How hype are SKC vs SLC fans, for these games, if they play at Arrowhead stadium, with good planing, would they sellout the stadium a la Messi ?
I've discussed this several times before. Combination of pandemic, the "break" between the Seahawks and the Sounders, and the startup of the Kraken toward the end of the pandemic (they became the "shiny new toy"). The Sounders are no longer marketed as hard as they were when the Seahawks operation was used. That said, the Sounders are still above their 2009 attendance, for the record. Absolutely not. Yes - and I say this with the bad taste of last night's game still fresh in my mouth. That was atrocious - reminded me of the infamous "rebate game" against LA Galaxy near the start of our MLS existence. I was curious how things would go when Chris Henderson left the Sounders for Miami and Garth Lagerway left for Atlanta. I'm not encouraged with what I'm seeing at the moment. Although still waiting to see more of Pedro de la Vega - he was great in his very limited time he's played so far.
Even when crowds are huge and fans are generally satisfied, the clubs have to work to maintain attendance as there is always a natural attrition of fans going away: moving away, changes of life circumstances, mortality, etc. Unless a team achieved the kind of cultural power that a few NFL teams have, attendance doesn't just stay high by itself.
I'll add in Seattle's case the Apple deal has had the negative effect (how big or small I don't know) that the Sounders are no longer as visible on TV for fans who don't want to buy the season-long package. The Sounders were on main channels with pre-game / post-game shows. That's gone now.
I wonder what will happen once the Sonics return. I did see on RSL forums that they're not too afraid of the new NHL team since it's also owned by their owner.
Probably, it would kind of be like El Trafico at the Rose Bowl. Honestly I'm wondering why they don't schedule El Trafico or even California Clasico at SoFi Stadium to give it a test run before 2026 but I assume that it may be that it's involved in bigger tournaments, European friendlies, and concerts.
I think the city closest for that is probably Columbus or Portland. Crew existed longer than Blue Jackets and are way more successful. Timbers have also been pretty big even with the Trail Blazers existing. Then again they're kind of the only team in town. New York and Los Angeles always have high attendance but this could just be because of large size and this goes for all their sports.
They would have to widen the pitch to meet the MLS minimum 70 yards. Plus Kroenke would probably charge a ridiculous rental fee and keep all the concessions sales.
I'm not worried about it. Seattle is very much a soccer area. I have my nightly 30 minute walk - on that walk I pass 3 soccer/football fields that are regularly in use for youth soccer teams (multiple games on multiple days each week) and get a couple months use by one youth American football team for practice. I pass 0 baseball diamonds, 2 basketball courts (used regularly for pick-up games) and 0 hockey rinks. Keep in mind the Sounders have existed longer than the Seahawks, Mariners and Kraken. I'm in my late 50s and I grew up on the Sounders. They are a central part of our sporting landscape. Attendance will pick up again with the Sounders in the Club World Cup and with World Cup games being played in Seattle.
SoFi doesn't have grass and has a narrow pitch that needs to be modified for 2026. And it's not really the job of MLS to do World Cup test events. The international tournaments serve that purpose better.
MLS Attendance 4/20:1 #ATLUTD 42,6002 #Sounders 30,5503 #TFCLive 24,1084 #InterMiamiCF 21,5505 #NYCFC 21,0736 #Crew96 20,6147 #HoldItDown 20,1158 #SportingKC 19,6379 #CFMTL 19,61910 #CF97 14,24711 #Rapids96 7,492LAFC NR pic.twitter.com/qt6tI0xVMg— MLS NETWORK (@mlsnetwork) April 21, 2024 What's going on in Colorado?
Being at the stadium I would have guessed between about 8-9K, it looked half full. So the lower number was a bit surprising. TV points towards the East stands which, for some reason, were more full than the West ones
LA Galaxy: 23,335 Still looking for LAFC (seriously how does LA Daily News get LA Galaxy but not LAFC)
Wow, I'm so confused by the Galaxy number. I've seen the stadium be significantly emptier and it was called a sellout. Isvthe 25.5k sellout number only with a full lalaa Hill??
Galaxy number I saw showed attendance at 25,335. The only section that looked a little sparse in the stadium from what I saw was the San Jose supporter's section.
I don't know what's up with the Match Summary section on the MLS website this year. It was screwy and herky-jerky to start the season, giving goals to teams when in fact, no goal had been scored. A goal may have been scored initially, then taken off after a VAR check, yet the erroneous goal stayed on the sheet for the longest time before being corrected. This weekend and last weekend, PK goals that were scored were never noted as such on the summary page. You could see it in the video caption of the goal that was scored, but that was the only way you would have known it was after a penalty was called. Last year, the site did a much better job in collecting/posting attendances of its matches. The website seems to have little regard for accuracy or information, and it detracts from the professionalism of the site, which, I think isn't a good look for the league itself. It seems to change as often as MLS' penchant for changing its playoff format, but not in a particularly good way.
Looks like we are seeing some disceprancies. I got my numbers from a blog/press guy who gets the league/club media releases, and it seems like the above tweet probably gets the same. I'm not sure what numbers to trust, but fortunately they are not too off so the narrative is the same either way.