Count me among those who doesn't bother with every different medium, including Twitter. I was quite annoyed when AUFC did their Find-the-Flag contests before the season and you could only play using Snapchat. I'm old fashioned, I know, but I'd rather communications be neutral across multiple mediums. On the whole Serie A stadiums suck. Juve and Udinese have quality venues, but after that the drop off in calibre is yuge!
I've had to make a Twitter and Instagram account, plus use Facebook way more, to help get the word out about our supporter group in Reno. But it works! And if you gave me two guesses I would never pick Instagram as the medium with the most follower engagement. I just don't get it, I guess. And I'm not old fashioned at all but Snapchat is trash. It has zero appeal to me and most people I know. I guess I'm not that interested in showing my friends what I would look like with a dog face or anime eyes
Sampdoria/Genoa and Inter/Milan have good venues as well. It will be interesting once Roma's new palace is built too.
AC Reggiana is not a Serie A team. The Serie A team that uses that stadium is Sassuolo if memory serves.
Have you been there? In common with a number of Italian grounds the Stadio Luigi Ferraris can have a fantastic atmosphere, but one of the best grounds in the world it most certainly is not. It is in quite poor physical condition and the facilities are very basic. The ground is what it is because of the people in it. The Luigi Ferraris is certainly historical, has an iconic design, has an outstanding outside facade and provides a fabulous atmosphere when full. But it also badly needs some tender loving care and decent basic facilities - new toilets, food options etc.
To those of you who study attendance closely, any idea how Italy and France count attendance? - Turnstile - Tickets sold - Tickets sold + tickets distributed (i.e. given away for free) I imagine by now most clubs and leagues (such as Arsenal) use tickets sold. But the x-factor is tickets distributed. MLS claims it now only gives away 9% of tickets for free (down from 30% in 2006) but unless we know how other leagues handle this aspect of "attendance" comparisons are difficult to make. I think it's safe to say that MLS is in the Top 10 worldwide which is no doubt a great achievement. Beyond that it gets murky and the often cited "6th place" by MLS is up for dispute. Also, the Indian Super League is usually not included. Something I agree with since it is more of a tournament rather than a league. Then again, the ISL could be assigned first division status by the AIFF as early as this year. Once India sorts out its domestic soccer mess.
I think that comparing attendance across countries in general is not very straightforward. For instance in Germany ticket prices are purposefully low since clubs are fan owned and so attendance is high. I know that in Bolivia, where stadiums are typically administrated by the local government, that attendance is often announced low because the clubs don't want to pay the 10% cut on tickets sold. MLS primary revenue is ticket sales so they have worked hard at getting this right. In general I would say though that MLS has much more control over their stadiums and ticket sales and at this moment might be more interested in raising ticket prices rather than bigger stadiums. We've found that the scarcity is a huge factor in helping pump up interest and maintain good crowds. MLS has specifically tried to "right size" their stadiums to create high demand. This is completely opposite to what would be done in Germany or for that matter Liga MX. So I would say that 6th place is very disputable but there is no denying that MLS has done some very good work in increasing attendance and generating revenue from this.
^ there is also the pretty obvious difference in populations and numbers of teams that populations serve. Here in North America we debate whether a city of 1 million (to pick a number) is big enough to have a team....in most parts of Europe that is not a conversation. I am most familiar with Scotland so I will use that example (but I think it applies in a lot of places)....Glasgow is a city that by North America size standards we would be wondering if there should be a team there at all. In the Scottish league, however, they are "down" to 4 teams within the city limits (6 when I was born) and there a bunch more in towns that we here would just consider suburbs of Glasgow (don't use that term over there ). Where in North America would we see this in any sport: That is two senior professional football stadiums less than 500m apart in a city with a population of less than 150k. IMO it is great what MLS has done in the world of attendance/popularity/relevance....I just don't see much value in comparing it to other places with totally different cultural/historical/demographic situations.
I have! Back in 2005 I saw Samp. vs. Roma. I spent 10 euro on a cheap insurance policy, a knockoff Samp jersey from some African street vendor and headed out to the stadium on the tram. There were a group of young Tifosi with their tough-guy scarves that were supposed to say "Hell's Angels" but someone wasn't paying attention in English class and it was "Hell's Angles" I was wondering if they were going to meet up with a tough-looking isoceles triangle or maybe a parallelogram in a leather jacket giving a "What are YOU lookin' at" stare-down... My seat was in the upper tier around the 18, next to an old man who gave running commentary all game long. All I could respond with was an "oy" or a hand gesture. Every time Francesco Totti touched the ball they wold whistle. At one point, I asked him in my very bad, broken Italian what must have sounded like "Ey, why they no like-a Totti?" He gave me an incredulous look, made a hand sign that some Americans might mistake for "OK" and said "Bastardo!"
Wait. What's become of the (almost) weekly attendance analyses? Didn't someone say they would take that over for this season?
I think there was general agreement around this approach. http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads...week-24-i-think.2034748/page-25#post-35177473
Thanks for that, and I will abide. I may sneak in now and again and recreate the season stats table Edward put together. I enjoyed tracking the volume of games above or below certain thresholds.
and I don't think anyone would mind a bit! Just no one saw themselves being able to devote the time that Edward did and then people started asking whether, given the state of the league now, it was necessary for anyone to do that weekly anymore.....but if someone was willing/able to drizzle it in once in a while you certainly would not hear a complaint from me!
I remember FC Basel reported turnstile numbers some years ago because it suited them (payment to security?) Yes, comparing attendances across countries and continents is rather tricky. There is general population size and as you mentioned ticket prices. Also, what does that ticket price represent in terms of average disposable income? But in order to have any meaningful baseline comparison tickets distributed (i.e. given away for free) have to be taken out of the equation. They distort the overall picture and allow a league to manipulate figures in the name of a good story.
See now, I thought for sure you were going to make a "Are you being obtuse..." joke. I'm acutely disappointed.
While not exactly like the above example there are a couple examples of very well supported college athletic programs that are located very close together that are not in really large cities in the US.
Well that's rather carefully parsed, counsellor. In England - and much of the world - Soccer really stands alone. Even in England, Rugby and Cricket at the club level are really niche sports. Nowhere in the world does soccer have the competition from other club sports that you find in the U.S. Yeah the Dundee stadiums is fun, the Derby ones as well, and let's not forget Anfield and Goodison, and plenty of others around the globe. But you can find similar stadium arrangements, with even larger capacity and much higher annual attendance and much, much higher annual ticket revenue all over the United States. Here's two that I thought of off hand (and one's a three-fer with four major leagues)
^with little seasonal overlap I will still say that Dundee having two senior clubs serving their population far outweighs the impact of Philadelphia having multiple sports Honest question....I really was not aware of two stadiums in Derby....what is the other one (I have never once stopped in Derby....just drove or trained past it).
I remember a few years back in 2011.........The Phillies played a game at Citizens bank at 6PM (back when they were competing for the playoffs), The Union were Playing Real Madrid at Lincoln Financial at 9PM that night, and there was a major concert (can't remember who) going on at the Wells Fargo Center that night. There was easily over 100K people in that area that day. Oh, and it was one of the hottest days of the Summer. Near 100 with high Humidity. Fun Times.
yep...we have had days like that here too....but it is on the fringes of seasons as they overlap....also, don't forget, an individual is more likely to have season seats to more than one sport/team (I am at 3 and have frends at 5) but if there were two or more teams in the same sport/league they are less likely to buy season tickets to multiple teams.