Attendence numbers

I think the low turnout on Sunday was due to the fact the Flyers played that night and the weather reports all called for thunderstorms. I know it rained the enitre game when they hosted Washington too.

I think that one of the things that may help is some sort of partnership with the Union. I would have to check the schedule, but I think that none of the Union games inteferre with the Independence home games. The interest in soccer is there, but I think the promotion of the team needs to be better. Maybe a discount offer for Union season ticket holders to buy tickets for the Independence. Just a thought.

 

My family and I went to the home opener but have not been back since. Most of the games are at 6 PM on Sundays. Since we live over an hour away (in NJ) we are waiting until school lets out to go to another game. If the games were earlier (4 PM), we could be home by our kids normal bedtimes. With the 6 PM start time, we are not getting home until after 9:30 PM. We consider this unacceptable on a school night.

I would disagree about how easy it is to get to the stadium. We had to take several 2 lane roads to get to the stadium. When we left, the police directed us in the opposite direction than we had entered. Without a GPS, we would have been seriously lost.

While we have not been to game since the home opener, we have watched the team each time they have been on FSC.

 

I agree the location isn't spectacular. West Chester can be confusing to navigate if you do not know where you are going.

The 6pm start is beyond their control really, it's the time slot FSC gave them and they need all of the exposure they can get.

 

I think the West Chester location is a big issue. I kept hearing the FSC announcer describe the location as "right outside downtown Philadelphia" and it's not. It's almost an hour outside Center City. By playing games in the far west suburbs, it disenfranchises those in the eastern suburbs like South Jersey, Bucks County and eastern Montgomery County— all of which are soccer hotbeds. Hopefully, if the WPS survives and they can afford the higher rent, the Independence will play next season at PPL Park in Chester, which is much more centrally located and a soccer specific stadium— those football lines made watching Sunday's game harder on TV. The Charge played in the more centrally located Villanova stadium but after watching Kelly Smith tear up her knee on that artificial turf, I'm not so sure I would want them to play there again.
The other thing would be marketing. Has there really been much buzz surrounding this team. It might actually be a disadvantage having the Union be an expansion team during the same year because the men's team is sucking away some attention that otherwise would have gone to the Indy.

 

I can't speak to the traffic or the ease of access, but I can say the current venue is horrible.

After watching the Germany-Australia WC game, I switched over to watch female professionals kicking around before an empty stadium, on a football field that looked like it was decked out for Marti Gras. The contrast was really stark. I had the game on tape and turned it off as unwatchable. This field is worse than Boston, and that is saying quite a lot.

When I did return to the game in a more determined frame of mind, it was quite an interesting match, but it was an effort to get beyond the field and focus on the run of play.

I am well aware of the financial challenges faced by WPS, but if they want to be taken seriously as a professional sport, they need to play soccer on a soccer field. I take these players very seriously as professionals, but even as a die-hard fan, it is hard to take the league seriously and believe it is a viable enterprise when they put their players on TV under conditions like this. I think casual viewers who are not committed to the quality of play will just find the whole thing silly. They would have a point.

 

The stadium seems a bit out there, although I am not from Philadelphia. Even within West Chester it is sort of tucked away. But the crowd Sunday was not terribly empty, it was just that the majority of the crowd was under the camera. There are clear issues, but outside Atlanta there is no ideal stadium situation in WPS (and even that stadium is way outside of Atlanta). PPL Park is a sensible option, but the rent price will be key. As cool as it is to have a team like Chicago play in Toyota Park, it doesn't necessarily make sense.

EDIT: If the 2,616 number from Sunday is accurate, then there is no way 6,000 people fit in that stadium. 2,616 in a stadium that seats 6,000+ looks a lot more empty than things did Sunday.

 

Public transit issue? I'd say there's a small one. There IS no public transit to this field.

Yes, there is one random bus (the 104) that travels from Philadelphia to the other part of the WC campus every couple of hours, but the Sunday schedule means that these stops are sparse at best, and one would also be required to walk the 25-30 min hike from the field to the bus stop at the other WC campus.

I think the lack of public transporation is a huge mistake for the Independence because a) you're cutting off Philly residents who depend on public trans and b) you're forcing those who live in the suburbs (Bucks esp., where I know soccer is VERY popular) to travel a long distance with their cars. If there was an R train available, I know suburbanites would use it.

I can remember taking public transportation with my dad to the Villanova games as a child, and the trains would be packed with fans. It's a shame that that's not available now for Indy.

 

I wasn't at the game, but from the few shots on TV we saw of the stands behind the players bench they looked fairly filled. The 2600 announced attendance was surprising to me, thought there would be more.

I don't see them playing in PPL park next season, as the rent would be more expensive. Unless they formed some sort of partnership deal with the Union to use the stadium, I think West Chester or another local college field will have to do.

I was at PPL park on Saturday for the World Cup viewing and had mentioned the Independence to some other season ticket holders. Many of them were not even aware there was a ladies team back in town. I think there is a opportunity to market to the 12,000 season ticket holders of the Union. Possibly a discount price offer. An few extra hundred tickets sold at a discount price is certainly better than empty seats. Definitely an opportunity to try and piggyback on the Union's success in the area.

 

The week before there was a half hour wait to get into the stadium and a line that wrapped around the entire parking lot. One gate with one person trying to learn how to use a scanner.

How about a couple gates?

How about one for season ticket holders?

Ignore your fans and they will go away...

 

They did use two gates for the home opener. Not sure why they still don't.

I was concerned when they announced West Chester as the location. You've got a huge population of female soccer players in Bucks County that are closer to Sky Blue than to Philly. If you compare the ticket prices, Philly's range from $15 to $45 for the bleacher seats (strangely, the premium seating price varies from game to game). Sky Blue charges $15 to $30 for the same type of seats. Both have on-field seating for a higher price. Sky Blue has added cabanas, additional field level seating this year, and a beer garden, which is a feature they share with Washington (don't know about the other clubs). There's not much to differentiate the 'premium' seats for Philly, other than the field level ones.

Any Philly season ticket holders on here? What kind of extras do you get??

 

WOW, did the Charge really get 7K plus per game?? That's shocking that now it's in the 2K range.

You can understand that with all the years off from the death of WUSA to the birth of WPS they'll naturally have some fans that lose interest but in previous markets especially you would think a 4K average is not too much to ask for.

St.Louis could've come close to that if we'd gotten a chance to STAY in the league!!

 

I have been to every game for the Independence and I think the current crowd support is great. Regardless of the venue, we need people out there to support the team. I think the way the players stay after and sign autgraphs, it is just a great atmosphere for families, kids, and of course soccer fans!

Not only are the Independence kicking butt on the field but off the field the players are at events every weekend. What can we do as a fan to help grow our fan base? Any ideas? What about a supporters section?

 

I agree that people need to support the club regardless of the venue. That being said, I know lots of folks can't get to the venue (or it's easier to get to see a Sky Blue match) due to lack of public transportation. Not everyone will buy tickets knowing that they won't be able to make it to the games. I think the venue has a lot to do with attendence. From Center City Philly it would be a 5 our round trip on buses, walking & waiting. To see Sky Blue from Philly, it's about 4 hours.

 

The team is going to move to PPL Park next year, the SEPTA Route 113 goes by there on an hourly basis, and the seating capacity will be closer to 8,000 than the 18,500 you'll see at Union matches.

 

The 2k Philly currently draws would look wretched in PPL. Until they can sell some freaking tickets I don't think the team should move anywhere--much less a place with a big rental fee. I hope Waxler is good at the GM job and has found a good sales team. The lines & turf are terrible but if playing there keeps the team alive b/c the stadium is cheap, that is worth the burned retinas. Moving to PPL is a bad idea if it breaks the bank and I think it would.

 

The reason the Independence is not selling more tickets has nothing to do with the lines on the field and more to do with lack of local attention on the team and the location of the stadium being too far away from much of the Philadelphia region. They would draw more than 2K at PPL Park by virtue of it being a more central location. Even if it's not PPL, they need to find another venue next season that is closer to fans in South Jersey, Bucks County and eastern Montgomery County. Problem is that the only other option than PPL is Villanova, where the Charge played but that has terrible turf. Just ask Kelly Smith's ACL.
I think they need to go into PPL next season. I would guess the rent would be significantly higher than in WC but the stadium owners and local community are not going to want to have built that facility only to have it used for just 15 Union home games. They could use another tenant and might be willing to cut some kind of deal. There might be some risk to it but I think you have to go with the Field of Dreams theory — "If you build it, they will come."
But regardless of venue, they also need to pick up marketing, which has been almost non-existent because they clearly have a limited budget and the team has been drowned out by the intense competition. We just had the Flyers go on a long playoff run, the Sixers had the second pick in the draft, the Phillies are insanely popular and now in full swing and the Union are also a novelty that plays in a more attractive location and has just garnered more local buzz. Their home opener wound up on the back page of the Philadelphia Daily News. And wait until the Eagles start training camp in July. Different fan bases sure, but there is hardly a whisper about this team in the local media and they need to get some media attention to lure people into the seats.
Pasoccerdad is probably right about using youth soccer more to promote the team but I am also surprised that they have not used Heather Mitts more in that capacity. She is the only player on the team that most people in the region know and I have not seen much of her on TV or radio. When she was with the Charge, Mitts and Lorrie Fair were regulars on TV and radio. That's free advertising and she's really good at it. She was so good that the NBC affiliate hired her as a broadcaster.

 

It looks like the Independence have just hired a "Director of Ticket Sales": http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/philadelphia/news/general/100708-director-of-ticket-sales.aspx

Hopefully that helps things a bit. I'm still clinging to the notion that it's the rather remote location in West Chester that's doing the most to hold down attendance figures, though. It's good for someone who lives out in the sticks like me, but for much of the Philadelphia metro area, it simply isn't easy to get to.

 

This is the Independence's 2nd Director of Ticket Sales. I believe the original person that had the job, Beth Harless, was let go due to poor attendance at Independence games to date.