Attendance: 15,905
March 23rd, 2009 . 8:10 am . By: Buzz Carrick3rd Degree’s report from earlier this month that said, in essence, that less than 5000 tickets had been sold for the home opener generated a lot of heat on the FCD front office. As is should have. Given what has been going on in other market’s that number was a disaster. On Saturday FCD announced an attendance of 15,905. Even using our typical MLS math that tells us the real number was probably in the 12k to 13k range. Although not good enough over all, that’s respectable given where they were. FCD deserves some credit for rallying to a solid number. 15k announced is what FCD should be averaging. I had heard early last week that the tickets sold number was up to something between 6k and 10k but was unable to get a verified amount. Seeing the stands as full as they were was quite pleasing. Over the last few weeks we saw a marketing push beginning. Having met with some of the new people in the front office of late, none of who have refuted the less than 5k number we reported but rather confirmed it, I’m have come away with a positive feeling about both their understand of the situation and how they plan to go about winning the battle. Many of the marketing things you are starting to see are the first steps in that battle. So credit where credit is due. FCD, due to their own management, got into the game late this year but rallied well to get a solid opening crowd. Nice job on their part to recover. Although it needs to maintain and even go up from here, I’m feeling more positive about the front office than I have in some time. Edit: FCD at 15,905 was the lowest attendance in the league that wasn’t a sell out, although in some cases not by all that much. Kansas City (10,385) and San Jose (10,335) , while both lower numbers, were both sellouts in their respective small “temporary” venues. Chivas USA=16,453; Houston=16,053; LA=18,013; and Seattle=32,523. 8 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
The real test is this Sunday.
Yeah, word from my ticket rep is that we could see half that number for the Chivas game.
Sunday afternoon games are not the best attended anyway.
For me, the attendance was good considering the club’s recent record. We drew just a few less fans than
Houston, who have been playing international opponents in real competition.
I also thought the crowd was really into it – certainly more than usual. It looks like there were more “cheerleader” types in the stands. Hopefully they come back next week, because these people ultimately sell the team almost as much as the players do.
Well, I got 4 tickets to Sundays game for less than $120. With free parking, that is a pretty good deal in my eyes.
The Hoops have a tendency to lay an egg in front of the big home crowd. Saturday was no different.
15k announced is NOT where they should be at. According to Hitch, by this season, they should be announcing 15 SELL OUTS.
Unfortunately Chicago has usually been our 2nd biggest crowd recently due to the Blanco factor. Basically, it isn’t the yardstick to measure ticket sales by. Random games against teams like KC and RSL are where the Sales Dept needs to prove what they can do.