There were a TON of Atlanta fans in DC last night, all over the stadium. The DC fans were good sports, too, especially after their team scored the equalizer. A lot of Messi jerseys, too, which I found odd.
I think it's a combination of a few things: 1. DC is a highly transient city. 2. Messi is the most popular player in the world and he's playing in a league most thought had no chance. 3. Greater awareness from those fans that MLS has a team in the city they're in and tickets were available. 4. DC has been bad for long enough that it's easy to get tickets. It's a larger scale version of seeing a Crosby or Ovechkin hockey sweater being worn at a game where neither team is playing, or someone like Jordan when he was at his peak in the NBA.
Let me put it another way. The Rapids’ market has a lot less margin for error than any other MLS club.
1. I was the jagoff yelling “Sit back down! Sit back down!” on your offside goal. You’re welcome 2. I saw a Wolves jersey. Someone wearing an Alaska Air Timbers jersey was next to me. I saw a McKennie USMNT kit.
Well, one thing you're new owner did was to build a stadium in a better location. The Galaxy can't really do that because then they'd move even closer to lafc. They're only 15 minutes away as is (without traffic, so not really). Perhaps the Galaxy should just embrace orange county and move further south, I dunno. I think that might increase attendance but decrease the team value.
I hope its as easy as that. It would be a sign of a healthy league. I know that in the old days it would take 2+ years of winning to start affecting attendance.
Just to tell an anecdote, I have seen several guys here in Colombia with Inter Miami jerseys in the last couple of months. Usually to see MLS jerseys it could take years between sightings. Messi is indeed one of a kind regarding the attention it commands.
It's the weekend already in Saudi Arabia: Al Ettifaq v Al Tai 4,865 Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd Stadium Al Taawoun v Al Raed 8,079 King Abdullah Sport City Stadium Damac v Al Hilal 11,072 Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Sports City Stadium Al Ittihad v Al Fateh n/a Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium Al Shabab v Al Hazem n/a Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium
Yes and no. NYRB has always done good and was constantly in the play offs. That didn't help their attendance. Houston is doing good this year but doesn't have that good of attendance. I guess in some markets winning does help and in others it doesn't really matter if you are winning or losing, people just don't show up.
Bill James wrote a long time ago that winning increases ticket sales NEXT year. And since I read that, I’ve noticed that’s the case in other sports too. I mean, yeah, winning is important, but my point is that the time horizon is broader. EDIT the post above mine beat me by a minute, so let me add without quoting, watch Houston’s attendance next year.
Attendance figures for the September 20th Miami vs. Toronto match are now known. 19,659 in Ft. Lauderdale That brings the Wednesday night total to 247,899 for an average of 17,707.
I disagree. I think 18,000 is a reasonable average based on their location and the lack of any big names in their squad. Their attendances have always been heavily padded. But they do have a hell of a location issue. They're doing OK. They still haven't secured a playoff spot. But unless they go on a tear it's going to take consistency to win back the local fans.
In other sports it takes until the playoff race really kicks off for a perennial loser to magically get popular. But is a playoff chase enough in MLS? Not for all markets I'd say.
Just by definition, some teams win and some teams lose. So do we just expect the losers to always have bad attendance? That's not how it works in the top leagues (maybe because the losers are fighting against relegation?)
I think some teams just require big signing to draw - Red Bulls being one of those teams. They need to win AND have a big star, and this needs to last several years. Kind of a big ask. Meanwhile NYCFC play in a baseball stadium and draw quite well this season. One the other hand, having a competitive team for a REALLY long time might also work - see Dallas. Or maybe that was just Frisco's explosive growth. There are lots of variables and no easy solution. For most markets the quick path is new ownership and downtown stadium, but that's impossible for teams like Galaxy and Red Bulls.
Houston's attendance next year will be up 10%, which only gets it back to what it was in 2022. Last in the league in average attendance in 2023 and biggest YoY drop (if you allow LAG to include the Rose Bowl game). The announced figures also seem largely fabricated, more cushioned than the usual "announced" attendance figures. A decade of futility along with the team being invisible locally (and Apple TV certainly has not helped, especially in the Spanish-speaking community). No real easy solutions in Houston.
Using last year's EPL as a single data point, the attendance rank on average is about 4-5 spots of their finishing rank, so there's certainly a bit of correlation (the big exceptions are West Ham (much worse than their attendance) and Brentford (much better than their attendance, but they were essentially at capacity all season). BTW, Wolves and Forest finished in exactly the same spot on the table and on the attendance average rank.
It absolutely is in the top leagues. Take AC Milan's last decade or so. Place Average attendance 1st 53k 2nd 49k 3rd 44k 8th 39k 10th 36k 7th 36k 6th 40k 6th 52k 5th 54k 6th Covid affected 2nd Covid affected 1st Covid affected 4th 71k 3rd* 72k *Current
i forgot about the mid-week games when i -NAIVELY- said that 23K was a possibility- getting over 22 300 would be good
New York City are playing Toronto at Red Bull Arena so that should bring down this week's average a lot. Probably 6,000 announced with 2,500 actually in the stadium.
Add in the fact that'll be a very night evening on the east coast.... there'll be some empty stands in Chester and Harrison.
They need to minimize midweek games. Leagues Cup is a great idea, but man it takes up a whole month and that adds to midweek schedule.
The league cup from my understanding is designed to encourage Hispanics to watch MLS as well as providing crowd revenue and I think I read it had about 1.2 million in attendance and when added to MLS expected total could nudge 12 million. Maybe the answer to mid week games is to expend the season to say 37 regular rounds...