They clinched so they need to get working on this asap... no reason they cant sell out other than not marketing the team
Only problem is that they are the only team out West and how many of their eventual opponents fans will be able to afford to go?
5 if Philly advances... they will have the home crowd for sure since the airline tickets will be an expensive last minute buy
Well done to Philly for getting 4k to their game vs Boston. Also, a well done to ATL for getting just over 4k to their game.
The numbers are all inflated! How many free tickets are in those numbers! The league needs fans! Good job putting the championship game on a island that you can only get to by canoe. Yes they deserve the game and have earned it but put the game in the biggest markets where fans will come watch the game. Also make it easy to get to and where airfare is reasonable.
Well, with the pre-announced set up for the playoffs (consistent from last season), WPS can not place the championship game to any old stadium they want. I, too, am very concerned about (legitimate) ticket sales for the championship game. FCGP is only behind Philly in attendance numbers and neither are meeting any attendance goals. And (based on the staff list) they seem a bit top heavy in the marketing coordinators vs ticket sale account staff.
I was just thinking about starting a thread asking what other folks thought the early years of MLS had to teach WPS and what (off field) things we need to pay attention to...I was also thinking about calling my local independent bkstore to see if they had Dure's book. (personally, I think a huge clue about the future of the league will be whether PUMA re-ups after the initial 3 years)
The ONLY reason attendance jumped is because West Chester University students were back in town for the start of the Fall semester.
There are three regular season games left. The current league median (based on my calculations and including STL numbers but not the All-Star game) is 3333. The current league average is 3594. SBFC & Boston are the only 2 teams beating 2009 median attendance numbers. FCGP is not that far off (136 tickets or -4%) from their 2009 median. FCGP and SBFC have home games this week and a chance to improve their final tally. While I have not done a complete analysis, it seems evident that week night games have the lowest attendance. I believe MLS has a similar experience.
I posted something a couple weeks back somewhere, and not only do midweek games kill numbers, various cities are very sensitive to Saturday vs Sunday for weekend games. I had games through 8/19 I think. Chicago and FCGP dropped almost 30% by playing Sunday vs a Saturday; Washington gained 20% Sunday vs Saturday. Boston and Philly were pretty neutral. League-wide Saturday was 5% favorable against Sunday. Atlanta stuck out because all their numbers, Sat/Sun/Wed were with 7%+/- FCGP had'nt had any midweek games to compare when I did it. The other 5 teams were at least 21% down on midweek v weekend comps, with Washington down almost 40% against their weekend numbers. Boston had 2 Friday night games that averaged almost 4500, about 10% lower than Sat/Sun but still not a bad number in the scheme of things..
What bothers me with the FCGP numbers is that they are winning this year and still their numbers went down. Don't know where the fans are.
Lots of competition in Bay Area for your sport dollar between all the pro team and all the college teams, so brutal market is my take. Having said that, think the FCGP experience is a good one for fans and reasonably priced. It will take time but think the audience will continue to build as the Bay Area loves winners.
Losing the Earthquakes and the CyberRays earlier this decade probably has something to so with the Bay Area's lack of enthusiasm. There's something about folding a local team that just leaves a bad taste in your mouth, makes you feel empty. It kind of puts you off supporting teams in the future. Once bitten, twice shy. Or something. I was a season ticket holder for the old Earthquakes and the CyberRays, and I was a true fanatic. Had expensive seats at midfield, never missed a game, went to some away games, bought loads of team merchandise, etc. But now, meh. Have not been back to an Earthquakes game and don't really plan to. Went to a few FCGP games last season, but stopped when it became clear they sucked. This year I've been to most FCGP home games, but never got season tickets. Strongly considering season tix for next season, but want to wait until I'm sure the league, team, and some semblance of the same players will be around.
I was pretty crushed by WUSA folding, which is why I supported the WPS Breakers whole-heartedly right of the box. Doing all I can to support them within my means and getting others to as well. Twice-bitten, then do what you can to make sure #3 doesn't happen. To each his own.
Except that the same blog post has this curious sentence: I've been asking around from reaction, and so far all I've heard is that one insider would be "shocked" if there's no league next year. Players all seemed confident.
Attendance numbers for yesterday were good to excellent. 3,810 in NJ, 3,545 in MD, and 4,003 for FCGP. I don't have my sheet handy but I think those are close to season highs for SBFC and FCGP. Congrats. eta: I checked my numbers. FCGP had a season high yesterday. Very well done. SBFC posted their 2nd highest attendance for the season. Again, well done.
How low have our expectations fallen when 2 crowds of 3,000 and one barely over 4,000 is considered good to excellent?
I get the point you're making. And maybe I should have used slightly different phrasing. But given where the numbers fall for SBFC & FCGP, I do think those 2 numbers are good to excellent. Washington is more of a problem. I'll have some regular season numbers after a while...
Well, up is a heck of a lot better than down, esp. with football season upon us. They key is the weather!!! Pray for normalcy next year.
Crowd sourcing question: Should I include the All-Star Game in my end of regular season numbers for the league? Last year, I did not include it in any of my figures. What say ye? Add it or not?