The preliminary rounds of the CCL in 2008-09 drew an average of 3,242 people per match, with just 3 matches having attendances of 5,000 or higher (Cruz Azul - 5,000, Pumas - 10,000, Montreal - 13,034). This year, the prelims drew an average of 5,367, with 7 matches drawing 5,000 or higher (Puerto Rico - 6,000, W Connection - 6,500, New York - 6,549, D.C. United - 8,026, Pachuca - 10,000, L.A. Firpo - 11,000, Toronto - 20,758). That's a very nice improvement from year 1 to year 2 of this tournament.
Thanks for the numbers! My guess is that 1) people now "get" what this tournament is, and better yet see it as a measure of their teams' quality on a regional level (e.g. in Costa Rica, national-team coach Kenton has had to assure people that Liberia's Honduran tar-and-feathering has nothing to do with the national teams' World Cup game next Wednesday). 2) I'm not sure how much this contributes, but in Panama for instance, the stadium they're now using at La Chorrera is miles ahead of the horrid Rod Carew (in terms of putting fans as far away from the field as possible).
Good, lets hope these numbers continue to improve in the group stage. And they should considering the matchups will generally be a higher quality ie DC vs Toluca, Cruz Azul vs Saprissa, etc. Anyone have the numbers from last years group stage?
OK so I decided to look up the numbers for the group stage myself. 2008-2009 Group Stage Total Matches: 48 Matches over 5k: 26 (54.2%) Matches over 10k: 9 (18.75%) Total Attendance: 288,031 Average Attendance: 6,001 So I tried to project the attendance for the 2009-2010 Group stage. Last year the growth in attendance from prelim to group stage was 54%. If the growth percentage from prelim to group this year is the same, average attendance would be 8,265 for this years group stage. Another model would be to use the 60% percent prelim growth figure to judge the increase in group attendance from last year to this year which would put projected average attendance at 9,602. Not bad. Of course these numbers are just projections, obviously there are many factors at work including team, stadium location, opponent, etc., but either way the tournament attendance is taking a turn for the better.
I actually have an average of 6,130, because as far as I can tell, the numbers for the first Tauro home match were never released. If you make it 1,500, like their last two matches, it makes my average 6,034. Regardless, I think it's too early to tell if attendance will have any significant improvement this year, but it's nice to see that the prelims had a much higher average, though that was definitely helped by Toronto's match, the second highest attendance so far in the CCL.
Hi, i've been reading you since i discovered this site some weeks ago, and i decided to join. The week attendances...i can't find them I usually got them from soccerway. Do you know anywhere else?