2017 NASL Attendance thread

I have purpose again!

 

Any predictions ???

 

Yes, they lost three of the top four drawing teams from last year, but also lost two of the bottom three. Remove the teams that have departed, the remainders averaged 4,610 last year.

Team-by-team:

Minnesota......8,573 (GONE)
Indy...........8,396 (Good chance to lead the league, but have to reverse decline)
Tampa Bay......5,878 (GONE)
Ottawa.........5,482 (GONE)
Miami..........5,427 (Remains to be seen)
Carolina.......5,058 (New owner with ambition and a full off-season, may improve)
Puerto Rico....3,801 (I remain skeptical)
New York.......3,775 (Supposedly location will help, but it's still a ballpark and still the Cosmos)
Jacksonville...3,499 (League-run teams often struggle to spend enough to draw)
Rayo OKC.......3,242 (GONE)
FC Edmonton....2,060 (By this point, is there any real reason to believe they can draw?)
Ft Lauderdale..1,343 (GONE)
NASL TOTAL.....4,736

San Francisco is the real wild card. Is it true Kezar's current configuration seats 10k? We are in an era where expansion clubs can really surprise you and draw amazingly well (like Sacramento and Cincinnati), but I have no read on the expertise of the front office. The Deltas could do either way. They could get Indy-like crowds (or better, if Kezar actually seats that many) or could get California Victory-type crowds.

Early prediction would be the league sees a slight improvement to 5k a game, but it's still a bit early to put anything behind that.

 

This year FC Edmonton will have more games on Friday & Saturday nights than ever before. I am very curious to see how their attendance is with this change in 2017.

http://www.fcedmonton.com/news/2017...edmonton-moves-to-friday-and-saturday-nights-

 

6,058 in Norh Carolina

 

ATTENDANCE: 5,692 in PR

 

ATTENDANCE: 4,133 in SF (per http://www.nasl.com/match-center/1399/sfd-vs-ind)

 

Well, that's not exactly auspicious.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSFgFxoBkh_/

 

League average 5294 for the three matches.

Next week, it's the home debuts for Indy, the Cosmos and Jacksonville. Indy should be good, the Cosmos can't do much worse and Jacksonville is again playing a home match on a Sunday - but at least won't be cutting any $70,000 checks.

 

Indy's game on Saturday is an afternoon start--they're doing several of these in the early spring. It will be interesting to see if it affects attendance. From my perspective, the afternoon is an improvement in the early spring--there will be warmer temperatures, at least. But I don't think I'm the typical demographic.

 

I think the cold and weather played a major role in last years season opener not selling out. I could easily see it improving attendance by playing at a warmer time of day. Outside of temperature I think in general 3pm vs 7pm doesn't matter for most adults.

 

Little disappointed in SF, then again....I don't think they inflated their numbers, stadium looked decently filled...could have easily been reported 6k or 7k as compared to some others who embellish (like RGV Toros, holy cow...)

However, attendance is not the be all and end all when we are talking a few thousand. If SF can remain at a respectable number and pull in decent sponsorship and grow in the areas that they are lacking in, they will be alright.

 

Except sponsors and all the other things flow from ticket sales.

If they only sell a few thousand tickets a game, with their expenses and travel, they're toast.

 

Code:

Team                          Season Average(2016)          Weekly Total
Carolina Railhawks            6058(5114)                    6058
Puerto Rico FC                5692(3801)                    5692
San Francisco Deltas          4133                          4133

                              Season Average (Mean-Median)  Week Average
NASL 2017                     5294-6058                     5294
NASL 2016                     4713-4412
Difference                    581 1646

NASL Spring2017               5294
NASL Spring2016               5071
Difference                    223

League Total 2017             15883(3 games)
League Total 2016             862532(183 games)

 

I tuned in to the start (20 minutes or so) of the PR/NYC match ... if 5692 people showed up ... 4900 of them showed up after the first 20m

 

9,064 in Indy

 

At the game they announced it was a sellout.

 

6,274 for the Cosmos.

Which is above average, obviously.

If they can average that in Brooklyn, fine. But they have never maintained an opening day crowd.

Looks like they put down a field, though, so good for them, though if they did, that's expensive.

 

Field didn't look particularly great either.

 

That baseball field is particularly onerous, though.

 

I had to leave before they announced the attendance. But from my perspective, it looks like an impressive crowd, but not a sell-out. of course, there are always tickets sold that are not used. But I think I saw too many gaps for that to be the full explanation.

 

Yeah, I'm confused by the number. Either that is turnstile, which I could believe, or they are artificially restricting how many tickets they are selling? That seems unlikely.