I have always seen PPL Park listed as 18,500 seats (as it is on the Union home page), so I consider that the threshold for a sell-out. But interestingly the attendance at this year's home game against the Red Bulls was 19,027 (which set a record), and then subsequently against Los Angeles it was 19,178 -- a new record. I believe the additional sales come from the field level seats, which aren't permanent, and also from the "party decks," which I don't know much about but I think are geared towards group sales.
I'm not disagreeing with you but at the same time it could have been worse. we have had a certain group of fans who came to Crew stadium and tore up the seats and laughed about it. Not going to name any names but I'm just saying it could have been worse.
From our experiences the past several years...the Timbers Army is about prevention...not after the matter. Not only do we take our soccer extremely serious, but also our supporters' interests too. We have been described as the friendliest to visit. Your pint will never be empty pre/post match at the pub. We absolutely love visitors, but during the match, we are focused on supporting our team, not bullshitting with the opposing supporters in our section, end of story.
I'm not trying to argue but if it were me i would be more pissed if an opposing supporters were on purposely trying to destroy the seating in the stadium.
It takes a week to fix a broken bench. It takes years to smash a soccer stereotype that potentially could have popped up again...then, to regain trust from various front offices (at least here in Cascadia, not sure about other places). If I had to, I'll take #1.
Well i guess you didn't see what that lead too. lol But all in all your team played a good game and my friends have enjoyed being around the timbers fans so i'd like to thank you guys for showing them a good time. Lets just throw it up as a miss understanding.
I watched the highlights on the MLS website and the place looked fairly empty. Then I saw the 27K number and knew someone was using some creative math. This article pretty confirms that thought. "The most disappointing aspect of the match was all of the visibly empty seats at the HDC, the announced sellout crowd of 27,000 notwithstanding. Los Angeles sports crowds are notorious for being late-arrivers, but considering that Landon Donovan called Chivas the "hottest team in the league" this past week and considering that the Galaxy are riding high atop the Western Conference standings, it was somewhat unsettling to spot sections full of empty seats for the better part of a match..."
Yeah, I was there too and it was packed. Maybe it's a Chivas thing to come late, I'm not sure. But it was 27k easy, more with the grass berm.
MLS could get really creative with its attendance figures like some college football teams do. I know that Penn State counts everybody in the stadium (fans, vendors, police, media, etc) as part of its crowd count.
No, there to support the team. That is done by creating an atmosphere that inspires your team and has the reverse effect on the opposition. As a visiting fan, you should NEVER enter the home supporters section.
Agreed... if you just want to watch the game, you can do so at home on your couch. Replays of all the scenes, you can grab yourself a beer from the fridge whenever you want to, etc. Half the fun of watching the game live is to take in the atmosphere, which will be better when each team's fans actively fire the players up, and that's what the supporters' section is for. It's bad enough when you have fans of your own team just sitting on their hands in the supporters' section - let alone some jackass from the other team!