I call BS, unless you're saying that "most X fans are not on Twitter" as a general rule. The NWSL Twitter conversations have as much Portland influence as you would expect just looking at the average attendances for each team.
The chants on the north end were a little difficult to decipher, but after listening hard (my wife, sitting next to me, asked me what they were chanting) my conclusion was they were to the tune of Seattle Reign FC. The PTFC chants are very distinctive and clear, these were more muffled. But, I could be wrong, I was in the middle of the west side of the field. Looking at what Portland fans on twitter had to say has little to do with the fans at the game. People make a mistake when they think the profile of the avid internet communicator matches the profile of the bulk of fans in the stands. Most of the fans were rooting for Seattle. If you can't understand how this could be true since Portland and Seattle are rivals, then maybe you don't understand Pacific Northwest culture, or at least not Portland soccer culture.
Maybe what happened was you were seating near Reign fans because what you are saying (Most Thorns fans supported Seattle) completely contradicts almost everyone else. @JulieFoudy You're right, but all the Portland fans are rooting pretty loudly for Kansas City.— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) October 2, 2015 That "F-C [pause] K-C" chant which appears to be coming from the horseshoe end of Providence Park has a familar ring to it...— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) October 2, 2015 Loud FCKC chant in the same rhythm as usual PTFC chants. Decidedly pro-KC crowd as expected #NWSL #NWSLChampionship— Dan Lauletta (@TheDanLauletta) October 2, 2015 649785673084329984 is not a valid tweet id Portland fans chanting “dodgy keeper” at Hope Solo is the best thing so far this match #NWSLChampionship #FCKCvSRFC— Dale (@dale_roots) October 2, 2015
649811915913302016 is not a valid tweet id 649786369510772736 is not a valid tweet id 649744846559703040 is not a valid tweet id Tonight's overheard misunderstanding of the "dodgy keeper" chant: "hot cheese beaver" #BAONPDX— cohost.org/acfoltzer (@acfoltzer) October 2, 2015 Hope Solo getting a loud, rousing rendition of "dodgy keeper" from the Riveters section. #NWSLChampionship— Steph Yang | Horrible Soccer Goose (@thrace) October 2, 2015
FC Kansas City vs Seattle. Portland fans out in voice for KC! pic.twitter.com/1kF0ajEB7K— Misty (@WomensSportsFan) October 2, 2015 Seattle Fans 649820812854194177 is not a valid tweet id 649764980338720768 is not a valid tweet id Amy Rodriguez hears puts Kansas City ahead with about eight minutes to go. Portland fans chant "dodgy keeper" at Hope Solo.— Don Ruiz (@donruiztnt) October 2, 2015 Portland fans singing for KC. Might as well have a sign,"Will support for food." You should just watch the match and STFU...— RobSeam (@robseam) October 2, 2015 A lot of these are reputable WoSo journalists. They are not saying that they support the Thorns. They are saying that the Thorns fans supported FCKC and were anti-Reign. Some of these tweets are from Seattle Fans too. So there are three groups : Portland fans, WoSo Journalists and Seattle fans all saying the same thing. There is no evidence of what you are saying.
Just my two cents into this conversation: From what I could hear on the broadcast, it actually sounded pretty even between pro-Reign fans and pro-KC fans - things got especially pro-Reign at times when Little, Rapinoe, or Fishlock put pressure on Barnhart and the Blues' defense. The "FC-KC" chants were pretty clear when they happened, but also clear were the three-color Cascadia flags populating the stands. And FWIW, the "dodgy keeper" chants were directed at both GKs throughout the match - I remember the post saving Barny once in particular and those chants popping up.
That's because there were some Reign fans that travelled and some FCKC fans that travelled. Common sense for FOX Sports to mic up both the supporter groups equally. I have presented a long list of tweets from Portland fans, Reputed WoSo journalists, and Seattle fans all agreeing on one thing. Majority of Thorns fans supported FCKC. There is no evidence to the contrary.
Nothing like dismissing, as "no evidence," an eyewitness account from observations in the stands, the hallways, the area into the stadium, the outside area after the game, from someone who knows a lot of the Thorns fans and their support of the Reign as team #2 due to the Reign's U of Portland connection. PS - I wasn't sitting in an area surrounded by Seattle fans. There were some Seattle fans, some FCKC fans, and mostly locals who ordinarily would have been Thorns fans. But, I'll concede that the chants from the north end could have been FC KC, it was hard to tell other than that it wasn't PT FC. But, also correctly reported above, the "Dodgy Keeper" was dished out to both keepers. Both of those keepers have heard that chant before, and they no doubt would have felt let down if they didn't hear it last night.
Why should someone trust you over the multiple WoSo journalists,Portland and Seattle fans? Jonathan Tannenwald works for the Phily Sport. Meg Linehan has written articles on Vice. Dan Laluetta works for The Equalizer. All 3 of them said that crowd was pro-FCKC.
I'm sure that, at this point, we're boring most posters. I'm boring myself. Who were the voices on the broadcast? Was Schatz one of them? If so, I'm wondering what she said.
I was there, too, on the west end of the Riveters. Everyone is right. The north end was decidedly pro-KC and loud about it, but it seemed to me that the west side was decidedly pro-Seattle. They were cheering loudly for every UP player.
Dang, I was hoping for Schatz since she knows Portland, in fact was a contributor back in the day to the growth of the Portland women's soccer fan base. She was one of the first to give regular coverage to the U of P women and would be better able than most to interpret where the fans were coming from. The reason I was hoping for someone who knows Portland women's soccer fans is that a lot of people think Portland women's soccer fans are the same as sports fans everywhere. It's odd they think that because they also say that something unique -- and perhaps that can't be reproduced elsewhere -- is going on here in Portland. My experience is that Portland women's soccer fans have a great sense of humor. This is why they especially like to give LeBlanc the "Dodgy Keeper" chant. She was a tremendous crowd favorite here and still is even though she plays for a team many consider to be one of our bigger rivals. The day they stop giving her the chant, she'll think they don't love her any more. So, you have to be careful about how you interpret some things, especially when a team is defending the north end of the field. Any visiting team that is defending that end is going to get razzed, simply because they're the ones who are at that end. The razzing doesn't necessarily mean the fans are for the other team (unless the other team is the Thorns), it simply means that "You're right here, so now it's your turn." This sort of fits my sense of the game as we were arriving and watching. For most of the Portland fans, it was a little odd, a game to watch, a game where you might prefer one team over the other, but there was nothing like the energy and electricity of a "real" Portland game. It gets me to thinking about whether having a neutral or pre-arranged site really is a good idea. Maybe it is from a TV perspective, but from an at the game fan perspective, except for those who have traveled from the teams' homes, it's a little luke warm.
Plush has said the hope is that the predetermined final venue allows "final weekend" to become a big event, so hopefully next year there are more things for fans to do/see than just the final itself, to put more energy in. I think, with a predetermined venue and a still-relatively-small amount of dedicated WoSo fans, you simply won't have the energy you would if one of the final teams was hosting, but as long as you get a fair number of traveling fans and a good TV picture, I don't think the league will move away from the idea, nor am I sure they should anyway. It's going to be a long time before NWSL teams on the whole have fanbases enough to make the final worthy of being a "showcase event".
I think you're right. Football manages to do the championship game at a pre-determined site with lots of fans traveling. Maybe once that time arrives, the atmosphere will have a different kind of energy. Until that happens, what we had last night was pretty good and, from a NWSL marketing perspective, probably a lot better than having the game at Seattle or KC. I hope the Seattle and KC fans at the game had a great time, regardless of the outcome.
There are only a limited number of venues that can provide the atmosphere Portland did. Where else do you think the final can be hosted?
The Dynamo/Dash president tweeted asking fans if Houston should bid on next year's. Goodbye Portland. You were a great NWSL final host. Hey @HoustonDash fans: Should we bid on the final in 2016? pic.twitter.com/2wgeNC45gO— Chris Canetti (@ChrisCanetti) October 2, 2015 Not sure if it'll be the same atmosphere but with them hosting CONCACAF qualifiers, it'd be a good venue to promote the league and final if they already had it locked down by then. I've kind of been thinking we might see Orlando get it. Good promotion for a new team and Orlando is cheap as hell to fly to usually. By then the SSS will hopefully be completed as I don't think they'll be meeting their target date.
It should be either Houston or Kansas City to host the final next year. And if it's Kansas City, it should be held at Sporting Park.
RFK, though not an SSS, would essentially be as good an option as Sporting Park. I mean, WoSo is pretty big in the DC area as well - Washington does have the best non-MLS-affiliated NWSL attendance, after all.
My concern is even in Portland only 13k people showed up which is less than their average attendance 15k this year. So what will happen if the Final is in Houston or KC or DC and the home team does not qualify? The attendance could be a disaster. NWSL currently does not have hordes of traveling fans. The pre-determined final site is a gamble based of either the home team making it to the final or tons of neutral fans showing up.
Maybe the league will continue with its current policy, but wait a bit during the season to see how attendance goes for the league's cities. If Houston attendance goes crazy, or Seattle's does to the extent that they are filling the entire stadium, or Orlando goes bonkers, maybe they'll site the game there. Otherwise, the safe option is Portland again. That may not be very satisfactory to a bunch of us, but 13,000+ may be a lot better than the other options.
"Only" 13k. Dropping from 15k to 13k isn't that big of a deal, percentage-wise. And remember that one of the big, and maybe the biggest reason for going for the predetermined final is for TV audiences. Having an large raw number might be less important than making it look like good attendance (and have the game on a nice pitch). You will have a damn good atmosphere if you mostly fill any stadium that's bigger than 4k or so. And, honestly, if the final were in an east coast city (whether that city had an NWSL team or not) you'd have a larger population of potential traveling fans to draw from, since it wouldn't be such a trek for so many people. If NWSL makes a "big event" out of the final like Plush said, that would also be a draw. And part of the point of having the predetermined venue was to have more lead-up time for sales. This recent NWSL final only had about two months for selling since its announcement; give it the whole season, and you'll get better turnout. For reference, look at WPS' two All-Star games. Both drew well over 4k fans, with the 2009 edition not far below the regular season league average and the 2010 edition well above - notably, the 2009 All-Star had 3m of lead-up sales, the 2010 All-Star had 4m. If NWSL announces the host of the 2016 final at the beginning of the season, I wouldn't worry. Finally, just remember than anything north of 10k is not to be expected of WoSo in this country yet, as a general rule of thumb. So doing better than that for a final should not be an expectation for the final host yet, IMO. All that should matter at the moment should just being able to put on a good show of support in whatever venue you pick.
I gotta smile that there wasn't one tiny peep about playing a championship on Turf after all the WC noise about it.
Why will there be a peep about this when the entire league is played on turf? That will be disingenuous to the highest order.