7,114

Why not?

The [hockey] game last night was HUGE! Local interest was massive.

Here's some numbers:

NEW YORK (AP) — The Bruins' Stanley Cup-clinching win matched the highest preliminary television rating for a Game 7 on record.

...

Boston's 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday on NBC earned a 5.7 overnight rating and 10 share. That ties the 2003 Game 7 between Anaheim and New Jersey.

...

The game earned a 43.4/64 in Boston, the best for a hockey game since records began being kept for the market in 1991. That's higher than any game in the Celtics' last two NBA finals appearance.

%43 of all TVs in Boston were tuned to the game - imagine what the numbers would be for % of sports fans!

 

To be fair, I suspect a large percentage of the potential Revs audience are also nominal-to-committed Bruins fans. So I can understand a healthy number of no-shows last night.

Still, I think we can also recognize a Wednesday night game between arguably the two most unwatchable teams in MLS was never going to be a well-attended event. This was always going to be a sad affair. The Bruins game just managed to push it into the realm of bathos.

 

If the revs were playing the MLS Cup final against Vancouver, would you expect the Bruins to draw 5,000 on the same night?

 

..and that's because of how the team is marketed. When adults see advertisements that cater to them, of course they'll turn out. When you cater to families with children, who are in school, it's easy to understand the devastation of attendance.

It's a statement that's getting tiresome to utter, but the club is just run wrong. The organization is run poorly in each department, and when combined, it's not hard to understand their failings.

Does that justify their failings? Absolutely not.

 

Since I have the full hi-res images, you'll be happy to know that section 143 topped all others with a whopping 121 people!

 

A few comments . . . First, Stadium location. I imagine that attendance would be higher in Vancouver on a Wednesday night because it is easier for their residents to travel to their stadium in comparison to Boston residents travelling to Foxboro.

Second, Vancouver is a new MLS franchise so it still has the appeal of many new fans.

Finally, it's just not fair to compare attendance at a Whitecaps game against another Canadian city (Toronto) that was on the same night of Game 2 of the Western Conference with Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals where the Revs were playing another team that is in the bottom third of the league.

In summary, it would be exciting for a new MLS team to face another Canadian MLS team. Alternatively, even though Revs were also playing Toronto, Toronto sucks, and it was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

 

It was 64% of Boston TV not 43%

 

Because they should have sold more than 7k tickets before it was even known that the Bruins were playing game 7.

We have long assumed that there are about 4-5k season ticket holders. Fact is, a professional sports team should be able to sell at least a few thousand tickets in the weeks leading up to the game (i.e. before the Bruins schedule was known).

Even if we assume 0 walk up crowd and we assume 5k season tickets....the team was able to sell less than 2k stand alone or package tickets for a game. That is terrible no matter how you slice it.

I realize some school are still in session, but still (and my town finished on Monday).

Can you really dispute the above?

 

I disagree. You are comparing a 1st round playoff game 2 vs GAME 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. Not even close to being the same.


Revs got 11,414 the same night of game 5 vs Montreal.
Revs got 14,186 the same night of game 1 vs TB.

Why did the Revs get more on those games it was because it was not the SCF and they were on a Saturday.

This was not a ordinary playoff game that was played last night. This was a single game of for the Stanley Cup.

 

64% of televisions in Boston were watching Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Even an SSS in the Boston area would not have helped attendance yesterday. I will go as far as saying that if the Red Sox had a home game last night, there would be a huge drop in actual attendance as well.

The difference, as alluded to earlier, is at least the Red Sox would still have a sellout on the books based on the tickets sold. For a team like the Revs, it takes a lot of effort to go from 5k to 10k+. The factors are day of game (Saturday), quality of opponent (Galaxy, RBNY), and weather.

Yesterday was a Wednesday game, against a sub-par team, in Foxboro.

I think another factor is how far in advance do non-season ticket holders decide to go to a game. A previous comment indicated that the Bruins playoff schedule was unknown a month ago, so people could have purchased Revs tickets then before they were aware of any conflict. I disagree.

I would think that a casual fan decides to attend a game within 2 weeks of that game. Revs tickets are abundant and it does not require months of planning. However, a month ago the Bruins were starting the series against the TB Lightning. So, why would anyone purchase tickets to a Revs game a month ago knowing that the Bruins were still in the playoffs?

Sure, you don't know if the Bruins will advance, and you won't know about the scheduling conflict, and that is precisely why you don't purchase Revs tickets. You don't want to purchase tickets and then not attend the Revs game because of the SCF and essentially lose that money.

 

I am not a STH. I have attended all but 3 games this year. Only once have I walked into the tailgate with a ticket already purchased, and that was for the LA game when Slyde gave my buddy free tickets. I have decided to go to the Fire game tomorrow, but I'm not going to buy a ticket until about a hour before kick-off.

 

I agree. I would be willing to bet the Red Sox wouldn't get 10K if they played that night.

Obviously I know the Red Sox have already sold out the game ahead of time, but I doubt there would even be 10K in the park for the game. Heck, I imagine they moved Saturday's game for that very reason. They likely wouldn't get a good crowd at all.

 

Save your money.

Sometime during that last hour, hang out in the plaza near the ticket window. Without exception, someone will walk up to you AND GIVE YOU TICKETS FOR FREE. Dutiful soccer moms and dads who just happened to buy six and found no one else wanted to go. Too frightened to "resell" them for even half of their face value, they walk up to you and beg for you to take them.

Seriously.

 

That's exactly what happened to me on Wednesday. I actually had slid my CC under the window asking for a Fort ticket when a guy came up to me and said..hey, you want a free ticket??

So I stood in the fort with a $47 ticket that I got for free...

EXTREMELY SAD STATE of Affairs in Revs Land.

Bruins game not withstanding, just a horrible job from marketing/promotions/FO/Management/Coaching/Scouting/Branding/Concessions/Stadium Staff/Grounds/Owners...Everyone associated in any way with this outfit, down to the volunteers, should be fired..!!

The only way the Metrosucks would ever succeed was a complete re-branding. Bringing them up is very relevant..which luckily for them, MLS and the sport RB came in and with their PASSION for This Game as well as many interests in other Sports, saved that franchise. Love'em or Hate'em(Which we do, in a patronizing kind of way) they've come in and have done exactly what needs to be done to make them viable and relevant.

This outfit of moronic misfits has NO INTEREST in making the Revs relevant. Burns, Bilello, Nicol or whomever, could do everything they could, within reason to make this team better. But, in the end no real work gets done. Are they incompetent? Most believe they are.

But, in my opinion the Revs are like a patient in a coma and gangrene has attacked the outer extremities and amputations need to occur if they are to survive. Kraft, is that family member that you can't reach to ask for permission to operate, or is too lazy to call the docs back. There's only so much they can do to keep this person alive. So while Kraft is on junkets to Israel, doing humanitarian work; bringing pointyball to people who'd rather have an M-16...The Revs, the patient, is succumbing to an indifferent and apathetic a-hole whose disinterest is certainly going to kill it. Is there a cure?? I don't believe there is...

This team needs a resurrection of biblical proportions.

 

This has been the case since year one. People often get tickets through groups (youth soccer, cub scouts, high school, etc.) and then are willing to part with them at not cost, it's been happening since 1996. I'm not quite sure why people just don't ask for $10 a piece, but this isn't a new thing.

 

I went on a rant after my little ticket thing...The rant wasn't meant to be directed at the free ticket thing. I've gotten lots of freebies in the past. Should have been 2 separate posts. Sry if it came across that way.

 

This team needs to die, and a new one needs to form out of it's ashes. This organization is broken beyond repair.

 

But if it does die, I doubt very much anything will rise from its ashes. Not that it couldn't if a good owner came along, but it won't, at least not for a long, long time. The worst thing about it is that if Kraft does kill his own team by his own apathy, he'll still be able to make "soccer money" by hosting a couple of friendlies with big time teams every summer. He won't even miss it.

If this happens, enjoy the long drive to NY or Montreal for your fix of domestic club soccer.

Be careful what you wish for.

 

Tom,
If that does indeed occur, he, being Bob Krafty would make it extremely difficult for a new owner to come in..especially since all he has to do, is have a couple WORLD SERIES OF SOCCER bull crap games and he'd make more than an entire season of MLS... getting more and more depressed...!!