Next week, when the regular season is over, it will be interesting to look at home attendance figures per point earned to see if there is a connection. Here's a tentative ranking of the six teams that have played 14 home games this season (dividing total home attendance by number of points earned as of today): Metrostars -- 35 points -- 7,262 United -- 35 points -- 6,608 Crew -- 38 points -- 6,421 Galaxy -- 48 points -- 5,556 Wizards -- 35 points -- 4,902 Burn -- 43 points -- 4,272 When the final numbers are in, the Revs will have a high average, the Quakes a low average. What this suggests is that team performance doesn't guarantee fannies in seats. A similar exercise could be done by calculating total home attendance per victory. That being said, I'm sure DC United's home attendance would stop eroding if the results were to improve. San Jose's low attendance has long been discussed on these boards, but I haven't seen anything on Dallas. I don't get to see the Burn very often, but based on what I saw last night, they are a talented, hustling exciting team. Why don't they draw better? Based on their on-field performance, they deserve it.
"What this suggests is that team performance doesn't guarantee fannies in seats." The revs have the best fans in MLS and the Quakes have the worst. So I dont know if your statement can be backed!!!
The example of the Revs and the Quakes is my point -- Revs fans have consistently supported teams that were mediocre or worse. The champion Quakes play to a lot of empty seats. It would be interesting to total up attendance for each team for seven years (five for the Fire) and divide by number of victories. I suspect the Revs would "win." This exercise was done many years ago by a Washington sports writer who showed that the lowly Senators won that particular pennant.
It's a pretty silly way of analyzing it, though. I don't have the perfect formula, but this surely ain't it. There is definitely a relationship between success and attendance in MLS. There is also a lag between winning and attendance. It happens in many sports as well. Winning today has a + affect on attendance several years later.
Great idea. As much as I enjoy bashing SJ fans as much as anybody... I suspect if you got numbers for the 1st three years or so of MLS, SJ would fare pretty good. A few losing seasons and your "fanbase" may decide you're not worth the effort. I agree with the assessment of Revs fans, though...
Interesting. What it seems to show is that there is a core of fans who will show up, win or lose. The wins for the most part add some, but actually tend to "lower" average performance since a doubling of wins doesn't mean a doubling of fans. The key would seem to be to keep the league competitive, and hold on for the incremental growth that will be out there, increasingly, year by year.
In a sense, though, there is an element of a zero sum game. Probably the best result is something like this year's, where every team was in playoff contention up to the last weekend. On the other hand, that suggests that having playoffs for 8 of 10 teams is something of a joke. DC United's on-field woes are telling. Attendance is down 23% this year.
This is so overly simplistic it isn't even funny. How many people live within 20 miles of the Meadowlands. How many live within 20 miles of KC's stadium? Teams like NY, Washington and Chicago have major, major advantages in drawing fans over teams like KC, Denver and even San Jose it isn't even funny. Even if their teams stink they might still be expected to draw better just on sheer available population.
... maybe, but I like it alot as a contrast to cut-and-dried attendance figures. I always admired the Revolution fans and EVEN the longsuffering fans of the Mutts... DC's last 3 seasons have been abysmal yet what a class act by the fans in the finale. I'm not quite as nasty about SJ fans as some because my memory of those 1st 3 years of MLS had SJ as the worst, most boring team to watch at the time... can't always blame people for losing interest for awhile... AND, of course, anything that shows how weak the Burn fans are gets an A+++ in my book...