Our three biggest crowds of the year were the last 3 games at CCS, two of which included the wunder-boy, not including the playoff game so to say that season ticket holders weren't showing up at the end of the season is just incorrect. Sorry.
All three of those "crowds" appeared to be largely papered, and included huge numbers of either youth giveaways of youth club (discounted) sales. But however that may be, I thought it was obvious that the seats which are typically seaon ticket seats, particularly the club seating, was conspicuously sparsely filled. I honestly think that the fans are tired of being treated like idiots. Most of us only have so much blind loyalty we can muster before we just turn it off. I love the team, we all do, but sooner or later getting treated like crap by the owners and management begins to be more trouble than it's worth.
They were the biggest crowds of the season but I wonder how much they added to the bottom line. I bought 8 extra tickets for the first DC match at $5 each as part of the founders special preseason offer. I took my sisters, brothers-in-law and nephews. They had an ok time but aren't especially soccer or Freddy fans. I traded in some of my extra tickets for the last regular season match and took some friends so again no extra revenue for HSG.
When did Callahan make that comment? My favorite Edwards comment, "Playoffs, PLAYOFFS!!!! who's talking about playoffs!!"
Last November, after they lost 22-8 at home against Denver in a particularly penalty and error marred performance.
***************BREAKING NEWS***************** Unfortunately, it's bad news. But Andrulis has just broken the silence. I just came across this article http://www.dispatch.com/sports-story.php?story=dispatch/2004/11/09/20041109-E5-02.html and since most of you can't read it, here's the meat of it: %#%^*$* it sounds like he'll be back. #$^%&#$@
You've got to fvcking kidding me. Whelp, I'm outta here guys. I'll pop back in every now and then. But I see no point in spending any real time here seeing as how I don't give a fvck about the Crew anymore. Yeah, I know it won't be a great loss for you guys, but neither is dropping the Crew.
There were NUMEROUS empty seats in the Club sections and across the field in the East stands. Yes, the playoffs etc. were better than the season, but actual butts in the presold seats were probably 85% + or - of sold tickets -even in the playoffs. As you know, attendance is counted as tickets sold not actual peeps. The announced attendance was probably never more than 16,000 by my estimate. Wunderkind did sell some seats and the playoffs were better, but the crowd never was near the announced, at least IMO. The Crew was an "easy ticket" last year due to the dung style of play from the previous year and this years start.
Greg says: "The core group of guys we have is very good," coach Greg Andrulis said. "We always need to get better. That’s what we’ll be looking to do in the offseason." Craig says: There will be other personnel changes next season, but don’t expect a massive turnover of half the roster as was the case this year. Who knows something the other doesn't? Could there be hope yet?
Well to tell you the truth, I'd rather them be out there at the various conferance tournaments scouting then sitting at home waiting to hear if they'll be sacked or not.
He said that "These players are great, we need to get better" and then "Never mind we're gonna egt rid of some" I see it.
By my reckoning, either Coach Yellow is working for free these days or he's been given a new contract. When will we hear from the Crew on this? Probably about the same time that we finally get a post-game interview from Greg.
I'm pretty sure that MLS player contracts run from Jan 1 to Jan 1. I wonder if Andrulis has a similar deal.
Either way, he's overpaid. Seriously, anyone who thinks the Druler won't be back is living in a fantasy world. A beautiful fantasy world. Let's just look at what happened last year. The Druler doesn't make the playoffs, which is something of an accomplishment, and is a year removed from winning the Open Cup. And he's rehired. This year "he" makes the playoffs after taking the Supporters Shield. Do the math. While these accomplishments are suspect when scrutinized, that doesn't matter. In the corporate world, appearances matter. Facts are nice if they support your case, if not, they are dispensed with. Just like crowd sizes, reality doesn't matter, it's all about appearances. Hers's a future quote for those who want a statement from the Druler: " I want to thank HSG for my multi-year contract. The team needs another year to gel so when we get to the playoffs I can pull a starting lineup out of my ass."
I'm watching all games next season from the comfort of my couch if Andrulis is re-hired. At least I won't be accosted for smoking cigarettes on my back porch by some idiot that's more concerned about bench backs being bent than the fights that are happening three sections over.
Which if he is pulling line-ups out of his ass, is probably an improvement over previous methods of roster selection...