Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Playoff Attendance Update

Per usual the wild card games were not well attended. Games 3 to 4 days after the end of the season are hard to sell tickets for and it is no surprise that FC Dallas mustered 10,279 in the stands while the NY Red Bulls had 15,518 watch the do or die game. This made for an average of 12,899 attendees for the wild card round.

The quarterfinals started off weak but finished well due to teams with great supporters selling out their respective stadiums. A list of attendance for each home match is listed below.

Columbus Crew - 9,040
Real Salt Lake - 20,713
New York Red Bulls - 18,054
FC Dallas - 16,112
DC United - 20,187
New England Revolution - 20,184
Los Angeles Galaxy - 27,000
Seattle Sounders - 38,912

This creates an average of 21,275 for the conference semifinals as a whole. This is above the 2011 conference semifinal average of 20,776 or the 2012 average of 20,690, but it is below the 2013 conference semifinal average of 22,789.11

I fully expect to have four sellouts for the conference finals as there is a two week break for international friendlies. The final four teams are packed with history and there is no doubt the Seattle Sounders and LA Galaxy will pack their respective stadiums as the Sounders experience their first conference final and the LA Galaxy supporters may see Landon Donovan play for the final time. The NE Revolution should have no problem selling out their part of Gillette Stadium as their supporters have proved vital in the playoffs traveling to away games and packing the stands in the conference semifinals. NY will be the hardest to sell out as New Jersey for soccer never is as appealing as the football games that are on TV during the weekend.

It will be an exciting finish to the playoffs with plenty of great story lines.