2016 Schedule!

[mgarbowski]

For those complaining - get used to it.

As long as the team is playing in Yankee Stadium there will ALWAYS be a top heavy March schedule because the Yankees won't be there. NYCFC will always be beholden to the Yankees, never the other way around.

Yeah, but this schedule is much more disjointed and imbalanced than last year.

Last year there were 4 home games in March and April.
This year there are 6.

Last year there were 5 home games in July and August.
This year there are 3.

Last year we went 18 straight games without breaking the H/A/H/A pattern, from April 24 to August 19.
This year the longest such streak is 5 games, from August 20 to Sept 17.

Last year our longest streak of consecutive home games was 2, which happened twice.
This year there are 2 streaks of 4 straight home games, plus another 2 game streak.

Last year we had away streaks of 2 games (August) and 3 games (Sept-October).
This year we have away streaks of 2, 3, 4, 2, and 2.

Something happened to make this schedule so much less regularized than last year. Is the Yankee schedule weirder? Did the Yankees decide to push us out of the summer even on dates when we could fit under last year's rules? Did NYCFC decide that temporary turf survives better in the cold rather than the heat of summer? Is it just the way things fell out?

We don't know, but it doesn't have to be this way all the time as long as we share Yankee Stadium because it was not like this last year.

 

[NYCFCP]

Yeah, but this schedule is much more disjointed and imbalanced than last year.

Last year there were 4 home games in March and April.
This year there are 6.

Last year there were 5 home games in July and August.
This year there are 3.

Last year we went 18 straight games without breaking the H/A/H/A pattern, from April 24 to August 19.
This year the longest such streak is 5 games, from August 20 to Sept 17.

Last year our longest streak of consecutive home games was 2, which happened twice.
This year there are 2 streaks of 4 straight home games, plus another 2 game streak.

Last year we had away streaks of 2 games (August) and 3 games (Sept-October).
This year we have away streaks of 2, 3, 4, 2, and 2.

Something happened to make this schedule so much less regularized than last year. Is the Yankee schedule weirder? Did the Yankees decide to push us out of the summer even on dates when we could fit under last year's rules? Did NYCFC decide that temporary turf survives better in the cold rather than the heat of summer? Is it just the way things fell out?

We don't know, but it doesn't have to be this way all the time as long as we share Yankee Stadium because it was not like this last year.

Just speculation on my part but Yes I believe the Yankees are "pushing us out". This organization better step it up on the stadium front because it going to get messy (like its not already)
And "it's NYC, it's very hard to build a stadium" is not good enough! They should have dealt with with it before hand. Some fans are too soft on faults we have as a team. Even if we love this team, it's fair game to hold them accountable for anything and everything.

 

[Drainyoo]

This schedule is just shitty. MLS is run by monkeys. Night games in March? They're nuts. And all those away matches in the summer, wtf??? July is going to be lame with the 4 away in row.

 

[thesauerchise]

Yeah, but this schedule is much more disjointed and imbalanced than last year.

Last year there were 4 home games in March and April.
This year there are 6.

Last year there were 5 home games in July and August.
This year there are 3.

Last year we went 18 straight games without breaking the H/A/H/A pattern, from April 24 to August 19.
This year the longest such streak is 5 games, from August 20 to Sept 17.

Last year our longest streak of consecutive home games was 2, which happened twice.
This year there are 2 streaks of 4 straight home games, plus another 2 game streak.

Last year we had away streaks of 2 games (August) and 3 games (Sept-October).
This year we have away streaks of 2, 3, 4, 2, and 2.

Something happened to make this schedule so much less regularized than last year. Is the Yankee schedule weirder? Did the Yankees decide to push us out of the summer even on dates when we could fit under last year's rules? Did NYCFC decide that temporary turf survives better in the cold rather than the heat of summer? Is it just the way things fell out?

We don't know, but it doesn't have to be this way all the time as long as we share Yankee Stadium because it was not like this last year.

Look at any sport, and any team, and you will see wide variances year to year in the schedule. I'm not sure there is ever really a trend in sports scheduling, and even if there was two years, two different patterns is no trend at all.
More sept home games than last year, ending the season at home again, I think this is fine. It's a weird year with the break for the COPA anyway.

 

[thesauerchise]

Just speculation on my part but Yes I believe the Yankees are "pushing us out". This organization better step it up on the stadium front because it going to get messy (like its not already)
And "it's NYC, it's very hard to build a stadium" is not good enough! They should have dealt with with it before hand. Some fans are too soft on faults we have as a team. Even if we love this team, it's fair game to hold them accountable for anything and everything.

It took the Yankees over a decade to get the new stadium. THE YANKEES. To think this will be easy in a still tenuous economic climate, with homelessness on the rise is asking a lot. If the owners had to get a stadium before getting a team we would be waiting longer than Miami. Sure hold them accountable but don't act like this could be solved with elbow grease and will. Hell, money grease isn't gonna change this quickly.

 

[Ohenry]

It's the house that George built. Baseball? yes. Football? yes. Shipbuilding? yes. Soccer?

 

[LionNYC]

Beyond the long home stretches and the long away stretches and the home games pushed early and late into the season, there is one thing I really don't like about the schedule...We play Red Bull Home, Home, Away. So they have the last laugh at home.

Also, there looks to be only 8 away games that will be televised by YES, so only 80 Cityzens points this season.

 

[ldent42]

Vieira needs to have the team firing on all cylinders right at the start of the season with this schedule. Nothing would kill momentum for the year more than four underwhelming home games in quick succession, in the cold. At least, as far as getting casual fans in the stadium goes. Screw those up, and it'll be a stretch to persuade first-timers to come back. Having that many home games in close succession is tough enough on the single-ticket buyers as it is.

Having that many home games in close succession (in what is probably going to be less than ideal weather) is tough on ALL of us.
Concerning our home games only:

2015 2016
March: 2 games 3 games
April: 2 games 3 games
May: 3 games 2 games
June: 2 games 2 games
July: 2 games 2 games
August: 3 games 1 game
Sept: 2 games 3 games
Oct: 1 game 1 game

Taking the info from the Attendance thread here: http://nycfcforums.com/index.php?threads/final-nycfc-attendance-thread.3266/
Without considering who the opponent is or the day/time of the match, (which I realize is a big deal but I'm focusing on the seasonality here) our average attendance is highest in June and lowest in April.
March: 35,526 (historic home opener anyone?)
April: 21,176
May: 24,970
June: 36,045
July: 29,787
August: 28,642
September: 26,698
October: doesn't really matter but 34,150

Now, I don't expect our home opener to sell out this year, simply because it's not the "inaugural" home opener like last year. So I do expect attendance to be down for March, especially with 3 games instead of 2. June and July I expect to balance out about the same, which could be argued to be a bit of a missed opportunity (not scheduling more games when we had higher ticket sales), but blame it on the Yankees. August is going to be tough. Not only is it only one game for the whole month, but it's at the end of the month. I don't expect the extra September game (after summer break is over) is going to make up for it.

The only thing we can do is hope that our draw is increased by having our team starting with the big names from the start of the season, and pulling off some big wins at home in March and April.

 

[ferrarinycfc]

oh man i have a dilemma.

I sort of scheduled june 18th as the day nycfc would play someone and me being in nyc for the copa america.

But man being at the derby on july 3rd would be pretty epic.

Whats the fourth of july holiday like in NY as i was originally planning to spend it in Vegas.

 

[FootyLovin]

Look at any sport, and any team, and you will see wide variances year to year in the schedule. I'm not sure there is ever really a trend in sports scheduling, and even if there was two years, two different patterns is no trend at all.
More sept home games than last year, ending the season at home again, I think this is fine. It's a weird year with the break for the COPA anyway.

This.

Before we draw conclusions that this is the NYY pushing us out we need (a) some confirmation of that from within the organization or (b) at least another year of similar schedule.

 

[Seth]

oh man i have a dilemma.

I sort of scheduled june 18th as the day nycfc would play someone and me being in nyc for the copa america.

But man being at the derby on july 3rd would be pretty epic.

Whats the fourth of july holiday like in NY as i was originally planning to spend it in Vegas.

According to an article on Huffington Post right before last year's 4th Las Vegas was in the top 10 for fireworks. New York was #1 though, although Nashville of all places was threatening to top our display by at least one shell this year.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gobankingrates/4th-of-july-fireworks-the_b_7697388.html

 

[FootyLovin]

Having that many home games in close succession (in what is probably going to be less than ideal weather) is tough on ALL of us.
Concerning our home games only:

2015 2016
March: 2 games 3 games
April: 2 games 3 games
May: 3 games 2 games
June: 2 games 2 games
July: 2 games 2 games
August: 3 games 1 game
Sept: 2 games 3 games
Oct: 1 game 1 game

Taking the info from the Attendance thread here: http://nycfcforums.com/index.php?threads/final-nycfc-attendance-thread.3266/
Without considering who the opponent is or the day/time of the match, (which I realize is a big deal but I'm focusing on the seasonality here) our average attendance is highest in June and lowest in April.
March: 35,526 (historic home opener anyone?)
April: 21,176
May: 24,970
June: 36,045
July: 29,787
August: 28,642
September: 26,698
October: doesn't really matter but 34,150

Now, I don't expect our home opener to sell out this year, simply because it's not the "inaugural" home opener like last year. So I do expect attendance to be down for March, especially with 3 games instead of 2. June and July I expect to balance out about the same, which could be argued to be a bit of a missed opportunity (not scheduling more games when we had higher ticket sales), but blame it on the Yankees. August is going to be tough. Not only is it only one game for the whole month, but it's at the end of the month. I don't expect the extra September game (after summer break is over) is going to make up for it.

The only thing we can do is hope that our draw is increased by having our team starting with the big names from the start of the season, and pulling off some big wins at home in March and April.

Working against our attendance

• No historic home opener
• Lots of games in March/April
• First game for Pirlo
• First game for Lampard
• The games everyone bought tickets for because they thought they would be the first games for Pirlo and Lampard

Working for our attendance

• Two home games agains NJ
• More season ticket holders from the start of the season
• Complete team from the start of the season
• Home game against LA
• Winning! Winning! Winning!
• Having something to play for (and cheer for) in September and October
• BONUS: Playoff matches (yes, I went plural)

 

[The Toe]

To be fair, the Miami Heat have 2 home games in the entire month of January, so it's not too crazy to have those stretches. I agree with whoever said PV needs to start with points quickly, though, though this team played pretty well on the road once it gelled at the end of last season. Barring a poor 2 minutes in Dallas, that game's a win or draw, beating Vancouver on the road, Columbus on the road would have been a win if not for the weather delay, leading 75% of the game against a desperate DCU team during a flood.

All is not lost, but we can really claim that we might be for real in 2016 with 8 or more points in March.

 

[NYCFCP]

It took the Yankees over a decade to get the new stadium. THE YANKEES. To think this will be easy in a still tenuous economic climate, with homelessness on the rise is asking a lot. If the owners had to get a stadium before getting a team we would be waiting longer than Miami. Sure hold them accountable but don't act like this could be solved with elbow grease and will. Hell, money grease isn't gonna change this quickly.

I dont/can't disagree. But thats on them. Let's be fair. MLS clearly stated "you need to pay 100million and have a stadium lined up" in order to buy a franchise. So you want to get in, man up and get it together. Us as fans shouldn't have to bend over for them jumping the gun

 

[thesauerchise]

I dont/can't disagree. But thats on them. Let's be fair. MLS clearly stated "you need to pay 100million and have a stadium lined up" in order to buy a franchise. So you want to get in, man up and get it together. Us as fans shouldn't have to bend over for them jumping the gun

But what if they are trying and can't get it done? Sometimes it is literally not possible in the moment.

 

[Ulrich]

It took the Yankees over a decade to get the new stadium. THE YANKEES. To think this will be easy in a still tenuous economic climate, with homelessness on the rise is asking a lot. If the owners had to get a stadium before getting a team we would be waiting longer than Miami. Sure hold them accountable but don't act like this could be solved with elbow grease and will. Hell, money grease isn't gonna change this quickly.

The big difference with the Yankees is that they ALREADY had a stadium but they wanted a new one with all of the bells and whistles. It's not as if it was falling down and they were going to be left homeless and sharing with another team like the Mets. That's a huge difference between us and them.

It's kind of like the trust fund kid saying he doesn't like his 5 year old Ferrari and asks Mom & Dad if he can buy the new Lamborghini versus the middle America kid who needs a car to get to his after school job; he could still carpool with the trust fund kid, but he's charged lunch money each way.

 

[Gotham Gator]

I think this schedule is probably fine for attendance. Looking at last year, there were three clear trends.

First, we had lower attendance for games on weekday nights (including Fridays), and higher attendance for games on weekend days. Our number of weeknight games is up from 4 to 5 due to an extra Friday night game. Last year, we had 7 weekend day games and 6 weekend evening games. This year, we have 6 weekend games scheduled for the day and only 1 for the night, with the other 5 being TBD, so we should have more games on weekend days.

Second, there were a couple of "big tent" games when we were way over the normal capacity for the lower two levels, the home opener and Hudson River Derby. This year, we will host two Hudson River Derbies. Plus, we still have a home opener, and while it won't be the first one ever, most teams still draw a big crowd for the first home game of the year. Finally, we have a marquee home matchup against the Galaxy.

Third, the attendance grew as the season went on, which suggests that the fan support grew as people discovered just how much fun these games are. Our third highest attendance was for the last game, after we were already out of the playoffs Hopefully, that means we will have great momentum leading us into the season, but it might mean that it could again take time for fans to get involved with the team and come to games. That leads to the biggest concern to me - that we have so many home games in a row very early in the season. If it takes fans time to re-engage with the team, we will host a lot of games when our attendance is lower. Also, more casual fans or those with a lot of conflicts may not be able to make it up to the Bronx 4 straight weeks.

 

[NickFromAstoria]

The big difference with the Yankees is that they ALREADY had a stadium but they wanted a new one with all of the bells and whistles. It's not as if it was falling down and they were going to be left homeless and sharing with another team like the Mets.

Well... http://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/14/s...-stadium-closed-as-beam-falls-onto-seats.html

 

[Ulrich]

Well... http://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/14/s...-stadium-closed-as-beam-falls-onto-seats.html

It was a one-off..... it happens - doesn't mean the entire structure was going to collapse. That's why buildings have periodic inspections (or are supposed to).

Sonny Hight, the stadium's director of operations, said it appeared yesterday that ''inch by inch, instead of shifting to absorb the shock from the fans,'' the beam ''just worked itself loose and today it fell.''

There was a huge period of time when building inspectors were paid off to sign reports that never took place saying that structures were inspected and/or periodic maintenance was performed. The big item most people will associate with this now is having your building's brick facade inspected/repaired so that they don't tumble to the sidewalk. Not implying this is what happened here at all, let me repeat that - not implying that at all - but there was a very dark period in NYC's building landscape with the building department.

 

[Goodfella]

And "it's NYC, it's very hard to build a stadium" is not good enough! They should have dealt with with it before hand.

Had they dealt with this beforehand and made a soccer specific stadium a prerequisite then we wouldn't be bitching about a schedule because we wouldn't have a team. I'll take the pain of waiting and schedule issues over no team in NYC proper.

Personally, I'm OK with the schedule, I missed 3 August games last year due to vacation. We've got at least 2 home games per month with the exception of August & October. I enjoy the odd midweek game and really like Friday night games. But that's just me, everyone has their own preferences.