Seattle attendance next season: What will the demand for tickets be like?

If the team is as good next year as they are this year, then attendance is ********ed. Not talking MLS ********ed, mind you, but I can easily see a drop to 30k-32k next year.

 

No doubt the numbers are good, I just think the halcyon days of thinking the Sounders could get 40k-45k next year are in doubt right now. Way too soon to throw up the white flag but the luster is certainly fading on the team.

 

Agree that it's too early to tell. Lots of teams have turned it around in 2nd half of season and Sounders could do same. As RSL proved, there's nothing wrong with the 8th playoff spot.

If this becomes a 2009 Red Bull type season with an ugly ending, then you'll see a flattening of demand and 2011 will become very important because in 2012, those of us who bought ST with a 3 year locked in price (that's about 22,000 ST) will suddenly face some sticker shock and that's when you could see a drop of several thousand per game.

And let's factor in that this team "performs" worse at home in terms of playing style than they do on the road (usually anyway). Eventually, that will demoralize fans. If we cant motivate our team to properly defend the home pitch then why are we even there?

 

I think the club better shy away from another price hike next season..... It is undeserved. Pricing themselves out of the market would kill demand for all but the cheapest seats. They really shouldn't have opened the 300 level this year. That was greedy and they still didn't sell all of them. Now the precedent has been set and they'll have to keep it open for those that want to renew. I keep buying as long as they are not reaching an NFL level for pricing.

 

typical, an MLS team has the chance of a lifetime to capitalize and it fumbles...


i think the ticket demand will be there if we make playoffs and do decent in ccl and usoc.

but if we fail to make playoffs....they better not increase ticket prices...


oh another thing that will keep atendance up is the NW rivalvries in 2011

 

I wonder how much impact the NW rivalries will really have... A significant number of Sounders fans just view Portland and Vancouver as just another NW city that they like to visit and not necessarily a rival that would make them excited to get season tickets just to see those two games.

 

I'm sorry, but if fans bail out on their team because they have a bad season or two, then they're not real fans. Us LA fans had to endure the 2007-2008 horrendous seasons of coming in last place even with the Beckham Experiment. It happens with every team sometime. It's only the second professional year for Seattle. It's the sophomore slump. You guys have great talent, but just seem to lack chemistry this year. Kinda reminds me of the England team. You guys will recover and get it together. If not this season, then the next. You have a great FO that cares about the fans with a great stadium. They'll make something happen. I'll be up there at the end of this month to watch the Seattle vs. Colorado game.

 

Our attendance will still be 37,000, if that's the cap next year. Fans are dissapointed in this season, yes, but most know the situation. We're a second year team still building our identity. Some fans will bounce WHEN we don't make the playoffs this year of course, but there are still plenty of fans out there who don't have ST's now, but want some, and will fill the void left by the few who bounce.
A good run in Open Cup and CCL will help of course, but I think Seattle fans are sold short on their loyalty to their teams. Seahawks and Mariners both suck, have sucked, for decades. Yet still draw good numbers. The Sounders, imo, won't suck for decades. Attendance wise, we'll be fine. The sky is not falling.

 

I think it's way more about gameday experience than making the playoffs. People don't pay as much attention to standings as we do, they pay attention to how much fun everyone is having. Now, that doesn't mean we can suck miserably at home forever.

But Youshou is right that last year scalped tix on craigslist were about 2x face value, but this year they are face value several days before the game.

As long as we get some more wins at home, and the crowd keeps the intensity it has now, ST renewal rate will still be 80-90%... Because let's be honest-- win or lose, game day is magical and everyone knows it.

 

I want to say that there'll be less of a demand next season, but with Portland and Vancouver coming in next season I very much doubt it.

The Portland/Seattle/Vancouver rivarly has been blow up so big the last two years that people will come to see how it all turns out regardless...

...for next season, that is.

After that, if we put out back-to-back sub .500 teams that miss the playoffs (and were seriously looking at missing the playoffs THIS year) I see a major drop in STH in 2012. I don't think the casual Seattle fan has the attention span to wade through two losing seasons.

I'm not sure how many people here are Seahawks fans, but there was a noticeable difference last season after it was finally confirmed how horrible the team actual was and thats the almight NFL for crying out loud!

 

Did we even sell out the 32k season tickets? I don't think we did. It appears that 32k mark was the perfect spot for this season.

 

Seattle is indeed a bandwagon sports town. But I don't think the Sounders having one sucky season is enough to kick in Seattle's fickle nature. I wager with the new teams coming aboard, and a splashy PR campaign (that the Sounders are much better at than actually winning games), we'll see a similiar season ticket count.

If the Sounders fall out of the playoffs two seasons in a row - watch out though, that's when we might see some atrophy.

I'll endure no matter what. I don't think that makes me particularly intelligent, in fact, quite possibly the opposite. But I waited too damn long for MLS to show up in real soccer markets, now that it is in Toronto, Vancouver and Seattle - the league deserves my full support, regardless of the standings.

 

Falling out of the playoffs two seasons in a row is a pretty common thing in MLS. Of course it will happen in the near future. If that's all it takes to damage attendance then it's just a matter of time.

 

Just to point out here: The Seahawks have in the vast majority of their history here ranged from pretty weak to mediocre. They've had a couple of truly good seasons, but most years, they're really pretty weak. Last season they downright sucked eggs. None-the-less Seattle's "Bandwagon" sports fans have been selling out Seahawks games since Jim Zorn was bringing home the medicrity. We have yet to see how their season tickets do next season after the absolute turd of a season they just laid here, but I'm guessing they will still do just fine. Maybe it's a different sport, and maybe those fans are particularly special but their case shows there are plenty of sports fans around here willing to come back and fill seats and make noise despite the lack of any real hope for trophys.I expect I will be a very old man (I'm only moderately old now) before the Seahawks get another chance to lose the SuperBowl. In the menatime, the fans will show up.

THe Sounders may stop growing the ticket base this year, and it may even drop off a little, but I'll be surprised if the overall attendance changes much. We aren't going anywhere near where the rest of MLS is any time soon even if the team can't salvage the second half of the season. ON the other hand, there is an opportunity to turn things around and start winnign at home (could happen!) and then come ticket renewal time the wins will be all people remember.

 

Does it really matter? What would be the impact if attendance dropped to say 30k? The ownership and the league would get slightly less revenue, and the beer lines would be a bit shorter. But 30k still creates a great gameday atmosphere, and its not as if the Sounders will have less money to improve the team. The real issue might be ticket pricing.

 

In alot of those poor Seahawk years there have been alot of fans of the visiting team who snap up the tickets. Even when Qwest opened, the first year or so it seemed that Seahawk fans were outnumbered when teams like Dallas came to town. Then there were the Behring years where the fanbase eroded to non-sellouts and the local tv stations bought up tickets to avoid a blackout.

 

hopefully you winey bitches cancel all your subs, so fans that arn't just sunnyday fans can buy their tickets. go enjoy cricket or whatever the next band wagon sport comes along.

 

Personally, I'm wondering where they sit.. I need a couple more seats.

 

thanks man. i think a purge is in order. i think a tough season is in effect very healthy for our new fanbase.

 

The thing about the Seahawks is that their demand is so sky-high that maybe it's dropping from 85,000 a game to 70,000 a game, but nobody is going to notice because they play in a 67,000-seat stadium. But the Sounders make a similar drop from 37,000 to 30,000 and it's very noticeable.

However, if the interest drops for the Sounders, it will likely still be at a sky-high level by MLS standards. And most fans around the country respond this way to the quality of their teams. Take a look at attendance numbers for teams in all sports in all cities during good seasons and during (and after) poor seasons. It's not just Seattle.

I will be there no matter what, even if we were to go 0-30-0 this year. But I give unconditional support for my team. I am not going to base buying tickets, etc., on what happens on the field. I am not a bandwagon jumper.

 

Spot-on.

*Sigh.

For many, it's just budgeting. I should preface this by saying I'm not a millionaire and have a family to provide for. I used to be a Seahawk season ticket holder; however, after enduring a horrible season last year where I did not find myself enjoying my time at the games, it is hard to justify spending that much money on the gameday experience. Now I watch from home. I'm still a Seahawks fan, have a Seahawks sticker on my car, and all the accessories & jerseys at home. That does not make me a fairweather fan. If you kept playing an arcade game you sucked at and didn't enjoy playing, would you keep dumping money into that game every week at the arcade? Probably not.

With the Sounders, it is the same thing. I love the Sounders, and they are my team. I will watch them either way - but the question is do I want to spend the money on the tickets for the gameday experience if I'm not enjoying the gameday experience? I have a family of four to pay for here, tickets get expensive for the season (we're not in the GA). I don't like seeing my kids dejected leaving every game after I'm spending this much coin. The away games - we watch on tv, and when the Sounders lose, it seems to not affect my kids, wife, or myself as much. Since you're not there IN the atmosphere getting pumped up, the let-down and hurt doesn't seem to hit as hard. So we take it a little too much to heart when we see it, live. I think if the Sounders could at least put up a fight at home and go down trying valiantly, that would mitigate some of it. But the reality is the team is just laying turds at home matches. I'm not seeing good effort, coaching... nothing.

Ultimately I can still watch my beloved Sounders at home, not watch my kids come home unhappy after every match, and save thousands at the same time. It's dollars and sense man, and I'm sure that's how many view it. There is a difference between "fairweather fan" and just budgeting your money differently.

As of this moment I am set to renew my next year's season tickets for the Sounders... but I'll be honest I'm wavering. I want to see some quality soccer and I just don't feel we're getting that.

 

So let me get this straight. You want to protect your children (and yourself) from the pain of losses and only experience wins? If the team can't win, then what's the point of taking them? That sure sounds bandwagon to me. Judging by your post, you're basing whether you take them to the games much more so on wins and losses (both the Sounders and the Seahawks) than on the economic impact to yourself. If the team doesn't win, then it's not worth it to you. Please correct me if I am not understanding you accurately.

If you are basing it on how the team performs, that's cool - that's what most people do. But then don't say "it's just budgeting."

 

First of all....... I'm not giving up my Sounder tickets anytime soon. I do, however understand that it gets hard to watch shit year in and year out. This IS entertainment afterall. If it's not entertaining anymore then it's not worth the money. People will spend their entertainment dollars elsewhere. I had to think long and hard about buying Hawks tix again this year. The games just are not fun anymore. I have been season ticket holder with them since the Kingdome years...... so I didn't just jump on the bandwagon a few years ago. We are in recession and it looks like it's now going to double dip us. Money is tight and if the area sports teams suck hard..... they are gonna lose people. Why is it Seattle teams are either really good or really shitty with no mildly disappointing years? That's what I want to know.