His comment is true as a stand alone statement because if there was no increase in attendance from the former PASL side the numbers still would have risen substantially with the addition of the former MISL teams. The average attendance increase was helped in large part by the increase at Harrisburg, ( with some measure of thanks to traveling Silver Knight, Lancer and Blast fans. Also boosting the average was the removal of some of the real attendance bottom feeders from last year's PASL. The numbers went up and I'm glad, the numbers really did not go up as much as you indicate when those other factors are considered.
With a handful of data points missing from this year, preliminary percent gains from a year ago for this year's teams. (Again, these are average announced numbers.) Texas...........+227.0% Chicago.........+114.8% Las Vegas.......+109.9% Harrisburg.......+73.8% Sacramento.......+33.2% Ontario..........+16.5% Detroit...........+9.6% St. Louis.........+8.4% Syracuse..........+7.4% Missouri..........+7.4% Baltimore.........+1.3% Saltillo.........-2.01% Wichita..........-3.51% Turlock..........-3.64% San Diego........-8.38% Hidalgo..........-8.59% Dallas...........-9.27% Rochester.......-11.00% Milwaukee.......-39.64% Monterrey.......-51.45% Tulsa...........-52.89% Brownsville.........N/A Seattle.............N/A Tacoma..............N/A MASL TOTAL......+87.03% (Ex-PASL clubs were up an aggregate 30.4%, ex-MISL clubs an aggregate 5.1%. The MASL average of 2,523 was 87% ahead of last year's PASL average, but 46% less than last year's MISL average - which included Reading, obviously.)
I know that the last time I checked that Wichita had not reported official figures for their last 4 home games all of which were their largest attendances of the season.
Which begs the question of why you would not announce your largest crowds of the season. I'm not missing four games for Wichita, so I don't know which four that is. I am missing the eighth and ninth games. 11/08 vs Tulsa - 1,510 11/16 vs Texas - 885 11/23 vs Dallas - 991 12/06 vs Chicago - 1,539 12/20 vs Texas - 1,340 01/10 vs St. Louis - 2,116 01/17 vs St. Louis - 1,864 02/07 vs Milwaukee - N/A 02/08 vs Missouri - N/A 02/21 vs Tulsa - 2,500
Sydney can clarify this but he has been asking for actual numbers for the final 4 games of the season. Even so much openly engaging the front office on Facebook asking for them.
Yes, he told me that, too. But I have two of the four and got them from the league website, and as far as I know, he runs the league website, so...
I can tell you that those numbers you do have are not.....correct and if its what gets reported they are under reporting for some reason.
Well if I know one thing about professional sports, it's that they LOVE under reporting attendances...
Yes, I don't think the MASL really has any "Deflate Gate" problems with its attendance in the near future.
Add the B-52s to the group of teams whose attendance was up this year. I added the numbers from the last four games. 2104 1957 2139 and 2458
I was at the final two Harrisburg Heat games (Blast and Waza) of the season. The crowds were solid. In addition, the play of the Heat was inspired. Heck, the Heat were up 9-2 at one point versus the Blast. It made me think of the Heat glory years in the mid-90s. Granted there was a large Blast contingent for the 2/27 match so that helped attendance. The 2/28 match was bolstered by the previous day's promotion (Buy a ticket to the 2/27 match and receive a free voucher for the 2/28 game). I think the increase in attendance for the Heat can be contributed to two things: 1. The move back to the original (larger) arena. 2. A more aggressive promotional atmosphere. I'll also add a third... (just in a slight way) the success of the Hershey Bears hockey team just down the road. I say that because the Bears tend to sell out a lot of their games and if you want to see a sporting event on a Saturday night and you can't get Bears tickets then you have the Heat as an close alternative. As you can see I said nothing about MPS.
Those are some very impressive numbers. Some credit should go to Mr. Edwin F. Hale for having the vision to see this, in February 2014. Sometimes, I think we forget the effort it took from Mr. Hale and Commissioner Kevin Milliken to see this through. Credit should also go to the Comets and Sockers organizations as well. This was a MAJOR effort. Now, more work needs to be done, but to pull this off in year one, not bad.
Well, you should have. As you mentioned, "a large BLAST contingent for the 2/27 match...helped attendance." BLAST fans represent MPS. Can't separate the two. Look, I really like the story of the Harrisburg Heat and I am happy they are back and in a successful way; but to pretend that they could do a Detroit Waza Flo, is wrong. The Heat made the best business decision and aligned themselves with their MPS brothers. Ask Detroit how going rouge helped their cause. SHAME
Been following these boards since the Prodigy days before the internet. You were not there back then though. But you were on the old boards in the late 90's. Your up to SoccerMan 25 now. Keep it real.
My GOD are you an idiot. And Rockford = Chicago, right? People from Baltimore don't go to Harrisburg to represent MPS, you dope. They go to represent the Blast. Moron.
I'm a Blast fan who attended a game in Harrisburg this year. I like the Blast. I HATE MPS. And I don't think I'm the only one...
No. I have been following indoor soccer since the MISL1 days, and I have always hated MPS. I have tolerated it since there hasn't been anything else in upstate New York.
What. They. Said. Love the Blast, was the first team I rooted for as a kid even before the Orioles. I hate MPS with the burning passion of a 1000 suns.
I vote for MPS however beggars can't be choosers and MASL is seriously undernourished. The one thing that makes zero sense is some teams MPS and others SPS, that's just crazy. We will have a game one day that a team wins using 'their system' and had the 'other system' been used they would have lost.