Comments on: Take Me Out to the Playoffs – Week 1

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By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:50:50 +0000

Every year fans like us find the play-off attendence numbers sobering. It shows much group sales and pre-planned packages drive MLS attendence. It is not the buzz of a big game, but the “Jordan’s soccer team are all going to a pro soccer game together” factor that matters. Hopefully, this will change over time. Also the NFL and college football, and youth sports ramp up in the fall.

By: Charles

Charles — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:04:39 +0000

I just dont’ get why attendance would drop so drastically. Even the LA-Chivas number, it is home game for both….How does that NOT sell out ?!?!

Is the poor attendance in the playoffs every year because of the base of many teams thinking they should only have a regular season ?
If so does that base watch the UEFA PLAYOFFS ?….yes playoffs. No one can disagree that is more exciting than the EPL.

I read this article a long time ago that said that the MLS teams have a dis-incentive to advertise ( expense ) because revenue is 1/2 shared, but expenses are not. I just wonder if the gap between big draws and small draws is going to be bigger before it is smaller.

PS. You would think with all the reasons for MLS to want to have Seattle make it to the MLS Cup, the Sounders could get a play-on call at least.

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:19:51 +0000

That’s not what people mean with that comment. What they are saying is that if you want to make accurate attendance “COMPARISONS” you need SIMILAR SETS OF DATA. Comparing attendance from 08 to 09 regular season and including Seattle in 09 skews the data; it’s not an accurate picture. Comparisons for the play-offs is perfectly acceptable due to the fact that we’re looking at the same number of teams, games, etc. But for the regular season it is poor analysis, at best. Half the league saw huge drops in attendance this year but you throw in one new team and say “wow, attendance is stable!”. It wasn’t.

By: Oscar

Oscar — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:06:33 +0000

Booo, Seattle doesn’t have a storied history (of three to five seasons) in MLS like MY team, and Seattle’s sharing a stadium or something, and Sounders fans probably call it soccer instead of football, and it’s not that their city supports their team more, Qwest Field has built in crowd illusion generators to go with its built in noise generators, it doesn’t really count when they actually have a successful fan base, and Montero’s unsporting in a league of utter gentlemen, and Keller and Ljungberg are old, and their 1st year successes don’t count because there was a USL team wth the same name and their fans voted that name in, and astroturf is EVIL and they wouldn’t put up with that in Europe, and scarves are FAKE and you’re just trying to be like Europe, and yes Europeans sneer at the whole league but as a wannabe Eurosnob I bet they sneer EXTRA hard at Sounders, and waaaaaah why won’t anyone come to my team’s games?

I tried to cover all the bases, but let me know if I missed anything. After all, there’s unbelievable amounts of whining about the Sounders, so it’s hard to cover the spread.

By: Peter C

Peter C — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:46:15 +0000

Kartik,

Welcome home.

I know you are a big supporter of South Florida, but the numbers simply don’t make your case.
Even if there were several doubleheaders, and I haven’t taken the time to research that, over the 4 years of the Fusion they drew under 10,000 42 times, while NE had only 6 sub 10K games.

By: Kartik Krishnaiyer

Kartik Krishnaiyer — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:04:48 +0000

New England averaged more people than the Fusion every season, but they had SEVERAL doubleheader or fireworks games to do so. I was told by a beat writer he once counted under 200 people in the stands at a Revs game when Zenga was the manager. KC, Miami, Tampa, Dallas never had that few people for any game that I recall.

By: Peter C

Peter C — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:59:29 +0000

Derek,
Sorry to burst your balloon, but the Fusion’s attendance was never close to New England’s. KC is another matter.

‘98 Fusion – 10,284 — Revs – 19,188 — KC – 8,073
‘99 Fusion – 8,689 — Revs – 16,735 — KC – 11,952
‘00 Fusion – 7,460 — Revs – 15,463 — KC – 9,112
‘01 Fusion – 11,177 — Revs – 15,654 — KC – 10,954

By: Fan

Fan — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:42:00 +0000

“My comment, get over it. Seattle is a part of the league, and a good part at that.”

Thank God someone said it. I am sick of people acting like Seattle’s success is a negative with those kinds of comments. The league went in there at the right time. The growth of the league overall helped stoke that fire for Seattle.

Good to hear the context for the RSL number. That kind of surprised me as well because they have been doing a really nice job.

By: Adam Edg

Adam Edg — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:21:57 +0000

Derek, you nailed the reasoning. The Revs’ sharing an owner with an NFL team is a large part of the reason they remained in the league. Losing Miami (& Tampa for that matter) still sucks and makes little sense, but it’s all about the money. Kraft has it and will keep his team because of it. Too bad he does not sell the MLS squad better.

The Seattle crowd was amazing. The game was great. I love seeing a packed Qwest on TV. Great for the sport. Even better when there are two quality teams playing in off-color jerseys (green & orange) rather than red, black, blue, or white. Increases visability. and uniqueness of the league. Hopefully Houston will draw a decent crowd when they host the Sounders in leg 2.

Somebody needs to go purple…