As most know, this was a break out year for MLS attendance league wide. Here is a summary with data lifted from the main attendance thread on the MLS N&A board ============================================== MLS Attendance Report 2011 Numbers, 18 Teams, 306 total games Average Attendance: 17,869 Median Attendance: 17,639 % of games > 20k: 28.1% % of games <10k: 5.6% Notes: * The average was the best ever * The median was the best ever and blew away the second best ever by 2,286. The median by itself was even better than the now second best average back in 1996 * The <10k number was the best ever * The >20k number was the second best ever, trailing 2007 (Becks and Blanco's first year) To give a feel for those 2011 numbers above, compare them to where MLS was after the 2000 season Average Attendance: 13,756 Median Attendance: 12,690 % of games > 20k: 12.5% % of games <10k: 34.4% There is a decent chance that next season could match or even beat these 2011 numbers. Houston opening a new stadium, Portland expanding by 1500 seats, Montreal expansion expected to be very strong, full season in BC Place for Vancouver and a possibility of Seattle expanding their seating again.
Or artificially hand out free tix in hopes that a few thousand of those that do make it, stop off at 5 guys and drop $50...!
Not people who love the game...I'm talking bout Suzy, Johnny and the kids out for a Saturday night watching the blue team play the green team..!! They're the only ones KSG cares about.. They spend money they don't have..!
Yeah, but they already show up. all 7000 of them. where are they going to find another 6-7K? I'm pretty sure even college kids wouldn't waste their time even if your drove them and gave them free beer.
As the league continues to grow, the effect of one or two bad attendance teams is reduced. Every year there will be teams that have reduced attendance. It happens in every league in every sport. As you mentioned the Revs will very likely be one of those teams assuming they don't use a double header to goose the numbers. But even if the Revs drop 2k in attendance, I still think this years league average is sustainable given that the positives seem to slightly outweigh the negatives at this point.
It's a lot easier to pontificate when you don't care about the facts, right? How many home games had 'good' attendence? I don't think it really matters where you put that line, it's going to be more than you think
Maybe something was lost in what we were all assuming, and just joking about. I am referring to a suggested drop in attendance for next season, given that a lot of STH's are upset. I'm not sure what "facts" you are suggesting here. Everyone is throwing out posts based on conjecture.
My apologies if you were referring to next year's numbers (reading back it seems pretty clear that you were). Mea Culpa But the fact does remain that even losing 500 STH's, it'll be unlikely to see a significant drop in attendence next year.
I know, I was made in jest anyways. hence the LOL Plus, everyone knows college kids would do anything for free beer. Even if that meant watching the Revs.
College kids will come out in droves to watch soccer, if there's free beer. A fact anyone who's ever seen an AO 'tailgate' can attest to
Great point, what is the FO waiting for!?? Sponsorship opportunity begging to be exploited! Revolution branded beer pong tables, cups & ping pong balls Revs home brewed beer Revs flasks, steins, kegs, shot glasses, grills, chairs Make 'Rev pong' an official part of the game day experience and the college kids will be there.
I'd much rather watch a few drunk 19 year old girls try to play baggo for a price pack then watch some child fail at kicking a ball through a tarp
Dan, is this true, or just speculation on the large crowds for the last couple of home games? I remember when attendace declined in the early Gillette years (when the team had its best years, ironically enough) the Revs pointing out these were all paid attendees, and that they don't give out freebees. The implication was there that they once did in the early years, but that wasn't true at all. I recall several conversations with then-GM Brian O'Donovan who was adamantly against it--citing that it wasn't fair to people who paid for their tickets, especially STH. Yes, there were some tickets given as part of sponsorships, so you might be sitting next to a guy who drives a delivery truck for the company that supplies flour to Dunkin Donuts, but the ticket wasn't free, since DD paid for that as part of their sponsorship. Anyway, I know the stats are here somewhere, but aren't 3 of the 5 smallest crowds in the league this year from Gillette? I think the others were Columbus and Toronto (that one was in horrible weather) IIRC.
I am not sure who was lowest but it was not Toronto. Their lowest this year was 16,313 against DC earlier in the season.
Yeah, my mistake. I think it was our home game vs Toronto that was on the list, that's where it came from. You're right, even a bad crowd for them (no walk-up or non-ST sales) would be larger than our average. Anyway, I'll see if I can find that stat. It used to be posted in one of the attendance threads around here.
Here you go... Worst 6 MLS Attendances for 2011. I'm adding one just because the #1 on the list was just a weird coincidence. Code: [B]Date Home Away Atten Weather[/B] Wed 6/15 Revs TFC 6,680 75, Clear Sat 4/2 Revs Portland 7,114 48, Cloudy Sat 5/7 Crew Seattle 7,148 59, Cloudy Sat 4/16 Crew Sporting 7,695 47, Rain Sat 4/9 Revs RSL 7,970 50, Clear Wed 5/11 FCD Toronto 8,145 64, Rain And I still remember after our first two, rkupp had said that around half of the teams in the league would wind up with a number like that. Yeah, not so much.
If that list shows me one thing, it's that home fans do not like showing up to watch their team play Toronto