I realize now that I shouldn’t have written my last question. It was only a very exaggerated example that sadly has attracted almost all the attention. My fault. I was much more interested to know your opinions about my other points. However, thank you very much for your answers. P.S. I think this is a really “palatable” thread and I’m enjoying it a lot.
It won't necessarily increase attendance, of course. But increased publicity, if it isn't just one-day, the day of the announcement, is of course a big driver of increased attendance. And, like most places in America, women's soccer isn't starting from zero anymore. LA gets good crowds for the national team. It's very speculative but I think it's very likely Mia Hamm would give a women's soccer team in LA a very significant boost in attendance. At least initially. I'm more worried about drop-off if the team isn't successful from the start. (one more speculation, would Mia Hamm as owner prove a similar catalyst to David Beckham as a player? Would NWSL adopt a DP/Designated Player rule like MLS did to lure David Beckham to America?) [QUOTE="holden, post: 37788299, member: 158501" Due to the draft system, having local colleges has no impact on a team's ability to have a good team. More important is having a GM/Coach/Whoever makes the player personnel decisions that is actually capable at their job (e.g. someone like Charlie Naimo). I'm not so confident that someone with no experience building a roster (like Mia Hamm) will be successful on their first try. I think that would just result in another Houston or Orlando expansion season.[/QUOTE] LAFC's ownership group has shown it knows what it's doing on the men's side. (By the way, for those who haven't paid attention - notice who the coach is? Bob Bradley, former coach of the men's national team) We can hope Ms Hamm won't think she knows it all when it comes to putting together a women's team and hire people like Naimo. Could Paul Riley and his family be lured to LA?
Not necessarily. Like sure the people who otherwise wouldn't have heard of it, people who are not soccer fans (or even just sports fans in general), will be more likely to hear about the team. But that doesn't make them any more inclined to go to a game. They're still going to need a strong sales and marketing push to get people to come out to the game. I don't see any connection there. The most well known women's soccer players in the US already play in the NWSL. And there's no evidence that bringing in the most well-known foreign players increases attendance (looking at you Orlando). I'd rather LAFC not poach a coach from another team. I know who I'd like to see as coach, but I don't think she'll give up her current "cushy" job (by cushy I just mean she currently has job security, as a NWSL coach she could easily be fired if the team is not successful)...
I'm with Holden on whether there will be a Mia Hamm effect. I just don't see it. And, I agree that skilled and professional management and coaching, combined with committed owners, is critical, even if the area is ripe for a team.
Then LA's not ripe for a team. It's too large a metropolis to break into the public consciousness and sense of being the city's team; it has too many other sports teams competing for attention; and it doesn't have large college soccer followings. Mia Hamm is an X-factor which shouldn't be dismissed. When it comes to what sells, what's fashionable, what's in, there are certain elusive factors which aren't easily bottled. What makes one actor or actress a star and another one a box-office bust?
Beckham is a misleading example - I should've made my point more clearly. I wasn't thinking in terms of attendance and star power, but in terms of putting together a winning team quickly and adding to the quality of both the team and the league. It's getting more and more difficult for a NWSL team to attract a Kim Little or Jess Fishlock or Amandine Henry or Vero Boquete in her prime. Now that there's around 9 or 10 clubs in Europe paying good money for stars, how do we attract a Pernille Harder, an Ada Hegerberg, a Lieke Martens? They might be tempted to play in LA, on Mia Hamm's team, but not if it means sacrificing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Without them, we'll have a hard time growing the quality of the game the way we'll need to.
As I've stated way back in 2013 (and I know you saw it since you posted right after me in the thread), while there's not one team with a large attendance, when you add up the attendance numbers of all the LA area NCAA Division 1 women's soccer teams, the numbers are actually pretty good. That's one of the advantages of being in such a large metro area. Even if they only get a small fraction of the population to go to a game, that can still be a decent attendance. Well, the bulk of the roster will still have to be US based players even if there were a designated player rule, so the focus should be on that. And I'm sure there are quality internationals that can be brought in to fortify the team that will fit under the salary cap. Maybe it won't be Europeans in the prime of their career, but it doesn't have to be. Look at what Nagasato has done for Chicago, for example.
UCLA and USC don't have outstanding attendance although they are starting to be able to get good crowds for occasional big games - like against each other.
I forgot about that but, nah, I don't think you can just add up the attendance of all the LA area college teams. First you have to subtract friends and family from each
We get good crowds now that we have our new soccer facility up that can hold up to 2,000. I haven't been to a USC woso match at their home so can't speak for them but our rivalry match every year had around 12,000 at one point. Both universities are located in notoriously congested areas of Los Angeles, mainly the 405 and 110 freeways so they aren't ever going to be getting huge crowds than some other schools.
So - attendance! SEA - 3036. Definite drop-off after the home opener, but dropping after a home opener is somewhat expected. Last year, though, game 2 was higher attended than game 1 was, so if the "new normal" is closer to 3k than 5k, then we have a problem with the Tacoma move. DC - 3049. Better weather caused a 1k recovery in attendance versus the previous game, but it's still noticeably lower than what the Spirit tended to draw at the 'plex last year. They either need to pick things up or hope that both Audi Field games this year get numbers like last year's Audi game. NC - 4821. Two games in a row now that NC has drawn closer to 5k than 4k, so that's good. HOU - 3690. Bit of a drop-off from last time out. Would like to see numbers on the other side of 4k, especially for a men's-backed team, but it's not awful.
It was also lower than any match last season. (Last time it was lower was May 13th 2017. They also had one other match lower that season on Apr 22nd, and then the rest of the lower ones are from 2015 or earlier).
*blows dust off thread* Well, now we get to see if there's a WWC bump again, yes? Sounds like Chicago is already seeing 2x their normal, per post in the Red Stars subforum.
I mean, the 2015 bump stuck around to the end of the season and all the way through 2016, and the USWNT didn't show up for a while after the 2015 victory, so I'm not too worried.
Some of what you will see from the league-wide numbers will be skewed a bit by the fact Portland could only have three home games until now. Their rest of the season crowds will have an impact that may be unrelated to a World Cup bump.
Portland is an outlier anyway and wasn't going to see a WC bump either way; I wasn't going to look at them or the league-wide average in the first place. Team-by-team is the bigger issue.
I'll stick this here. Reached out to all nine NWSL teams to find out what they've been doing to take advantage of the World Cup bump. Here's what they told me: pic.twitter.com/XgYUeM47Xv— John D. Halloran (@JohnDHalloran) July 8, 2019
Of course not. Fox has all of the WC/WWC matches, and they're not an NWSL sponsor. NWSL probably couldn't afford a single 10-second ad on Fox or any other national station, not even on Yahoo Sports.
From my understanding the Red Stars may have their biggest attendance in history next Sunday July 21st against NC Courage, not including DH with the Fire. If you look at the tickets that are for sale for the 21st, the other side of Toyota Park, sorry... SeatGeek stadium, is up for sale, which is normally closed. If my calculations are correct of the stadium that means over 10-11,000 tickets as of now with a week still to sell more. The game will be televised on ESPN and If my assumptions are correct, The Red Stars may come close to selling out the lower bowl of Seatgeek Stadium in Bridgeview, IL for next Sunday. If this happens, it would be a HUGE showcase for Chicago's women's professional soccer team and the NWSL. I know I am a Red Stars optimist and am hoping for a historic game. Let's all keep our fingers crossed for a great turnout, good weather and a good game played for this National televised next Sunday in Chicago.
^^Hope so! Has anyone seen the Sky Blue attendance from their last game? They're really the ones that worry me. Or any of the numbers for this weekend?
From the NWSL site: NJ - 1842 NC - 6216 HOU - 5327 POR - 18909 Modest bump in NJ, fairly sizable bumps in NC and HOU, standard for POR