PJSweet Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 Aside from voting unanimously to to tear up the existing turf at Clarke Stadium and replace it with permanent soccer lines, Edmonton city Councillors also accepted the $20-million plan to expand Clarke Stadium to 10,000 seats from the current 5,000. However, there is a catch to this deal. FC Edmonton must average 4,500 fans a game for the next 3 years in order for the city to expand the capacity. Can they do it? Will Edmontonians come out and support this team for the next 3 years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 LOL. Seriously? Don't get me wrong. I'm not forwarding any opinion on what EFC can or can not accomplish in the grandstands over the next few seasons (there might be some very encouraging things coming down the NASL pipe in Canada the next year or two which will help attendance), I just get a wee giggle out of how current civic politicians like to mouth off support for this or that without actually having to do anything in the present to qualify said support. This coming from a person who's city elected a rock concert promoter (a profession with a universally accepted public integrity raking somewhere below defense lawyer and North End used car salesman) and then RE-ELECTED the man. Go ahead, call me cynical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedinathan Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 I think most fans are in the camp of "who cares, the turf is gone" category for now. If it gets to the point where FCE starts selling out seasons and tickets are hard to find, then the natural outcry for a bigger stadium will force the City to look at something more appropriate. However, as a FCE supporter, I'm more than happy with the lack of lines and better turf for now. The other significant thing out of this story is that FCE has been recognized as the primary user of Clarke. Pointy-ball players have claimed rights to it for years. There was some noise from some of the clubs, but I'm very happy that the City voted strongly to redo the lines in favor of football (the proper kind). Its a venue that Edmonton as a whole doesn't have, and the recognition is good for the city to develop as less of a redneck, hockey-only city IMO. After a year or two of enjoying a proper field, I'm sure you'll start to hear complaints from the Edmonton supporters for a proper set of stands though. We'll never be happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yawassanay Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Back in the CSL. When Clarke could seat 10K+ there was a call for renovations to make it a SSS..then they tore down the two grandstands and what is left is a High school football turf field...the $ that could have been saved to renovate would have been considerable. I highly doubt Edmontonians will sell out the latest version of Clarke for the city to invest what it should have invested 20 years earliers..but here is wishing them good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmonte Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I think the numbers grow again this year. Maybe not to 4500, but I bet the first game against the Cosmos, the home opener, does really well, and in fact sells out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1996 Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I hope the attendance grows but man reading some of the comments in your local papers the soccer haters are out in force there in Edmonton. Just curious I would imagine with the CFL being a big deal in Edmonton that youth football must be big there also, would you say that youth football has more registration numbers in Edmonton than youth soccer? I know here in Toronto youth soccer numbers almost rival youth hockey numbers and youth football registration is decent but nowhere close to the youth soccer registration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedinathan Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Not a chance. Youth soccer is massive here. There is a fair bit of "we were here first, so we own it" when it comes to Clarke and minor football. What the vocal minority fail to tell you is that there are several other fields in the city that are as good or better than Clarke. It still is the minority, but they are vocal. The soccer community in Edmonton either doesn't care about Clarke (think soccer moms who only watch the kids play on the local school yards) or the hardcores, who wouldn't want to come to Clarke to watch FCE due to the poor pitch. FCE has worked hard at getting the soccer family crowd to games. Their focus this season so far really seems to be going after some of the more hardcore fans, as well as the ones that have a higher disposable income. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuscan Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I just hope things don't come down completely to the dollars and cents. None of us should expect FCE's attendance to suddenly sky rocket one year. These things take time to grow. When we did a study in one of my university classes I chose to model what a pro club in Saskatoon would have to do to break even, and it really is ensuring around 8000 butts in seats per match PLUS merch and concession sales. Your staff gets underpaid too so you have to hope they are die-hard fans of the game and are willing to essentially invest their time for less financial return than they could get elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Footscray Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Even a 10K soccer specific stadium in Alberta would be huge... Calgary can't even get the ball rolling on anything resembling a soccer stadium still after 15 years of various parties trying, they will probably be sitting a mile from the field at crappy foothills AGAIN when the PDL gets going there. Averaging 4,500 is a pretty big ask but you wonder about the conditions the city imposed on paying customers vs. comp tickets and even how they will verify. If for instance they give tonnes of tickets away to local youth soccer, the $20 million the city is going to spend on the stadium is vastly more than they will lose in ticket revenue. (probably vastly more than their entire revenue stream for a decade). Also not saying they will but NHL teams inflate their attendance counts as a normal practice. Still getting anything approaching 4,500 a game consistently after not being able to break 3K average last year... big ask. Wishing them good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmonte Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I really hate to say this, as a Calgary guy, but since I'm also currently an FC Edmonton fan it's okay. The thing is, when it comes to a soccer stadium in Calgary, if it happens in Edmonton and works, then Calgary will have a shot. I think Edmonton really are the ground breakers here. I think investors for Calgary will point to Edmonton and say either "it's working" or "it's not working" in Edmonton. So if Edmonton succeeds, Calgary has a chance. If I'm being COMPLETELY honest, that's why I buy FC Edmonton merch and drive six hours to their games, in the hopes that my minor contributions will add to a bunch of other peoples' minor contributions, adding up to a potential Calgary franchise sometime down the road. The PDL is a start, but you are 100% right. It will start with a crappy foothills field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedinathan Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I've had a very good relationship with the front office over the years, and I know that they don't give out THAT many tickets (probably one of the better clubs in the early stages of the NASL for that actually). The numbers that were reproted in 2013 were pretty accurate as well, though the reported number was occasionally low, due to the club having to count actual ripped tickets. IMO there's a significant positive trend for FCE. While the club started out lower in 2013 (pre-grandstand), when the stands were up, the crowds showed with minimal advertising. I know there's some perceptional stuff going on with ads and Fath, but I do hope that they can increase the tickets this season to a better average. I would take a jump to 4500 quite happily. I haven't heard any numbers from the front office in terms of season ticket sales (actually they play that number very close to the chest), but the sense around there is very optomistic. Probably the best the club has felt about things since they started up in 2010. I'm not worried about Fath pulling the plug before the end of 2015 just yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmonte Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 No, I'm not either. Not when he and the city were in talks about a three year plan of averaging 4500 in attendance. Then again, if attendance absolutely tanked for some reason? Yeah, that would be worrying...I only see it climbing though. Think positive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDNFootballer Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I can realistically see them getting an increase in attendance to around 3200-3500 this season and that would be a healthy increase over the 2400+ last season and good growth. 4500 is probably attainable in a couple more seasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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