Attendance across the MLS’s various stadiums has its definite peaks and valleys — Seattle, with upwards of 35,000 a match, and Columbus, at under 11,000 being the extremes — but for large swathes of the nation, attendance has been encouraging. Real Salt Lake, at home in Sandy, Utah, has been no different.
While not every population statistic will entirely match up with reality— the most reasonable metropolitan area population was used for measurement — these numbers give rise to some interesting observations.
• Check out the MLS attendance data
First, attendance does not seem to fluctuate wildly based on metro area population. For example, Seattle, the 11th ranked for population in the list of MLS franchises, features the highest overall attendance. Real Salt Lake, dead last in population base, is right in the middle of the attendance rankings, at 10th overall in average attendance as well as capacity percentage.
Compared with attendance rankings from Columbus, dead last in attendance but with a similar population base, Real Salt Lake is in a good position. Strangely, average attendance in Columbus took a 4,000-count hit compared with the same time the previous year. I do not have a clear explanation for this. The club is not doing badly in standings — perhaps a reader can shine a bit more light on this matter.
Real Salt Lake sits at 80.3 percent of capacity filled across the season, which is basically the middle of the capacity table. Given the oft-rainy weather experienced at the Rio Tinto this season, perhaps the attendance has been a bit lower than it would have been in more sunny conditions. Such needless speculation is not entirely effective, though it may be a bit of cheeky fun.
The club has managed things well, and they’ve not experienced wild fluctuations after moving from Rice-Eccles Stadium. Some improvement in crowd size and intensity would certainly be a positive measure, but it does seem the community is catching the soccer bug, as it were. Long-term growth will take more time to be clear, but given the Salt Lake City metro market size, things are going quite well indeed.
Unsurprisingly, Seattle sits well atop the charts, skewing all the other results just a bit. They’re clearly an outlier, and good on them: There’s clearly something happening right up in the rainy city. We also see Portland and Vancouver alongside Seattle in the top 5, with Toronto FC and the LA Galaxy rounding it out.
Interestingly, though, there is a slight trend toward higher average attendance at newer clubs, though the presence of several that saw devoted followings in the USL will skew that slightly. Still, it’s a statistic that seems to have much of a story about it: Are the older, 15-year-old clubs doing enough to attract new followers?
A full analysis of statistical data concerning each clubs average attendance is necessary to determine whether they’ve remained relatively steady or have changed with any trend. Further, with older clubs, it may be interesting to see if a downward dip develops with recent economic downturn. Correlating attendance with economic conditions would certainly be fascinating.
To note, the Salt Lake City metro area typically includes Ogden and Clearfield, but here I have expanded it to include the Provo-Orem metropolitan area, as Sandy is essentially equidistant and the fan base certainly extends in that direction.
SOURCE: "MLS Attendance Up 6.3% To Date; Whitecaps, Timbers Continue Strong Debut Seasons," Sports Business Daily. July 19, 2011. http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2011/07/19/Research-and-Ratings/MLS-attendance.aspx
Comments