These are good numbers. Portland should be higher once again. last match of the season is always very high, plus fireworks post match which always brings out the families.
USL1/A-League Code: % of season completed 95.8% Year Average Median %<2K %>10k 2002 2966 2158 41.5% 3.3% 2003 3251 2364 43.9% 3.9% 2004 3791 2947 31.8% 4.2% 2005 4432 3461 20.5% 8.1% 2006 4588 3283 18.6% 10.6% 2007 4749 4215 19.9% 9.9% 2008 5138 4446 11.4% 12.0% 2009 4710 3655 20.9% 13.3% 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 Austin, Charleson, Cleveland, Montreal and Puerto Rico are done. Other than Austin (new team), everyone of these finished down from last year. Puerto Rico is the worst of these -- down 25%. While that looks bad, and is disappointing considering that they've gotten so much attention from their CCL run, there are a couple MLS teams that have experienced that bad a drop, and some MLB teams as well. All of this could just be the economy. I'm looking forward to next season already, a 13 team league (fingers crossed), and a better economy.
Maybe I should've added, with fingers crossed, "better employment". A better economy (which it sounds like will be happening) won't really help attendance -- people having jobs, and jobs that pay them enough to have a little extra for fun stuff, will.
They have averaged less than capacity every year of their existence except 1987 and 2001. Capacity is "only" 5,288. If they can't sell out at 5,288 what makes you think they would average "a lot more" just because the stadium would be bigger? I'm not trying to slam the Whitecaps. This is just reality. Your post is just spin. I'm sure Vancouver MLS will continue the trend of "new" clubs doing extremely well though. No doubt.
You would average a lot more because when the stadium is full, they turn people away. If those people for those games weren't turned away some games would have had a lot larger attendances. Swangard wasn't always a 5,288 capacity stadium. They removed seats during a few renovations. Crowds in the Canadian Soccer League days got up to 8,000 a game, so obviously had the Whitecaps now had that many seats with the way they market the team today, a few games with sellouts at 8,000 would bring the average up. In my opinion a lot more Why don't they sell out every game in a 5,288 seat stadium? Perhaps because it gets uncomfortable there when crowds get large. The stadium was built in 1969 for a maximum capacity of 3,800, and nothing except capacity was upgraded. There's still only one mens and one womens washroom in the stadium. It's not a great facility. So lets say we had a facility such as Portland. I'd say we'd average a couple a thousand more a game. Even more if our facility was actually in Vancouver.
We're guaranteed to set a >10% record, thanks to Portland's amazing season. So, how big is that stadium supposed to be for MLS?
It'll be around 22,000. It's current 19,500ish. Though they don't EVER open it up for more than 16,300. Once that many people get in there the place gets dangerous if there was a need to evacuate. The US Open Cup match vs. Seattle was a sellout to that 16,300 amount. People were turned away.
943 according to the box score (finally posted). Final attendance numbers are up on gregsmom. Montreal averaged (almost) Miami's total attendance on the year!
Thanks for finding that! ...hmmm. I'm going to have to go back and review the USL2 sheets and see if anything got added there. Oh, and could you post url to gregsmom? Because gregsmom.com is NSFW.
supposedly that missing miami match had an attendance of 67... Is that the missing one? http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/...fc-back-rusnak-s092009sbsep20,0,662338.column
And here's my contribution. I'll add in the playoff stuff as it goes along, for the fun of it. USL1/A-League Code: 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% 2009 4709 3662 21.2% 13.3% Code: USL1 Total Team Avg Montreal Impact 180494 12033 Portland Timbers 146008 9734 Rochester Rhinos 96425 6428 Vancouver Whitecaps 79678 5312 Charleston Battery 53013 3534 Puerto Rico Islanders 49391 3293 Minnesota Thunder 48135 3209 Austin Aztex 44611 2974 Carolina RailHawks 40953 2730 Cleveland City Stars 22362 1491 Miami FC Blues 15952 1063 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 1602 1518 31.8% 7.1% Code: USL2 Total Team Avg Playoffs Richmond Kickers 28737 2874 1923, 2991 Wilmington Hammerheads 24666 2467 2783 Western Mass Pioneers 17130 1903 Harrisburg City Islanders 18571 1857 Charlotte Eagles 12420 1242 760 Crystal Palace Baltimore 11807 1181 Pittsburgh Riverhounds 11778 1178 Bermuda Hogges 7440 744 Real Maryland Monarchs 3649 608
Hm. What to do, what to do? Do we use the number reported in the newspaper for that game? Or the one on the official league match report on the USL website? I'm going to have to go with the report on the USL website. Mostly because Miami played Rochester on Sept. 8.
Try being a fan I can only hope whatever changes the team/league has in store for next season improves attendance.
Hm. Now, there's a solution! 'Relegate' Miami and 'promote' Richmond. ...oops. Did I just say 'relegate' and 'promote'?
While your terms don't fit what would actually happen, if Richmond is willing that's not a terrible idea. Assuming either team wants to make such a switch, and assuming Miami FC wants to continue in the USL, which it seems they may not.