Notes on MLS attendance (FCD fans, hide your eyes)
by Steve Davis on Mar 29, 2010 12:54 PM EDT
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On an absolutely brilliant spring day in North Texas, 8,016 fans came out to
All the elements were in place. FC Dallas was sizzling as 2009 finished – so fan excitement should have been high. It was a Saturday (i.e., not a Thursday or a Sunday or a holiday, etc.) While it’s true that there’s very little market awareness of this team right now (media, sponsors, etc.), that’s by FC Dallas’ own doing. They are paying a high price for repeated failure of leadership, strategy, attention to the market and for customer service bungling.
Here’s where the rubber meets the road: FC Dallas’ attendance Saturday was probably one of the 10 worst ever for season openers in MLS history.
That’s a little vague, but it has to be. The records I have at hand are incomplete, because I don’t have data for
What I can find are a few stinkers in MLS earlier in the last decade.
Only 7,133 showed up for the Chicago Fire’s 2003 opener.
In one sense, I do hate beating up on FC Dallas for ongoing attendance woes. Right now, the people in place in the office probably aren’t the problem. They might be great runners, so to speak, but they are so far behind in the relay race that they have zero chance of catching up.
Besides, at some point this is just the dog that I see limping down the street every day. I don’t want to chase it away anymore, I just kind of shake my head and feel a little sorry for it.
Then again, I’m not a sponsor that paid a bunch of money for signs and such inside the stadium. Oh, and how do you think Telefutura felt, debuting their package of Saturday matches with such a dog (attendance-wise)? A crowd like that devalues the deal for everyone.
I sometimes look at FC Dallas the same way I see the perennially mess in the
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It wasn't 8k
I was at the game and it looked a lot closer to 4 or 5k. Why they played the game at 3pm on a Saturday is beyond me. The Dallas Cup started the very next day. They should have piggybacked on that and made their opener part of the event.
by William Anthony Wallace II on Mar 29, 2010 1:25 PM EDT reply actions
Why
is 3pm on a Saturday the wrong time to play the game? Genuine question, by the way.
it seems to work quite well in the UK
except for maybe Wigan
"We're investigating the investigative procedure of the investigation of Tony Bernazard"---Omar Minaya (he really didn't say it but he would"
by firejerrynow on Mar 29, 2010 4:38 PM EDT up reply actions
new strategy
While I wasn’t at the game on Saturday, I agree that it’s been abysmal over the past couple of years for those of us who regularly attend. I’m also thinking that the deal to televise all FCD home games isn’t going to help either.
At this rate, the front office should just give away all tickets for free and try and make their money with concessions. I think that would definitely be a better option than what’s going on now if moving back down into Dallas isn’t going to be an option.
here is the promotion for Saturday's game
http://www.fcdallas.com/press-release/2010/03/fc-dallas-names-fans-captain-opening-day
Who does giving out free captain’s armbands appeal to? Does anyone in the local soccer community care for these gimmicks?
Bad and sad
I cant imagine the stadium atmosphere without the noise of the Dynamo supporters groups and 1000+ traveling fans. If you can barely get 8k against a rival on a Saturday, on opening day, then its going to be a SAD year in dallas. I really dont have any answers for FCD. Its taken lots of years to get things to this point and it will probably take several years to climb out.
Why afternoon games are a bad time
I’m not excusing the front office bungling that has gone on the last few years, but in response to why 3pm on a Saturday is a bad time…
In recent years, FCD has heavily promoted the team to the soccer playing kiddos and their families (remember the bounce houses on the stage). Well guess who plays soccer on Saturday afternoons in the spring and fall? Families aren’t going to skip Johnny’s U-8 game to come watch FCD. In the summer when the kiddos aren’t necessarily playing on the weekend, it’s too hot to drag the family out to the park in the Texas afternoon heat.
The last few years Saturday night games are the only games that draw well in Dallas (unless Beckham or Blanco are in town which won’t happen this year).
Telefutura window
Contract calls for a Saturday afternoon game. Everyone will get one. I would think it wouldn’t be bad to have the opening week b/c, presumably you can sell the opening date on its own merit.
by Steve Davis on Mar 29, 2010 3:24 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Afternoon Youth Games
Agree with Quills that youth games probably had an effect on attendance, but from my point of view, the advertising run up was pretty silent as well.
Dallas Cup starting on Sunday should have boosted attendance, I would think. Most youth tournaments in the area have a FCD rep that communicates with them if an FCD game is being played during their tournament. Then tournament attendees are offered discounted ticket packages for participating in the tournament. I would assume that was done with Dallas Cup as well, and if not, well, enough said.
or maybe this is the problem
Does the “soccer mom” demographic really represent a reliable supporter base?
Dallas has a pretty big population base. Presumably it has young professionals who grew up playing the sport? Pubs and sports bars? Expatriates who would love to have a local club to call their own?
For 45 degrees, windy and raining
KC had a good crowd on Saturday. They sold out all tickets, but I think the announced attendance was over 10k. There’s a lot of excitement around the team among the fans now. I’ve seen a few Wizards shirts in public the last couple days. Something I don’t think I’ve seen on anyone but little kids before.
"Not to be cliché or anything, but I’m Jayhawk born and Jayhawk bred and when I die I’ll be Jayhawk dead." - Ovechwin
You reap what you sow
FCD could have rolled out the most complete, most exciting opening day marketing campaign in team history, or the game could have been played at the most ideal time, or the weather could have been picture perfect (wait, it was), or etc etc … the fact of the matter is that the 8016 announced attendance for the opener is a direct result of HSG’s mismanagement of this franchise since they took over seven or eight years ago. We can try to think up excuses and reasons for why this particular game drew so poorly, but in reality, attendances at PHP have been trending downward for a few seasons now. The 8,016 is very simply a symptom of a much bigger problem.
And there is very little doubt Saturday’s attendance number would have been worse than the worst ever if not for the fact that Houston had several hundred fans at the game.
More than part of a trend
You don’t drop from 16k last year to 8k this year as part of a trend. That’s a major discontinuity.
Neither the missing Blanco effect, nor the afternoon time, nor the averted strike should have caused FCD to lose half their fan base in one year.
One way or another, this game was a major fiasco, even by FCD standards.
This is an FO at it's worst
Dallas Cup teams could have been given free tix, others sold tix for $10, and that would have brought up the attendance to 11-12k on it’s own. But that would have taken forthought and planning, something this FO has proven time and again they are unable to do. A few radio ads on the TIcket does not constitute an advertising campaign. And this is the 1st game!!! What’s going to happen when TFC rolls thru town and there is nothing to sell but FCD? Ticket prices are too high for the walk-up crowd, if there was one. There is no way that the cheapest ticket you can buy is $20 at the gate. And you should see the disaster in the club. They have taken out the tables and put in leather chairs for big spenders to sit in. Problem is, they haven’t sold them all. Not even close, and you will know why when you hear they are $5700 for the year! This team needs to be sold, and soon. It will be out of business at this rate in 2 years.
And don’t even get me started on the team…
Chad the Ref
FC Dallas
It was a dumb move to build that stadium way the hell out in the sticks.
Not mediocre. Right about average
Average attendance I could find for Miami/Tampa:
Miami:
1998: 10,284
1999: 8,689
2000: 7,460
2001: 11,177
Tampa:
1996: 11,679
1997: 11,338
1998: 10,312
1999: 13,106
2000: 9,452
2001: 10,479
Source is Wikipedia so no guarantees these are accurate, but there are a lot of clubs with numbers like that. Or worse. Scary.
Free Tickets
“the front office should just give away all tickets for free and try and make their money with concessions.”
This would be a wise strategy. A team like Dallas should try it, at least for one season. Keep in mind that movie theaters don’t make their revenue from ticket sales — they make it from concession sales.
Steve, the next time you interview someone from the front office, please ask them if they are ever going to try this strategy.
Tix don't have to be free, and Frisco was a terrible idea
I met Lamar Hunt before the stadium opened on a “Pick your seat” day. I told him then that I didn’t think that the crowds would follow out to Frisco for many reasons. He said he believed they would, and I told him that I hoped he was right, but was afraid he was wrong. Am I a soothsayer or what?
Here is what the ticket structure should be per game:
Inside Club-$60
Club West Tickets-$45
East Sections-$25
Corners-$12
West Side-$15
Behind Goal-$10
Extra $2 per seat if bought before day of game. Special Promos for hs kids, college kids, teachers, police, fire depts, and anyone else you can think of. Then you make the money on overpriced hot dogs, pizza, and beer. This isn’t rocket science, but I’ll bet HSG won’t be able to figure it out.
Chad the Ref
Soccer mom
At this point MLS has ample evidence that the core of the marketing has to be young urbanites in the supporters groups. Kids see that and think cool and want to go to the games.
Think the stadium in the sticks is FCD’s big problem. Together with never having won much. And where is the Hispanic outreach? Where are the friendlies against Mexican teams? Houston is a case study on how to do soccer right in Texas.
Giving away tickets… ask the newspapers how giving away content has worked out for them…
FCD
As a charter employee of the then Dallas Burn in 1996, it pains me to see this team struggle at the gate (and on the field) the way it has.
I have long maintained that Hunt Sports Group bought into the “if you build it, they will come” sales strategy, in the hopes they could save on traditional marketing and allow its stadium to draw in fans. I think they truly believed that if they built a shiny new stadium, even in the suburbs, that sales would take care of itself. They couldn’t have been more wrong.
I know it’s easy to sit back and be critical, but the sales people in ’96 spent every day, all day, on the phone, basically begging people to come out. And most every night we were out at every single local soccer association in North Texas, building realtionships, listening to our potential customers, and doing whatever we could to bring in fans. This was the strategy John Alper, then director of sales, put into place. It worked. And it worked at an old stadium in Fair Park.
If FCD management would get off it’s ass and force its salespeople to, oh, I don’t know, SELL, they could bump attendance appreciably. But if they continue to think you can run a few radio ads, place a few billboards around town, and send out a few direct mail pieces, nothing will change.
One more thing...
The stadium location is not the biggest issue in my view.
I live in Dallas and it takes me 15-20 minutes straight up the tollway.
Sure, if you live in Arlington, it’s a hike, but my suspicion is people aren’t coming because they are not marketed to properly and the brand is virtually non-existent, not becuase of where the stadium is.
For the Hispanic fan, it's the location for sure
There are Hispanic populaces in the burbs, but nothing like in East Dallas, West Dallas, and South Dallas. They will not travel to watch a club that they feel, rightly so, that they abandoned them. And FCD did abandon them with the move to Southlake, then to Frisco. They will not travel the tollways in mass. They will not waste time on a club that they don’t care particularly for.
But they have trouble coming to games that they very well may care for. Want proof? Last nite’s Dallas Cup game with Chivas Guadalajara v. Cruziero. Maybe 2500 people there for the most popular club in Mexico’s U-20 team.
Chad the Ref
