You would think, but obviously soccer is a tough draw. Hopefully one day MLS will figure out how to get people excited about this game. Thus far, they are a little off target.
12,000 seems kind of low. I know that the ends weren't filled, but the lower bowl holds 30,000. You'd have trouble convincing me that you could fill just under 3 times that amount of people in the lower bowl.
Yeah I was there and if THAT was what 12k really looks like in Arrowhead then KC has exaggerated numbers more than any other team in MLS. For example, that was easily twice as many butts in seats as I saw at the 2-0 summertime loss to San Jose - and the crowd reported for that summer match was about 12k. In complete honesty, if tonights crowd was really 12k, then Arrowhead has NEVER sold anywhere close to 20k for a soccer game and the Wizards average is actually around 6k. I left the game confident in at least 17k, based on comparison to 5 other Wizards games I made the trip for this season. Arrowhead's lower bowl holds 30k, both long sides were very crowded tonight - even with sparse crowds behind the nets that bowl had to be 60% full. And there were more fans than ive seen (except for LA, womens nats double header) in the club level seating - yeah I missed the Freddy game.
The endzones get really full in the regular season because they have reduced ticket prices. In fact, we had 9000 when everyone but about 100 people were in one endzone for the Open Cup. Arrowhead is huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge.
This got to be a typo, because it looked like a lot poeple from watching on FW tv. It looked like 20K easy.
The number you see for attendance is simply tickets sold + tickets given away for promotion. It has absolutely nothing to do with how many people go to the games. During the regular season the people that have a ticket and don't show up has been estimated, in New Jersey anyway, at about 30-35%. All the tickets for last nights game were sold this past week. The people that bought them intended on going to the game. This time of year the attendance figures or a much more true number of people actually in the stands.
No, the written press has merely reinforced the stigma that professional soccer has given itself by repeated decades of high expectations and dismal failures. MLS is slowly turning that tide.
I know attendance for other games was inflated by no-shows, and since I was estimating based on other games I've been to that could easily explain my overestimation. But WOW - if that's what 12k really looks like in Arrohead, then (as I said in the last post) they must really only average 5-7k per game. That kinda sucks because that means approximately half of KC's tickets normally go to no-shows. Walk-ups would be included in the 12,000 estimate on mlsnet.com, correct?
Did you even look at my post? All those people were concentrated in front of both main stands. There are easily 7,000 seats in each endzone. Concentrating people in a couple sections makes the stadium look more full. It's called the Spartan Stadium effect. You've just never seen a game at Arrowhead like that. I've been saying for a long time they need to close both endzones just for atmosphere.
I was at the game, and I believe what you say.... and you are absolutely correct about giving the game much more atmosphere... I dunno if I want to close down then end zones in the summer, because I would never want to sit on the sun side of the field in July and August.. I've changed jobs so I will be buying 2 season tickets next year to support the team...
I see quite a few empty areas around La Norte at RFK. Hope they are just late arrivers.... But you can definately hear the DC supporters....
One mile backups to get into the stadium 30 minutes before kickoff. Plenty of late arrivals, but an awesome atmosphere.
And I would expect the everyone in that 21201 to be back for at least a game or two next year. Wish every big-crowd game turned out to be that great.
No, sorry, missed your post. And I certainly agree - closing the endzones helped the atmosphere a lot.
The numbers are nice, but they dont impress me. Whats impressing was the passion and support this team has from its fans. My seat was behind Brava Brava, but I never had a chance to use it. In fact, that whole side of the stadium was standing for the entire match, literally. The chanting, the singing, the oooohs and ahhhhhhs that filled the bowl for the entire match. This is soccer. Last night RFK showed MLS what this sport is supposed to be about. No, it wasn't England. It was not MLS either. It was just a great great experience. Even for a METRO fan.
Too bad next season you won't get the same from RFK stadium with Baseball dirt smack in the middle of the pitch. So for those who were there in person I salute you.
A note on fans and soccer specific stadiums: Last nights game had the best atmosphere I have seen in any MLS venue. Bar none. This game was also played in a giant half empty football stadium. While building stadiums are ofcourse necessary, lets not forget what creates an electric atmosphere. Passionate hard core fans that love and follow their team. This is the future of this league, much more so than bricks and mortar. MLS, please take a look at last nights match. Garber was there, he saw it. WORK TO BUILD A FAN BASE LIKE THIS IN EVERY MLS CITY. Believe me, not a single fan in attendence last night cared that they were watching the game in an oversized 60,000+ seater. They were too busy cheering their team on to even notice.
just have to figure out a way to clone 11 more Freddy Adus ... I appreciate your point. But it's not easy. Marketing is expensive and nearly sunk the league by 2001. It did sink the WUSA. We all agree MLS should work harder to improve attendance, but do we agree on how? What do you propose? Not to say DC didn't have good attendance before Adu, but winning 3 of the first 4 MLS Cups isn't something every team can do.