Everytime I watch SJ games on tv I think "the stands look really full". Then they announce 9,000 and I can't believe it. The same disbelief thing happens when I watch columbus or dc and see empty seats a plenty yet they announce 17,000.
It really depends on the view of the cameras.They can be filled seats infront of the camera but in the back of the camera are empty seats (e.g. the stadium-formally-known-as-CMGI Field). Plus partially filled stadium can be over 15,000 since fans can not seat together in one area and are spaced/spread out (e.g. Invesco Field, Cotton Bowl, RFK and Columbus Crew Stadium)
i know why they did it... my big question is why they would count the tickets given away in the attendance if the league has been cracking down on doing that with attendance i have been under the impression that the league was really trying to not do that... only counting tickets sold thus i am trying to figure out a reason why, if the league is only counting sold tickets, they would possibly count all these give aways tomorrow i have no problem with the give away itself, it was part of the lease... they are honoring their commitment and hopefully drawing people to future games that might not have otherwise gone i just don't want to see it go towards our average... be it worse than last year, most games have been above the listed capacity of ncc at whatever level it was at for said game
take a look at those empty endzones, you can't take a look at that empty upper deck camera side, and realize that the side the cameras face is the smallest side... and generally teams like to push tickets on the side the camera faces... makes it look better on tv
The west (shady) side is always more full at Spartan, though they do indeed try to get people to the east side where tickets are cheaper. The seating areas that are normally open can fit about 14-15k. Last two weekend dates have been over 12,500. Expect less than that for a 1 pm game, unless the ticket sellers are doing something we don't know about.
As seen in another thread.... Just went to get a pair of tickets for tonight and all that's left are obstructed view, some singles, and some general admission. If the rain holds off (it rained all day here yesterday, hard and the skies are kinda dark and threatening right now), it could be the biggest crowd of the season, depending on how they tabulate it. If it rains, I would expect a lot of folks will stay home.
This is true, I think, of every stadium everywhere (if they have a hard time selling tickets.) It's true of every specific case I'm aware of, and every MLS fan has mentioned this. I've always assumed its because fans want to be in the shade, and cameras and/or cameramen do, too. Frankly, at this point, I'm surprised people haven't picked up on this here. How many times have people posted about the TV game, it didn't look like that many. And then someone who was actually AT THE FRIGGIN' GAME chimes in with, most people wanted to be on the shady side.
Dave...don't you know that watching the game on TV is the single best way of estimating the size of a crowd? I mean, that's how the Army Corps of Engineers does it, right?
Although the Quakes own the best record in the league and poster boy Landon Donovan, they cannot seem to attract the crowds as the other MLS teams do. The way i see it, the cause of SJ's low attendance is the unbelievable amount of pro sports teams in the area. Let's see......GS Warriors, SF 49ers, Oakland Raiders, San Jose Sharks, SF Giants, and the Oakland Athletics.... all within an hour of each other. With the addition of our downfallen economy, all of these teams take away attendence from the Earthquakes .
Wow.. 3 pages and we're still more than an hour away from kickoff. What a bunch of drivel. So naturally, I had to join in. Sachin
Doesn't hold water. Many MLS teams have just as many or more pro sports teams in their metropolitan area, and of the ones you listed, only two of them are actually in season right now. You're going to the game on Saturday, right? That's the best thing that you can do for San Jose attendance.
U may be right billreeves, but I do believe that my theory does effect the quakes attendance in one way or another. I go to every quakes game i can......but this Sat. i'm stuck at my soccer tournament in Davis. Not possible for me to go. But for sure i'll be at the game 8/21.
Well... given that LA has as many professional teams from other sports close to them as SJ does, why isn't their attendance affected by it? Metros have more professional teams from other sports closer to them than SJ does, so why isn't their attendance affected by it? This has been discussed before. The "people in SJ have other stuff to do" theory has been pretty much discounted. Sorry. See everyone? See?!? This is why San Jose is hurt more by the ESPN2 games than other teams. There you have it, hard evidence that our attendance will be reduced by at least one person because of youth soccer that is still going on at 1:00 PM which is when the ESPN2 games start in our time zone. Sorry, was that too much frothing?
It would be nice if local youth soccer organizations (e.g.AYSO), MLS, WUSA and US Soccer could organize and work out together ways to improve fan relations, better schedules and increase attendance instead of being at odds with each other. Politics and egocentric beliefs tends to hold any progress made for soccer in America.
I'm sorry billreeves. I haven't been around these boards for that long, so i didn't know this topic had already been discussed! Instead of just telling me i'm totally wrong, what's your take on why the quakes have such low attendence??? Anyways, whatever is keeping people from coming to watch the 2001 champion Earthquakes, well, God only knows!
Sorry if I was a little rude. It comes up a lot, but since all of the old posts are gone, it's hard to point to specifics. I think the #1 reason for poor Quakes attendance this year is that the Quakes front office was basically shut down during the off season. The off season is when teams spend a lot of time and effort recruiting new season ticket holders and making deals with local companies, etc. Instead, all the Quakes did during the offseason was send mail to their season ticket holders and ask them to renew. I think that since the season started, the Quakes have been putting a lot more effort into getting more people out to the games, and there has been an improvement for the last few home games (12K vs. 9K). So we'll see how they finish off the season. Regardless, there will be someone who posts "MOVE SAN JOSE NOW!!!" based on whatever the attendance is on Saturday, so be sure not to take it personally when people post things like that. Exactly, I've been going for seven years now, and there has never been a better time to be a Quakes fan. But my friends who went to games with me back in 1996 and 1997 just aren't interested now. I invite them every game, but they never take me up on it. I can't figure it out.
Re: Re: Attendance: Week 22 I disagree. LA and NY for that matter should based on their populations be drawing more than Columbus and Denver. Way over. But they don't. For many reasons, and other entertainments is part of it. As for SJ, it doesn't help that 2 (and soon) 3 games will have been TV games. TV attendences throughout the league are notoriously low. Quakes attendence has increased since the first quarter of the year. Things are beginning to look up. For a TV game, I'd be happy to 8-9K in the stands on Saturday. And let's hope that next year, Soccer Saturday moves back to night games when youth and adult players can attend the games. TV ratings are pretty sparse as it is on the Duece. Night time ratings would probably even increase?
And also the CyberRays. They have dipped into Quakes attendence. How much is argueable, but it has cost the Quakes some butts in the seats. And butts in the seats since the CyberRays came into being has decreased for the Quakes. Cause and effect, who knows!
Thanks for your input, billreeves. Although i'm young and i can't really do much about anything, i wish that there was something i could do to up the attendance at Quakes games. I'd die if they were moved from SJ!!!!! Is that even a possibility?? Everyone seems pretty knowledgable around here, so maybe you all have some answers for me??
They could. You never know. Seriously, the best thing you can do is purchase season tickets for next year. I don't know if that's possible for you or not. If not, just go to as many games as you can and drag friends, family, and assorted others to games. Don't mind us... some of us are old and bitter, others are young and bitter and still others are young and naive. Welcome to BigSoccer BTW. Best of luck this Saturday at your tournament. Sachin
Yeah, it's a drag. Since Miami and Tampa were contracted, the possibility definitely exists that underperformers will get moved or contracted, and San Jose is a pretty big underachiever as far as attendance goes. However, if you listen to the people who normally post here, you'll just get more depressed when they start shouting "MOVE SAN JOSE NOW!!!", so I recommend you ignore them. Personally, I think that the powers that be are going to give us until next season (2003) to turn things around. If we can have a stable front office for a full year, then we can improve things a lot. That's my hope, at least. And after that... The best thing you can do for now is to go to as many games as you can, and bring friends and family if you can, and keep telling your friends about how much fun it is. That's what I do.
Re: Re: Attendance: Week 22 The CyberRays are a weird one. I don't go to many Rays games (3 last year and just one this year), but there doesn't "seem" to be much overlap between the fan bases. "Seem" in quotes because it's not like I know each and every one of the thousands of people who show up to either game. But the Casbah guys are pretty much the biggest soccer fans I know, and only two or three of them overlap as Rays fans. And the Rayistas I know are not big Quake fans -- i.e. they probably wouldn't go to Quakes games even if the Rays didn't exist. It is entirely possible that there are "casual fans" (whatever that means) who are choosing the Rays instead of the Quakes. But then why doesn't WUSA hurt the Revs, DCU or Metros the same way? I know this has been discussed before...