2015 FALL ATTENDANCE THREAD

Final 2015 NASL Attendance Averages - NASL Sets DII Record, Increases Average Again

Indy....................9809
Minnesota...........8767
Jacksonville........7927
San Antonio........6742
Tampa Bay.........5648
Ottawa................5164
NY Cosmos.........5062
Ft. Lauderdale....4508
Carolina..............4501
Atlanta................4024
Edmonton...........2889 *

* (3122 @ Edmonton and 1369 in 2 games At Fort Mac)

NASL league average of 5,913 breaks their own Division II record set last year (5521).

Numbers taken from Kenn.com, see his site for a more in depth look at NASL attendance's for this season :

http://www.kenn.com/the_blog/?p=7562#easy-footnote-1

Another excellent year attendance wise for the 5 yr old NASL.

 

I am really surprised at how well Ottawa and Jacksonville did this year. Hope they both continue to do well next year. Indy seems like a solid box office draw but..... so did the Scorpions at one point. I predict that San Antonio will continue to see their attendance decline. The Rowdies weren't hurt by their crazy owner's personnel decisions. I like the Railhawks new owner's chances of moving their attendance in the right direction. With Minnesota in for another year, I think the NASL could set another record next year.

 

Yes that seems safe bet at this point. 0 will be a huge decline.

 

Ottawa also lets kids in for free.

 

There was some discrepancy between what I have and what Prosoccerdn posted, so I figured I would post this, as well as a few other things.

Code:

Final          Season Average(2014) 
Indianapolis           9,809(10,465)   -656
Minnesota              8,767(8,088)   679
Jacksonville           7,927    
San Antonio            6,699(6,754)   -55
Tampa Bay              5,648(4,550)   1,098
Ottawa                 5,164(4,492)   672
New York               5,062(4,960)   102
Ft. Lauderdale         4,471(3,626)   845
Carolina               4,539(4,551)   -12
Atlanta                4,028(4,053)    -25
Edmonton               2,889(3,385)   -496(-263)

                   Season Average
NASL 2015              5,909
NASL 2014              5,520
Difference             389

NASL 2015 Fall          5,606
NASL 2014 Fall          5,607          
Difference              -1

League Total 2015: 975,033 (165 games)
League Total 2014: 745,238 (135 games)

The most important number in all of this is teams on average drew 215 more fans than last year.

Not surprisingly Indy dropped, although it dropped more than I would have liked to see. Even though the Strikers had some attendance woes at the end of the season they did end up with the second highest difference in the league. Even when you do not include the Ft. Mac games for Edmonton they still had a -263. Although, when you do take those away the NASL Fall average goes up to 5,685, for a difference of +78 from last Fall. Atlanta had also been doing much better than last year up until near the end. I suspect the news of only 4 of the owners being on board with keeping Atlanta afloat next year may have had something to do with this.

With the Atlanta and San Antonio situations, plus Miami not being a traditionally good soccer market, and the possibility of OKCFC going head-to-head with OKC Energy it is tough to speculate how attendance will be next year. Hopefully, though, they will be able to get over the 6k average and 1 million total for the season.

 

That's disappointing due to it being a playoff game and all.

 

Its easier to get to MCU in Coney Island then Shuart so they should have gotten more people. I personally thought they'd get more fans but seems this is really all they can pull without a bobble head giveaways and appearances by Pele.

 

Not all kids, only aged 14 and under AND a member of a participating local youth soccer program.
These kids were also nowhere near a majority of the fan base and bring in a paying parent or 2 as well.

 

Their base however is currently more around Hofstra, didn't expect them to draw well for this one so not surprised. Likely some skipped this one in hopes of them making the championship final back at their regular stadium. We'll see how they do for that one. Hopefully this ends it for matches at MCU, terrible optics with the brown turf field and shouldn't be allowed again just for that reason alone.

 

This just leads me to believe that they've pretty much lost the NYC crowd, which is bad. To many in the city either their teams season is over or the game they're interested in going to is tomorrow in NJ not this one here.

 

Great game! I thought more people would show up too. As a plus I was able to see the game on ESPN3.

 

Did you go to the game?

 

Sounds about right but if they get that number I'd be disappointed. I mean these are the Cosmos we're talking about here New Fricking York is the city they're near and you only get that much not that would concern me just because I fear it may start to raise doubt of viability in the owners minds.

 

I didn't think 5k was that bad...but not great/good.

soccer playoffs have never really been well attended, unless you're in the west or especially Cascadia. I think soccer fans do well with season tickets/enough response time, but when it comes to matches that aren't on the "schedule" they are slow to respond for whatever reason.

that being said, great news that ottawa will be 7k+

so we know the championship game will be in ny....hope their ticket sales and marketing team are getting a jump, like now, at this moment!

 

Missed the game in my own backyard, tough to bring an infant to a game, he decided to nap anyways...I saw all of the empty seats on espn3. 5 points were strong though. It is a shame since Raul played a great game.

 

Ottawa closing in on 8K now :

BREAKING: With over 7850 tickets sold for Sunday's Semifinal Fury FC will set the NASL postseason attendance record pic.twitter.com/Fd7lp9kM3x

— Ottawa Fury FC (@OttawaFuryFC) November 8, 2015

 

I went to the game and thought the attendance would be 5K.

Two things, one: who would want to sit behind the baseball screen in the corner of the field?
Two: the upper deck, box seats, booths, etc. were packed [above the empty seats behind the screen].

I can't imagine the team could draw more there without a soccer specific home stadium. The park's design, turf, colors, seating arrangement isn't the easiest.

I only went to games at CI. I would love to think there's more folks like me who would go to games there but it would take a big commitment from the team and quite honestly, I think LI is their strongest fan base. I know Dan we've discussed this; as much as I would like the team in CI, they're probably better off at Hofstra with the occasional match in Coney.

 

Attendance was stagnant this season for the Cosmos and that's after signing Raul! I'm seriously concerned about the club because 5k average is okay for pretty much any other team in the NASL but not for the Cosmos who have been telling everyone and their mother that they are just as good as any MLS team. I'm just worried that Sela sports will just cut and run and leave the league holding the bag. Like the previous owners of the Silverbacks did.

 

I think if the Cosmos need another stadium for a game or two if Hofstra isn't available for a weekend like this past one they might as well go to Belson Stadium. Its closer than Coney Island is to Hofstra, has a proper field optics wise, is a SSS I believe, and can be expanded to 5K from its 2600 if need be apparently. If the semi final had been their it would have presented much better and the atmosphere would likely have been excellent with a packed house.

 

If Belsen could be expanded, then yes, a good option. There's not a lot of space there though. It isn't on the subway and that does dissuade some people.

I guess the larger question is, if Elmont is out, where do you build? You really only get one shot to do this right. The city has limited options and they're expensive; Aquaduct, Coney Island, where else? On the Sunset Park waterfront? East NY? All of these would now begin again the long process approval/construction. It's going to take years.