Fan apathy with this US men's team is huge. Missed the Olympics, missed the World Cup, missed the Olympics again. It's going to take qualifying for the World Cup and then making a decent run to win any of those fans back.
I went to Sunday's and Thursday's Gold Cup matches in KC and will go again to US-Canada on Sunday. 3 games in a week is a bit of a stretch and the ticket prices are higher than Sporting KC games to see the "B" version of Team USA against Haiti, Martinique (minnows to the average fan), and Canada. I paid $60/seat Sunday for west sideline seats even with the goal, $70/seat Thursday on the sideline midway between center circle and the goal, and am paying $50/seat in the south end (behind the goal) against Canada. The Sunday start time was 8 p.m. for the US game, Thursday night start was 9 p.m. - pretty late on a work night. I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed both matches. And even with only 7500 fans Thursday night, Children's Mercy Park still rocks. It doesn't take many fans to make a LOT of noise. I'm really looking forward to Sunday's match - a positive performance by the USA Men and sold-out CMP will explode. I think the Gold Cup strategy of using one site per group worked well for the US, a week of consistent training for a very young team learning to play together at a site US Soccer shares with Sporting KC. Probably more important than maximizing attendance.
The Panama-Honduras game at BBVA in Houston (soon to be PNC?) was raucous. That's got to be the most energy I've seen out of a crowd at that stadium since the first season it opened. Judging just by crowd reactions, you'd have though it was a final. No idea what the actual attendance number was, though. The USA-Canada game at Children's Mercy is sold out. The final in Vegas is also sold out (is that going to be a full stadium?).
F1 race in England attended by 140k, topping the Indy 500 as the biggest sporting event since pandemic started.
Not if Mexico get knocked out. Anyway: The Gold Cup Final becomes the fastest sellout in tournament history, and the first sellout for a sporting event at Allegiant Stadium. All general seating tickets sold in just 90 minutes after going on sale to the general public. More than 60,000 fans are expected at the Final. Link
Atlanta 42,517 Montreal 5,000 Columbus 19,113 Philly 16,821 Toronto 7,000 Nashville 23,113 Colorado 14,664 LAFC 22,490 Portland 23,255
Atlanta was living proof this week that they're reporting a "tickets distributed" number. If they don't turn around some results on the field, that season ticket base is going to suffer. They sent out ticket renewal emails this week. Not the best timing by the ticket sales folks. For the second time this season, my kids couldn't come to the game with me, so I went alone and sold my other tickets. Also for the second time this season, the tickets sold quickly and nobody came and sat in the seats. They're pretty decent seats, too.
The scene has definitely regressed. I'm sure there were plenty of no-shows but even then there are always tons of people in the concourse throughout the matches. They've become social events where some people are hip to being there and mingling, seeing the sights, etc, but don't necessarily need to be in their seats. The peril of a venue with TVs everywhere, bars scattered around, etc. Something is still working, as even with the absences I'm guessing there was 35k there, and you still see the jerseys everywhere around town, but the enthusiasm is muted. We're all tentative right now.
Colorado vs Dallas 8,321 SKC vs San Jose 17,872 Cincy vs Atlanta 23,162 Chicago vs DC 8,306 NYCFC vs Montreal 2,873 (<3k) at RBA Miami vs NE Revs 13,963 Columbus vs Nashville 18,395
Why do people buy tickets at the last minute and not come? Back in 2017 my wife said I should buy season tickets, but after supporting professionial soccer in Atlanta for 30 years I knew tickets would be easy to come by, so I said no. I am smart like that... until i couldn't get tickets. After buying overpriced tickets for 4 years I finally scored season tickets through a friend, so what do I do? Move 350 miles away. I imagine the long waiting list for season tickets is going to be culled as "fans" fade away. Hopefully there will always be 40k fans to fill the lower bowl.
I haven't gone back and looked at the trends for midweek, but this week's midweek attendance looks good.
No serious efforts to sell. STH's can opt-out of non Bronx matches, and individual tickets went on sale last minute with virtually no attempt to sell any.
I'm interested in seeing what sort of crowd they draw Sunday vs Orlando at Yankee Stadium. I have no idea who's making these decisions, but the price gouging on tickets is just another example of how tone deaf this organization has become.
What would make them think they can price gouge when playing in another team's stadium 25 miles west from their home stadium and fan base on the other side of the city?
It's in New Jersey. You go to New Jersey for two things, Newark Airport and IKEA. I guess if you're a football fan its three things. Harrison is a pain to get to unless you live in the southern half of Manhattan. At least that's the myth. Red Bulls fans may disagree. The cheapest official tickets for Sunday's have are $48.50, though you can pick up tickets for $35 on Ticketmaster.
Oh no, they have to change trains at the World Trade Center!!! Seriously, one of the reasons why RBA is in a good spot is that it's easy to get to from the city. But there's a certain amount of snobbery involved with NYCFC's marketing that they're now feeling the consequences of. I'm not particularly shedding a tear over it.
No it's that New Yorkers won't go to Harrison. If you live in the geographical center of New York it's well over an hour by train or by car. By contrast Yankee Stadium is 45 minutes by transit and 40 minutes by car. They are current times and the driving time will only get worse as we approach the rush hour. It's just not worth it. And unlike the MTA, the Path doesn't put on extra trains at the end of the game, at least that's the rumor. There are 3 reasons and one reason only that I only ever went to one Metrostars/Red Bulls home game in the 20 years I lived in Manhattan: location, location, location. Kudos to Queens, Brooklyn and Bronx based Metrostars fans for their dedication.
They low balled ticket prices at RBA and decided to bang everyone for the Yankee Stadium matches. A ticket that cost you $40 in the 200 level back in 2019 now goes for $65. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but those are out in the left field bleachers and went for what, $25, $30 back in 2019?
Halftime in Atlanta, so by now I'm assuming no-shows have been sorted out. If I had to guess, there's about 50-55k here today. (We're scattered but upper deck is open.)