Midweek games on the east coast are absolutely terrible. Everyone works late and no one wants to travel all the way to some suburb on a week night to go to an MLS game. There is no blaming other sports as the Celtics have the night off after winning last night, the Bruins have been eliminated from the NHL playoffs, and a struggling Red Sox team who lost tonight to the A's is of no conflict either. NE had a total official attendance of 6,149, and even that is probably inflated. This is just absolutely terrible.
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| Not tonight, just a picture of a usual game in Gillette stadium |
Meanwhile, a friend of mine is at the Seattle Sounders game (photo attached) and it looks like once again, on a week night, the Sounders have 39,002. (Granted it is a much higher profile match against the Galaxy, versus the Revolution v. Rapids game)
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| Right after the first Sounders goal of the night. |
I know that NE and DC are in rough times without soccer specific stadiums, but even an exciting NY team only drew 13,415 fans a couple weeks ago. Guess what, Thierry Henry had a hat trick, and that was on a Saturday. There is something about the east coast that is causing every team to have inconsistent attendance, while from Kansas City westward, can have about the same attendance every week. The east coast has an attendance around 14,000 (for the year) for all clubs minus Philly and NY. They constantly are bringing down the overall MLS attendance. For how large these metropolitan areas are, there should be no excuses. If Real Salt Lake and Portland can strive in smaller markets, there should be no excuse for the lack of attendance along the east coast.
I usually don't write, and I have two more finals to study for (one in 10 hours or so), so I will stop my rant here. I may be a Midwestern college kid, but is it really that hard to get a few people to watch some decent soccer?
Comments please.
*** Correction: Right after this post, I found out that San Jose had a dismal 8,734 attendance for a team which is playing the best soccer in the Western Conference. Usually San Jose sells out their 10,525 capacity makeshift stadium, and last year they drew 41,028 for a 4 of July weekend game against the NYRB. It is positive that San Jose is getting a soccer specific stadium in the next year or so. This does not excuse a poor showing though against a hot DC team in which 8 goals were scored. That would have been quite the match to be at.
San Jose's on the West coast, and only drew 8K.
ReplyDeleteThey only have a capacity of 10525 though and almost always sell out. I think that was after he wrote this though.
ReplyDeleteCapacity has nothing to do with it if they don't sell out. Just saying they ONLY drew 8K (I don't think the remaining 2K went and said "oh, but Buck Shaw is too small, let's not go"), and they're not an East Coast team.
DeleteTrue, but I think it is the availability of tickets to. There aren't as many available. What if 2,000 season ticket holders didn't show up? What I am saying is that if they usually sell out, then there usually are not tickets and people can't go to the games. There is constantly tickets available for East Coast teams. San Jose doesn't make a habit of this either. Like when the blogger said, when they had a game at another venue San Jose drew 41,000+ fans. You will be lucky if you get 16,000 or 17,000 for the highest game of the season for NE and DC. The difference are that tickets are available, but no one is choosing to go...
DeleteSan Jose is getting a soccer specific stadium next year too, so that should help.
ReplyDeleteNE has had the lowest attendance for a single game for the last three years according to Wikipedia. Two 6,000s and a 5,000. San Jose is more consistent.
ReplyDeleteSeattle's attendance is being limited right now to make sure the Sounders have a "sold out atmosphere" every game. They could have easily had over 40K for tonight's game against the Galaxy.
ReplyDeleteyep. They increased capacity last year for Keller's last game and for the NYRB game if I remember correctly. Will they have plans to do that this year too? Probably around the time of the Chelsea game.
DeleteIf i'm not mistaken, there are three or four "expanded capacity" matches, including the Chelsea, Timbers, and Whitecaps matches. I expect a sold out Chelsea match at 68,000, and at least in the area of 50-60k for each of the Cascadia derbies.
DeleteThe Revolution set up was OK in the 90's. Everybody else has now moved on or is trying to. The owners of this franchise are letting everyone else in the league down. The photo above tells it's own story, the Soccer lines are far less prominent than the Football ones. The fans there deserve a lot better.
ReplyDeleteAs a general fan of MLS living in Atlanta, it is disappointing to see struggling attendance anywhere. THe author targets the east as the root of the problem. While this may be true, it is difficult living in Atlanta and not having a team to truly support within a 12 hour driving radius. Yes, the east has bad to pathetic attendance overall. However, there are other struggling franchises too. Columbus, chivas, and dallas struggle, even though dallas is improving. And the fact san jose a) plays at a small college stadium and b) cant even sell out consistently are both as frustrating as 6,000 in suburban boston 45 minutes from the city. You cant tell me that the south (minus texas) doesnt deserve a team while LA gets 2. Dont even get me started on the old Cosmos being ressurrected in NY.
ReplyDelete*FYI to one of the above comments: Attendance is usually a reflection of tickets sold, not "butts in seats." So a season ticket holder deciding to go to a game has no effect on "attendance"
why oh why oh why can't Don Garber force Kraft to sell NE Revs...
ReplyDeleteThe Franchise is a joke, Kraft has continually lied about looking for a SSStadium and will only move from Gillette if he can pocket a profit from tax payers paying for it.
If the Franchise was sold to Tom Werner, he could hook up with Liverpool as well as using Fenway for free. The most sensible current venue to play at would be Nickerson Field , raising the cap to 15,000 and playing big games at Fenway Park.
I agree, that Atlanta needs a team, I am from Minnesota and the closest team is the Chicago Fire which is 6 hours away. I was referring to the east as including Chicago and Columbus as the MLS is a very western centered league. The West does a better job of filling the stadiums. The West usually fill 80% of their stadiums or more(excluding Chivas and FC Dallas). The south deserves a team for number 20 and Chivas should move to San Diego. That and a couple SSS in the East would do the league wonders.
ReplyDeletehey bro, just keep doing what your doing and good luck on finals. I check this website often. Thanks
ReplyDeleteOrlando 4 MLS!! If you want to see great attendance in the southeast, you'll get it from an Orlando market. Just look at Orlando City Soccer Club. They're a third division team and they have a higher average attendance than any other American team outside of MLS. I believe last year their average attendance was right around 8,000, with their final home game (the league championship, which they won btw) drew just shy of 12,000 people. And they're now only in their second season as a franchise, and still pulling strong numbers. Garber would be a fool not to pick Orlando as the 20th club.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Garber is indeed a fool, huh? smh
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