CPL 2023 Season Attendance

[Kent]

Updated graph. Still missing a game from weeks 3 and 4, and now also missing one from this past week (week 6). Week 6 is the first week where 2023 drops below 2022, but if we get the HFX vs York number and it is at least 4600 (it looked very full, so it should have no problem clearing that number) then week 6 will be won by 2023.

 

Edited May 23, 2023 by Kent
I finally put some X and Y axis titles on the chart

[Lurker]

1 hour ago, Kent said:

Updated graph. Still missing a game from weeks 3 and 4, and now also missing one from this past week (week 6). Week 6 is the first week where 2023 drops below 2022, but if we get the HFX vs York number and it is at least 4600 (it looked very full, so it should have no problem clearing that number) then week 6 will be won by 2023.

 

If you want a made up number for Halifax then I’d say ~6250… probably more.  It looked full and others have said the same.

[Kent]

27 minutes ago, Lurker said:

If you want a made up number for Halifax then I’d say ~6250… probably more.  It looked full and others have said the same.

Yeah, I figure it's around there, but I want to stick with official numbers. I am going back and checking the missed ones every week in hopes that they eventually update them.

[Lurker]

@Kent Good luck. We may never get the official numbers.  Given the outcome you’re after, estimates based on posters at the event will probably work.  Thanks for doing this, good numbers to have.

[jonovision]

2 hours ago, Lurker said:

@Kent Good luck. We may never get the official numbers.  Given the outcome you’re after, estimates based on posters at the event will probably work.  Thanks for doing this, good numbers to have.

It is really sloppy that we don't have the actual numbers. The counts do exist. The league should demand them, if they don't already have them from the teams (Ottawa and Halifax).

[Lurker]

1 hour ago, jonovision said:

It is really sloppy that we don't have the actual numbers. The counts do exist. The league should demand them, if they don't already have them from the teams (Ottawa and Halifax).

Does anyone understand how/why this happens?  Is it just a box on some paper in the press box that someone forgets to fill in?  I see no reason why Halifax wouldn’t want the number known.  If we’re going to celebrate anything surely it’s our great attendance (until the on field product improves)… so I can only assume it’s a clerical issue and not an intentional one.

I have zero connections or understanding of how it could be missed, so short of probing social media I don’t know how to get to the bottom of it.

[Kent]

23 minutes ago, Lurker said:

Does anyone understand how/why this happens?  Is it just a box on some paper in the press box that someone forgets to fill in?  I see no reason why Halifax wouldn’t want the number known.  If we’re going to celebrate anything surely it’s our great attendance (until the on field product improves)… so I can only assume it’s a clerical issue and not an intentional one.

I have zero connections or understanding of how it could be missed, so short of probing social media I don’t know how to get to the bottom of it.

Yeah, if it was York's home games missing, then that would be fishy. But it's HFX and Ottawa, which you don't think the league or teams would want to hide. My reason for hope that the numbers will some day be made available is because I was able to find the number in every game from last season when I made the graph a couple weeks ago. Maybe it just gets cleaned up at the end of the season or something, but some day we should have it... I hope.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Looks like Pacific's capacity must have always been around 5000 if they were adding extra general admission for this game:

https://northerntribune.ca/2023-canadian-championship-pacific-fc-vancouver-whitecaps-ferryside-derby/

A record crowd of 5,221...

[CDNFootballer]

Nope, when expansion was finished it was said to have 6000-6200 seats from multiple articles/sources, here's a couple :

"To go along with a capacity increase that now allows the Canadian Premier League club to host some 6,200 fans, the city has also installed new washrooms, water bottle stations, dressing rooms, and parking."

https://northerntribune.ca/westhills-stadium-expansion/

"Starlight Stadium (formerly Westhills Stadium) is a 6,000 seat multi-purpose stadium in Langford, British Columbia"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlight_Stadium

[Bison44]

Hmm, so if someone unnamed is guesstimating attendance from pictures of the stands and he is using the wrong numbers for the stadium.....hmmmmmm.

[Tigers]

5 hours ago, Bison44 said:

Hmm, so if someone unnamed is guesstimating attendance from pictures of the stands and he is using the wrong numbers for the stadium.....hmmmmmm.

Doesn't matter. Eyeballing is accurate, y'know.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

^^^bizarre stuff. Are they arguing that the Whitecaps game wasn't a sellout and if not do they have an explanation for the apparent missing 1000 in capacity relative to four years ago? Sometimes it's maybe better to just roll your eyes and move to another thread.

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

6 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

^^^bizarre stuff. Are they arguing that the Whitecaps game wasn't a sellout and if not do they have an explanation for the apparent missing 1000 in capacity relative to four years ago? Sometimes it's maybe better to just roll your eyes and move to another thread.

 

Reading your posts makes this so much easier.

Sorry for being snarky, I guess I am jealous of the eye dexterity, you eyeball attendance, eyeroll anyone who rationally exposes you. You post 24/7 so that's a red-eye. I must have forgotten a couple more.

Edited May 26, 2023 by Unnamed Trialist

[longlugan]

On 5/26/2023 at 5:26 PM, Unnamed Trialist said:

Reading your posts makes this so much easier.

Sorry for being snarky, I guess I am jealous of the eye dexterity, you eyeball attendance, eyeroll anyone who rationally exposes you. You post 24/7 so that's a red-eye. I must have forgotten a couple more.

You forgot that he is a condescending dick.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Announced (quite generously) numbers for the weekend

No number for Atletico vs Forge

https://www.fotmob.com/match/4113187/matchfacts/atletico-ottawa-vs-forge-fc

2741 for Pacific vs Halifax

https://www.fotmob.com/match/4113188/matchfacts/pacific-fc-vs-hfx-wanderers-fc

1476 for York vs Cavalry & Woodbridge vs Vaughan

https://www.fotmob.com/match/4113189/matchfacts/york-united-fc-vs-cavalry-fc

2208 for Vancouver vs Valour:

https://www.fotmob.com/match/4113190/matchfacts/vancouver-fc-vs-valour-fc

[Kent]

As you can see from the numbers posted by Ozzie, this was a poor week for attendances. The first week that doesn't have a (confirmed) 3k+ crowd at all. Second week in a row being behind 2022's number, although I do expect last week's number to rise above if/when we get the HFX game reported.

A reminder that the way I've set up my spreadsheet for this, and collected the data, is very lazy. It's not really "weeks" but rather "4 game chunks". so things are about to get out of sync with Forge vs York being played tomorrow, and both those teams playing again on the weekend.

So the next "week" will include these games:

The June 4th game between Valour and York United will be pushed back to the following week, and that will continue happening.

[jonovision]

3 hours ago, Kent said:

As you can see from the numbers posted by Ozzie, this was a poor week for attendances. The first week that doesn't have a (confirmed) 3k+ crowd at all. Second week in a row being behind 2022's number, although I do expect last week's number to rise above if/when we get the HFX game reported.

A reminder that the way I've set up my spreadsheet for this, and collected the data, is very lazy. It's not really "weeks" but rather "4 game chunks". so things are about to get out of sync with Forge vs York being played tomorrow, and both those teams playing again on the weekend.

So the next "week" will include these games:

The June 4th game between Valour and York United will be pushed back to the following week, and that will continue happening.

Halifax on the 20th had 6244.

 

[Kent]

1 hour ago, jonovision said:

Halifax on the 20th had 6244.

 

Any idea what his source is? I'm still not seeing it on the canpl.ca game report.

https://canpl.ca/matchcentre/e1b0jbp3yv90f5jt8egsjhedw/highlights

[jonovision]

12 hours ago, Kent said:

Any idea what his source is? I'm still not seeing it on the canpl.ca game report.

https://canpl.ca/matchcentre/e1b0jbp3yv90f5jt8egsjhedw/highlights

One of the replies to the original tweet has a conversation with Derek Martin who is one of the owners (I think?) where he confirms the attendance. Good enough for me.

Edited May 31, 2023 by jonovision

[Kingston]

17 hours ago, jonovision said:

Halifax on the 20th had 6244.

 

Pretty sure Atletico just isn't reporting to protect their high (one game) average for the season. 

[Kent]

7 hours ago, jonovision said:

One of the replies to the original tweet has a conversation with Derek Martin who is one of the owners (I think?) where he confirms the attendance. Good enough for me.

Great, I'll accept that. Here is the updated graph. Week 6 is now ahead year on year, as expected. Only week 7 is behind last year's number.

[JamboAl]

4 hours ago, Kingston said:

Pretty sure Atletico just isn't reporting to protect their high (one game) average for the season. 

Have it on good sources that the attendance last Saturday was around 4,500.  
As to why they don’t announce a number, no clue.  

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

No number on fotmob for Forge vs York but as elsewhere with the Whitecaps game you would need to be visually impaired not to notice that there was no shortage of empty seats in the active sections opposite the camera.

Pure speculation on my part but given Atletico are not as integrated with the CFL franchise in ownership terms as is the case in Hamilton and Winnipeg maybe there is something in the lease terms that winds up costing them money if they report a tickets distributed rather than a paid tickets scanned number, so they are better off keeping that info in house and not reporting it publicly? I seriously doubt it's because their front office staff are too lazy to issue it.

Edited June 1, 2023 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[Cicero]

This is the CPL thread, but wow, Whitecaps attendance was terrible. Maybe 8k tops. Not sure what they announced. Vancouver isn't a great sports town, but pretty bad numbers even for them. Since the early 80's, Canucks are the only team who can consistently draw, and even they aren't great compared to much smaller markets in the prairies when you look at average ticket price and team revenue. Lack of disposable income maybe.

[Kingston]

7 minutes ago, Cicero said:

This is the CPL thread, but wow, Whitecaps attendance was terrible. Maybe 8k tops. Not sure what they announced. Vancouver isn't a great sports town, but pretty bad numbers even for them. Since the early 80's, Canucks are the only team who can consistently draw, and even they aren't great compared to much smaller markets in the prairies when you look at average ticket price and team revenue. Lack of disposable income maybe.

As per the MLS website, the attendance was 13 232.