Hammerheads 24666 2467 2783 Richmond Kickers 28737 2874 1923 With the way Portland is going, there's a shot at breaking last year's >10k pct. Last year, it was just Montreal that was pulling in those numbers. The winning streak seems to be making a difference. A very nice number in Wilmington for the week-night playoff game. Too bad they couldn't get the win.
It's interesting about the winning streak, because it only started to get really good press at 23 now. I mean the Timbers get very good press as it is, for a soccer club in the U.S. but they only gave it extra at 23. The thing is I think both Portland and Montreal have a majority of their remaining games at home and Portland always finishes the season with a bang in terms of attendance. I think we did 15,880 and 13,000+ the last two seasons. The way it's looking this season we should get at least that again. Damn we're getting SPOILED up here.
Last year you had 4 games over 10k. With four home games to go, y'all have already had 3 over 10k. Final game last year was 13050. And you're right about that 15,880 two years ago. But it was the only game over 10k that year. Your lowest average (at least, as far as I can tell -- I don't have game by game numbers for 2002) was in 2004, and y'all have gone up every year since then, peaking at last year's 8567. Currently y'all are averaging 9315. It will be interesting to see if you hit 10k. I hope y'all aren't peaking too early. Gotta save a little of that general goodness for 2011
Oh, we're certainly not peaking early. The cool thing about Portland is there are tons of soccer fans. Downtown Portland during the last world cup final... What's happening here is that euro fans are actually buying in. It's kind of cool. I wouldn't be surprised if the same type of trend happens in 10 years in Austin. Similar thinking cities.
Things have been crazy here at work. So at this point I'm probably going to skip posting last weeks, and just post it on Tuesday with a two week update.
So far this week the attendance is RIDICULOUSLY high. Montreal 12,680 Montreal 11,163 Vancouver 5,081 Portland 11,683
Austin's working hard to get a good turnout for our game Monday. Though I expect with everyone's attention turning to UT football, it will be a challenge to get anyone's attention. Plus, it being a holiday weekend, and a Monday, I don't have high expectations to continue that solid run. Oh, and a home game for Miami on Saturday will kill that streak dead.
I'd say if Austin can draw 4,000 that they have succeeded. Last nights Portland match was head to head against Oregon @ Boise State. Both ranked, first all top 25 game of the college football season I guess.
Holy crap. Wow. Well, that pretty much should shut up anyone that doubts MLS in Portland. ...wait. Is Oregon IN Portland? I don't know my college football. UT IS Austin, and Austin IS UT. (Pardon to any Tennessee reader that wanders by) And Texas is football. There's a reason for the Friday Night Lights thing. Granted, in this case, it's not a head-to-head game. If it were, the Aztex would lose that, and lose it badly. I personally would love to see a season-best, breaking 5,000, but with all the various factors (holiday weekend, Monday) would also be quite satisfied with breaking 4,000.
Well, Oregon is not IN Portland, neither is Oregon State. It's 2 hours away in Eugene while OSU is 1 1/2 hours away in Corvalis. So neither of the big schools are repped in Portland, so basically both of them are. It's a huge deal. Granted not as huge as UT, because well... we're talking about OREGON here. Texas IS American football. Oregon is not.
Updated through last night's game. USL1/A-League Code: % of season completed 90.9% Year Average Median %<2K %>10k 2002 2942 2158 41.0% 3.1% 2003 3239 2411 44.2% 3.7% 2004 3763 2965 31.5% 3.4% 2005 4428 3527 20.3% 7.8% 2006 4545 3243 19.0% 10.5% 2007 4683 4215 20.3% 9.2% 2008 5168 4531 11.3% 12.0% 2009 4600 3486 22.0% 12.7% Final Numbers Year Average Median %<2K %>10k 2002 3037 2185 40.1% 3.6% 2003 3335 2463 42.9% 4.1% 2004 3878 3107 30.9% 4.5% 2005 4527 3554 19.6% 7.7% 2006 4666 3370 18.5% 10.7% 2007 4771 4274 19.6% 10.1% 2008 5164 4510 10.9% 12.1% USL2/D3 Pro League Code: Final Numbers Year Average Median %<1K %>3k 2005 1680 1457 21.4% 11.9% 2006 1803 1703 14.1% 11.8% 2007 1575 1423 28.1% 6.3% 2008 1614 1629 26.0% 7.3% 2009 1608 1525 32.1% 7.1% Code: USL2 Total Team Avg Playoffs Real Maryland Monarchs 3649 608 Bermuda Hogges 7440 744 Pittsburgh Riverhounds 11778 1178 Crystal Palace Baltimore 11807 1181 Charlotte Eagles 11322 1258 760 Harrisburg City Islanders 18571 1857 Western Mass Pioneers 17130 1903 Wilmington Hammerheads 24666 2467 2783 Richmond Kickers 28737 2874 1923, 2991 Sadly, the Aztex final game pulled them under 3,000 average for the season. I'm also missing, at the moment, the attendance for the Miami - Austin game on Sept. 5. Considering that they only drew 460 to the game after that, I don't think they did much better. Miami are threatening to average under 1,000. The last team to draw under 1,000 a season was... Miami, in 2007. While the average is staying OK, thanks to Portland and Montreal, the median is tanking because of all the other teams. Cleveland at least improved toward the end of the season. But Charleston and Carolina have had 5 games in a row below 3,000.
Well Vancouver doesn't have a higher average as Vancouver's stadium only seats 5,200 people and are averaging about that many a game. Had they a stadium with twice that number I'm sure they'd average a lot more.
The rest of the season seems generally favorable for attendance... @ Portland x3 @ Rochester x2 @ Vancouver x2 @ Montreal x1 That's pretty much a guaranteed 8 of the remaining 13 matches will be over the current average and median. Of those 4-6 are likely to be far over. On the other side of the coin... @ Carolina x2 @ Miami x1 @ Charleston x1 @ Minnesota x1 We know Minnesota will do around 3500, Is this the Miami head shaving thing? If so who knows for that one? Likely around 1,000. Charleston and Carolina COULD do 4,000+, but are likely around 3,500. So I think the average will be going up. Probably quite a bit seeing how well Portland has been drawing, and how a draw in any one of those games wins the Timbers the regular season.
I wasn't meaning to dump on Vancouver. I was being lazy in my comments. I didn't have time or feel like going into a team-by-team commentary. Vancouver is what it is, and is solid and reliable.