Attendance for April 16?

SoccerPrime · 04-01-2005, 05:29 AM

Anyone have any idea what we should expect?
Any rumors?

I only ask because I recently was ridiculed on the CRapids boards (big surprise, blow hards) for suggesting that our home opener would only get 17,000.

clarette · 04-01-2005, 08:18 AM

What were you doing on the Crapids boards in the first place? 😉

Seriously though, I'm not sure what to expect. A few random people have told me that they're interested in going to the game, but haven't bought tickets yet. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a lot of walk-up that day, or at the very least, people buying tickets on Thursday or Friday before.

bordelais7 · 04-01-2005, 08:22 AM

for the opener I'm hoping at LEAST 20K. Opening days (and opening seasons) tend to outperform the averages pretty handily. I'm going to guess....23K?

Rover · 04-01-2005, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoccerPrime

Anyone have any idea what we should expect?
Any rumors?

I only ask because I recently was ridiculed on the CRapids boards (big surprise, blow hards) for suggesting that our home opener would only get 17,000.

How could anyone from Colorado give us any grief about attendance? How many games did they pull in less than 6,000? Too many. Their numbers are only off the bottom of the MLS list because they get 60,000 every year to see a big fireworks show.

Please.

As for 16 April, we should get 17,000 just with the curiosity factor. But I'd expect 20,000+ if the marketing kicks in bigtime.

jasoncox · 04-01-2005, 10:11 AM

Just to put it in perspective, here are the attendance numbers for each of the inaugural(sp?) home openers in MLS:

69,255-Los Angeles
46,826-Metrostars
36,444-Chicago
35,032-DC United
32,864-New England
31,683-San Jose
27,779-Dallas
26,473-Tampa Bay
25,266-Columbus
21,711-Colorado
21,141-Kansas City
20,450-Miami

So, even Colorado piled in more than 20K. So the real question is, will we be the last on the list (behind a now defunct team) come April 16th? If so, are we setting a really poor precedent for the games and years to come?

WorldBall · 04-01-2005, 10:16 AM

I think that the teams success in the first two road games will play a big factor in the turnout for April 16th. I suspect that the base attendance for the first game will be 17,000. A win at either New Jersey or 'Loss Angeles' will provide an additional 5,000 spectators. If ReAL wins both NY/NY and 'Loss Angeles' then attendance will jump by 10,000 to 27,000. Going in undefeated to the home opener would have so much excitment, media hype, and electricity in the air that we would have traffic jams like Jazz games or UofU home games last season.

Is there even seating accomodations for 27k in the soccer configuraiton of Rice/Eccles if that many show up to buy tickets?

I liked Clint's prediction of '3 points' after the MetroStars game.

Scilaci · 04-01-2005, 11:27 AM

How many people does Rice-Eccles hold? 45k or so? What if we have a sell out someday? scilaci ----> drooling over the thought. 😲

jasoncox · 04-01-2005, 12:33 PM

I think if we have only 17K on opening night that would be a disgrace.

Czar Jake · 04-01-2005, 12:55 PM

I hope

A. They don't limit the stadium size at all for this big game and others
2. We have a huge crowd (30k+)

P.S. I had deja-vu writing this post... does that mean they changed something?

Rover · 04-01-2005, 02:22 PM

Sure we want a big opening day crowd--45K would work for me. But I'm more concerned about how many come back in August, or if we get the kind of buzz we need to attract the wait-and-see folks.

Even so, a big crowd would be nice, and would help shut up some of the naysayers.

I'm no help at all, since I can't make it to Utah on the 16th. But I will be at the RSL-Galaxy game on the 9th--taking the whole family.