2018 Attendance Thread

[mgarbowski]

Through 15 games attendance is a total of 337 lower than the same point last year, which works out to a rather insignificant 22 fewer tickets per game. I think it is worth noting this because the final 2 games last year were in Hartford (10k) and Citi Field (20k) and we are unlikely to face both of those situations this year, which will make further like-to-like comparisons nearly meaningless. This is the closest we will get to a reasonably fair comparison of 2017 to 2018.

As a comparison, the drop from 2016 to 2017 -- through 15 games again -- was about 57.8k total and 3,852 tickets per game, and that is again without the relocated home games. It is fair to note that 2016 and 2018 had 2 Red Bull home games and 2017 only had 1, but with RB game attendance also going down, the RB effect on the average attendance is diminishing. Here is the Red Bull attendance:
2015 48.1k
2016 37.9k 33.6k
2017 33.7k
2018 30.0k 30.1k

 

[LionNYC]

Manchester also fudges their numbers!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...ttendances-12-000-LOWER-official-figures.html

 

[LeeNYCFC]

Playoff matches at Yankee Stadium:

2016 - 28,355
2017 - 23,246
2018 - 15,153 and 19,198

This week certainly had the terrible fundamentals of 3 in a week, Halloween night, and a 7:30 kickoff on a school night, still doesn't excuse the trend.

 

[mgarbowski]

Playoff matches at Yankee Stadium:

2016 - 28,355
2017 - 23,246
2018 - 15,153 and 19,198

This week certainly had the terrible fundamentals of 3 in a week, Halloween night, and a 7:30 kickoff on a school night, still doesn't excuse the trend.

It is clear that a lot of season tickets were not subscribed for the playoffs. The attendance base for the regular season this year was about 18k. The 15k number for Wednesday means that 3-4k tickets must have been dropped for the playoffs. Then they sold another 4k for last night, which would be a less embarrassing but still not great 22k playoff figure against Atlanta if built on top of the 18k base.

A disastrous final third of the season, plus Halloween, plus higher playoff premiums charged compared to prior years killed the numbers.

 

[Gotham Gator]

I was really shocked by the attendance last night. Ticket availability seemed tight. Playoff game. Solid opponent that we've faced in two classic games this season. Don't understand it, except maybe with 2 home games already in the books this week, more people stayed home.

I think it could also be a little of what Mark was referring to - the base of tickets sold was a lot less than it was during the regular season, so a lot of people found it easier psychologically to stay home.

 

[FredMertz]

I worry that these numbers won't do anything to hasten a new stadium deal.

 

[Ulrich]

I worry that these numbers won't do anything to hasten a new stadium deal.

Probably right.... also won’t hasten additional affordable housing. Deblasio doesn’t get one without the other.

 

[mgarbowski]

I worry that these numbers won't do anything to hasten a new stadium deal.

I think it should give the club more urgency.

 

[FredMertz]

I think it should give the club more urgency.

I agree with your line of thinking, but it would be very easy to go the other way...

 

[Seth]

Playoff matches at Yankee Stadium:

2016 - 28,355
2017 - 23,246
2018 - 15,153 and 19,198

This week certainly had the terrible fundamentals of 3 in a week, Halloween night, and a 7:30 kickoff on a school night, still doesn't excuse the trend.

I worry that these numbers won't do anything to hasten a new stadium deal.

Keep in mind that not counting the Halloween match we'd pretty consistently be filling a 25,000 seat stadium. Even that 19,000 one wouldn't look too bad in a stadium that size. Might be an issue in a 35,000 seat stadium, but in a normal sized one the front office is not going to be the least concerned with these sorts of attendance numbers.

 

[FredMertz]

Keep in mind that not counting the Halloween match we'd pretty consistently be filling a 25,000 seat stadium. Even that 19,000 one wouldn't look too bad in a stadium that size. Might be an issue in a 35,000 seat stadium, but in a normal sized one the front office is not going to be the least concerned with these sorts of attendance numbers.

But the trend is not our friend. And the club sections were stunningly empty.

 

[NickA]

It is clear that a lot of season tickets were not subscribed for the playoffs. The attendance base for the regular season this year was about 18k. The 15k number for Wednesday means that 3-4k tickets must have been dropped for the playoffs. Then they sold another 4k for last night, which would be a less embarrassing but still not great 22k playoff figure against Atlanta if built on top of the 18k base.

A disastrous final third of the season, plus Halloween, plus higher playoff premiums charged compared to prior years killed the numbers.

There were a ton of new faces in my section Sunday. So the theory of season ticket holders opting out seems right.

 

[Gotham Gator]

Keep in mind that not counting the Halloween match we'd pretty consistently be filling a 25,000 seat stadium. Even that 19,000 one wouldn't look too bad in a stadium that size. Might be an issue in a 35,000 seat stadium, but in a normal sized one the front office is not going to be the least concerned with these sorts of attendance numbers.

I worry that we are kind of hitting a tipping point right now.

The atmosphere in Yankee Stadium is great when we top 25,000. Below that it's just not the same experience. Below 22,000, it's much worse.

If we can't keep the numbers up, then the atmosphere is lacking, which hurts the numbers more.

A new stadium really solves that, because a proper soccer venue will still have a great atmosphere on those off days when we have 20K or fewer.

 

[Christopher Jee]

I worry that we are kind of hitting a tipping point right now.

The atmosphere in Yankee Stadium is great when we top 25,000. Below that it's just not the same experience. Below 22,000, it's much worse.

If we can't keep the numbers up, then the atmosphere is lacking, which hurts the numbers more.

A new stadium really solves that, because a proper soccer venue will still have a great atmosphere on those off days when we have 20K or fewer.

Honestly, right now it seems like about 10% of people actually try to make noise, consistently. I'm not saying that I wouldn't like our attendance numbers to be better. But I think if we got up to say double that small number, we would make a much better atmosphere. In fact we would be helped furthermore by the fact that sound is likely to bounce off empty seats better than silent humans. And it's something that most of us actually have control over, vs. what's happening with a stadium or the economic decisions of people we don't know.

If we are talking about atmosphere.

 

[mgarbowski]

Did anyone see an official MLS Final 2018 Regular-Season Team Attendance Report similar to the 2017 one here:
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017...tendance-records-paces-mls-single-season-mark

I found this elsewhere which indicates we came in 7th. We were 6th in 2017.
https://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2018-mls-attendance/

 

[LostAnvil]

Did anyone see an official MLS Final 2018 Regular-Season Team Attendance Report similar to the 2018 one here:
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017...tendance-records-paces-mls-single-season-mark

I found this elsewhere which indicates we came in 7th. We were 6th in 2017.
https://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2018-mls-attendance/

and with only 1,000 more in home game average than Red Bulls

 

[LeeNYCFC]

Felt like fudging our attendance a little

So our average was "up" over last year 23,211 > 22,321 but I think it's worth normalizing 2017 given the 2 non-Yankee Stadium dates. With that in play, the average for 2017 bumps up to 23,278, ahead of this year.

Going further to normalize each year for Red Bulls (average RB YS attendance each year times 1.5), the averages for each year are now 24,401 for 2017, and 22,326 for 2018