Last three Crew home games, all-time 1996: 16,747 | 31,550 | 20,807 1997: 15,132 | 22,259 | 13,102 1998: 14,552 | 10,996 | 13,193 1999: 18,879 | 9,188 | 12,778 2000: 16,192 | 15,941 | 24,347 2001: 19,008 | 24,033 | 20,000+(?) Not always. Recently. Don't know if they'd sell out at 4pm (they never have), but it sure would look a lot better than some other places they've shown on Soccer Saturday. However, unfortunately, this late in the year, Soccer Saturday gets screwed with, so no one would have seen all the people in Columbus until very early this morning.
A Great Night in MLS. Write this one down, guys, it might have been the turning point. On a Labor Day Saturday, with 20 Billion College Football games, a full slate of MLB and Lord knows how many Minor League, Auto Racing and other venues active, MLS pulls in Big Crowds. Not only is hot spots like Columbus and LA, but KC, as well. And more is coming. The home and away with Columbus and Chicago is guarenteed sell outs at both venues. This is even more impressive when you look at last year's numbers and see a decline in attendence, even at Labor Day, when College and Pro Football get into full gear. It has to be the WC, a year of great competition and the down to the wire post-season race. The way NE is coming back on can only be a boost to attendence. I think it is becoming quite clear that contraction was the right thing to do at the right time. Very soon, MLS will have the game, the heat, and the numbers to attract new investors and new cities.
Didn't the league draw big numbers last labor day as well? And there will be no "turning point" IMO. Just a long steady climb up the hill. Attendance was up last year and it looks to be up again this year as well.
I totally ashamed of all MSL soccer teams for playing during football season, they should end their season August 15TH Like the women. I can't believe everyone would be excited because we drew 15,000. That is a crap crowd. You draw that big of crowd for NASCAR on Wednesday for Pit Practice. When you guys fill these stadiums up, then come back to me, and we can think about allowing soccer up below Ice Hockey, instead of the niche spot it is now, with Indoor Arena Football, and Indoor Arena Lacrosse. Let's don't be impressed with attendance until they are in the 40,000's. Okay?
First, it's the MLS not the MSL. Second, it wasn't too long ago that a 15,000 crowd would have been a boon to NASCAR. Considering the amount of competition for attention this weekend--baseball and college football--, it's something for soccer fans to be impressed with.
Considering that the only leagues around the world that have decent sized crowds in comparison to the NFL are the Big 4 in Europe. I think we are in fine shape. The First Division is somewhere around 17K or something like that. In the seventh year of the NHL or the NBA were they averaging 15K a match? Nope. We're growing, we'll get there.
And this was one night after the Chiefs played at Arrowhead and a college football Saturday. Who'd have thought KC would have the second largest crowd for the week? And beat the Fire to boot. Time to start buying lottery tickets.
Outside the 4 major leagues of Europe, and a couple in South America, 15k is very healthy attendance. Given a new league in a country less than friendly to the sport, as fans we can be as impressed as we please -- with OUR success against the odds. As for you, nobody here is coming to you with anything. You came to us on these boards, and you are free to stay or leave as you please -- along with your opinions. Thanks for your valuable insight into our situation.
I wouldn't say this is a turning point per se, because I see this as a steady climb, but what is interesting is the beginings of crowd consistancy. In other words it appears as if the core fan base is growing across the league. Not long ago who would have thought that DC would have the smallest crowd over the weekend by quite a margin with an attendance over 14,000. I think DC's attendance is remarkable given the absolutely horrible record of the last 3 seasons and emergance of the Freedom. What is also nice to see are crowds that are building as we move through the year towards the playoffs. That suggests knowable fans paying attention and attending the more "important" matches.
What I find even more interesting is the teams drawing bigger crowds even though there was no Hermusillo, Hernandez, Lothar type signings in the last couple of years. People are actually attending games for it's quality now.
8,000 tickets were distributed to kids from the KC area for last nights game. I guess the money for the tickets came from a wizards childrens charity of some sort called "Kicks for Kids" (like 5th major sport in Dallas, I guess). Article I don't know where they got those kids from though, because they were hitting me up for my scarves after the game
One of, I like kids, as long as they're well behaved. (I gave the other away earlier, and just put in an order for three more for Saturday). But they can't have my Ultras scarf. Children need well established boundaries
Listen, if your handle is hippitihop and you are from Lees Summit, MO, you've got to grab hold of any type of snobbery you can get