2019 Canadian Premier League Attendance

[Gopherbashi]

Also, let's be clear, the L1O teams do shit-all in terms of advertising.  It's not exactly surprising that they don't have attendance, because that's not their focus.

[red card]

1 hour ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Check the above for an example of what you can read on Reddit. There's a reason why teams in the GTA like York 9 have tended to struggle to draw a significant home support and this poster describes it very well.

I have read through the reddit threads since the CPl season started. The post above is an outlier in terms of his level of angst. He also seems to be unaware of the points raised by Ansem earlier. Plus, his main issue seems to be with the skewed mentality of the Toronto sports audience, which means York9 might as well give up now.

Rest of CPL reddit has your standard attendance threads. Other than griping about Cavalry pricing, the heat around attendance worries match the spring weather seen in Eastern Canada - some warm days but mostly below normal. Consensus view would be only concerned about the attendance about a couple of PFC matches and the York9 Cdn Championship match.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

16 minutes ago, Gopherbashi said:

Also, let's be clear, the L1O teams do ****-all in terms of advertising.  It's not exactly surprising that they don't have attendance, because that's not their focus.

Maybe you need to have lived in a soccer loving country to understand the difference between what happens in the GTA and how soccer of that quality would be treated elsewhere. Would be great if a string of pro teams pops up in the 905 dialing zone to cater to Oakville, Mississauga, Brampton, York Region and Durham but it's going to take a big shift in culture because leagues like the NHL and CFL have conditioned people to expect something very different from that European soccer sort of approach where for example the wider Glasgow area has around eight fully professional teams and many more semi-professional ones. In North American pro sports you are usually only supposed to have one team per sport per metro area to be worshiped by all and everything else gets dismissed as beer league.

[nfitz]

5 hours ago, Gopherbashi said:

Look, I'll fully admit that I pull out the "sky is falling" card on attendance from time to time, but the league as a whole is not worrying me for attendance.  In fact, there's been some great success stories that have blown me away (Forge, Valour, and Halifax are all around 5000 for their low water mark, which is amazing).

I've been a bit pessimistic about the financial viability of the league - but quite frankly, so far the attendance seems to be a good news story, especially in some markets. I'm concerned about York ... I don't get the start the team playing in Toronto, but market it to York Region thing ... because it turns off many in Toronto who won't want to travel to a remote stadium near King City, and at the same time, doesn't market it to the large number of potential fans who live near the current stadium. But that's one team - not the league. Toronto (and York, Brampton, Mississauga, Durham) will be tough nuts to crack - but I don't think the league will die on that particular issue.

Edited May 28, 2019 by nfitz

[Ansem]

8 hours ago, Greatest Cockney Rip Off said:

Stop quoting him please. 

I just blocked him. Should be much easier to do!

I'm done reading garbage

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, Ansem said:

I just blocked him. Should be much easier to do!

I'm done reading garbage

Yeah, but you'll still go through withdrawal!!

[Watchmen]

4 hours ago, Lofty said:

Exactly. If there are no free tickets then there is no difference between tickets distributed and tickets sold.

To the best of my knowledge there have been no free tickets for Valour. And my understanding is that HFX are more or less sold out and Forge have around 6,000 STHs. Other than the Forge/York matches, I think we can pretty much count on all the distributed tickets being paid for. Which is a strong start.

I would suggest that since Forge has reported attendance of lower than 6000 that they don't have 6000 STHs.

[Bison44]

5 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Yeah, but you'll still go through withdrawal!!

I use his posts as fuel.  I get very angry then go do yard work.  Raking, mowing, trimming, weeding..until the anger subsides.  

[Watchmen]

1 minute ago, Lofty said:

Really??!! "Around 6,000" does not mean "at least 6,000".

Sure, but if the attendance is below 6000 for a game, I'd assume at least some of that is walk up/single game tickets.  I'm not saying they don't have a strong STH base, just that I don't think it's around 6000.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Wouldn't be surprised if flex packs are getting rolled into the STH number.

[DoyleG]

15 hours ago, deschamp86 said:

I think we should try a little science experiment. How long will BBTB continue to post here for if no one responds or quotes him?

He'll just change his name profile. Again.

[Macksam]

To poke a hole into BBTB's argument, TFC and MLS was considered low budget but that didn't stop them from having great attendance right away in 2007. The salaries and product has improved now but that's a different story.

Edited May 29, 2019 by Macksam

[CDNFootballer]

Just under 5300 in Halifax for tonight's midweek game announced on the stream.

[Ams1984]

1 hour ago, CDNFootballer said:

Just under 5300 in Halifax for tonight's midweek game announced on the stream.

Good turnout. 

[lazlo_80]

Steve milton reporting attendance for Forge was 6019

[Watchmen]

22 minutes ago, lazlo_80 said:

Steve milton reporting attendance for Forge was 6019

So basically no walk ups again?  What's the weather?

[baulderdash77]

It was ok out.  About 14 Celsius and overcast.  Pretty good weather but it should be about 20 right now.  

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

5 hours ago, Watchmen said:

So basically no walk ups again?  What's the weather?

We need a pic from the other side to be able to gauge how close actual attendance is to the announced number.

[longlugan]

No we don't...you do.

[grasshopper1917]

7 hours ago, baulderdash77 said:

It was ok out.  About 14 Celsius and overcast.  Pretty good weather but it should be about 20 right now.  

6c and drizzle at Wanders ground last night. Spring has abandoned Nova Scotia I think!      

[MM3/MM2/MM]

Considering that almost every game has been played in miserable weather, I think a league average of 5000 at the end of May is phenomenal despite the way the naysayers are trying to put a negative spin on everything.  Keep it positive people, because that is what it is.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Have yet to see anyone say anything negative about what's happening in Halifax on attendance, so that's off base. Where things are going well there has been nothing but praise. Looks like they are heading for a sellout for Saturday's game so the winning formula seems to be reasonable ticket prices, a smaller market where the team is treated as a major sports story by the local media outlets, and a small soccer specific stadium with grass in a central location.

 

Edited May 30, 2019 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[Bison44]

Now I know why he is the parrot....low wages, small market, low budget...small market low budget.  Winnipeg is doing well in a bigger city, large football stadium, with turf and a non central location, with lots of competition from other sports.  So there are plenty of "winning formulas" not just the sludge you keep trying to push.  

[grasshopper1917]

2 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

 Looks like they are heading for a sellout for Saturday's game so the winning formula seems to be reasonable ticket prices, a smaller market where the team is treated as a major sports story by the local media outlets, and a small soccer specific stadium with grass in a central location.

 

Just as a side note as far as I can see Im not 100% sure that the local media is treating it as a major sports story. On the morning news they do announce the score of the games and who scored the goals - usually a 5-10 second segment. Also it would appear the local paper also reports on the games (I cant read it I don't subscribe).

I mean locally there is coverage of the club and the games however id say its kinda underwhelming. I would place the coverage as much less then 'The Mooseheads' (local Jr. Hockey team) and more then the 'Hurricanes' local pro basketball team in NBL.

[Cheeta]

^ Similar here.  Wouldn't call what Valour is mostly receiving in the media exactly "coverage".  Would also suggest the organization isn't exactly putting itself out there in the public arena just yet either.  Better now than before, because before it was straight up zero but there is now some low volume advertising out there and some local level sponsorships are coming together (radio station promos, Boston Pizza sponsoring a couple of rows for youth teams, blah, blah, blah).  Advancing the team and league in the public eye has so far been very grassroots, footie sub-culture almost, but improving.  Which is needed.  Feels like we're getting a sense of how this market will support the team.  Have a solid dedicated (full time) core and a solid (part time) supporting core which together I think is large enough to carry the club just fine, but REAL success will be in getting the broad spectrum of potential casuals out to a match a two each season and that ain't going to happen being out of sight and out of mind.