CPL 2023 Season Attendance

[JamboAl]

3 hours ago, jonovision said:

Week 4 attendance:

York: 1016

Winnipeg: 2665

Vancouver: 6177

Ottawa: No number available. Just like last week. What's going on there?

 

I find it strange that no numbers are ever announced in stadium.  The attendance was about average on Saturday night - estimate around 3,500-4,000.

[Watchmen]

3 hours ago, Cheeta said:

^ Yeah, seems low but 100 this way or that isn't moving the needle a bunch.

Patio has opened again for those who hadn't noticed.

It can be hard to estimate in stadium. If the estimate is 3k and they announce 2600, that's probably pretty accurate. Because if they're under reporting...that's a different problem. 

[CDNFootballer]

Was at the Vancouver FC game yesterday, great turnout and atmosphere. Just to put things more in perspective, over 5K tickets were apparently sold, no doubt some freebies like pro clubs do and probably a bit more than the norm but wouldn't classify as "papering the house".  One thing to note, concessions were a bit lacking for the amount of people there with lineups throughout most of the game. A good number of fans not using their seats, standing at the north end fence, standing on the east side upper platform, and a few sitting on the north end grass. Kids activities onsite thru game no doubt kept many kids out of their seat and busy as well who would have had a ticket for the east side/group seating.

[youllneverwalkalone]

14 minutes ago, CDNFootballer said:

Was at the Vancouver FC game yesterday, great turnout and atmosphere. Just to put things more in perspective, over 5K tickets were apparently sold, no doubt some freebies like pro clubs do and probably a bit more than the norm but wouldn't classify as "papering the house".  One thing to note, concessions were a bit lacking for the amount of people there with lineups throughout most of the game. A good number of fans not using their seats, standing at the north end fence, standing on the east side upper platform, and a few sitting on the north end grass. Kids activities onsite thru game no doubt kept many kids out of their seat and busy as well who would have had a ticket for the east side/group seating.

Reading your post I was thinking you could apply this all to Nat Bailey, which is a great thing if they can become the equivalent for soccer in the lower mainland. Some people just like to hang out and have some drinks or jump in a bouncy castle. That's ok.

[Cheeta]

2 hours ago, youllneverwalkalone said:

Reading your post I was thinking you could apply this all to Nat Bailey, which is a great thing if they can become the equivalent for soccer in the lower mainland. Some people just like to hang out and have some drinks or jump in a bouncy castle. That's ok.

Affirmative.  

Migrating to the stands where you won't have the sun melting your eyeballs to watch is also OK to.  Might have been a bit of that happening in Vancouver the other day there.  

I love food trucks, the "gut wagon" as it were, one of my many vices.  For some locations they're a better than fair alternative to fixed concessions but..like porta-potties they are a necessary evil.  By that I mean they do the job all right, but I believe the in 2023 you have to do better if you want to host events at a fixed location. 

The "charm" of missing 10 minutes of the 2nd half because you waited to get one boss of a Jamaican Pattie doesn't carry on forever you know.  

[Kent]

20 minutes ago, Cheeta said:

I love food trucks, the "gut wagon" as it were, one of my many vices.  For some locations they're a better than fair alternative to fixed concessions but..like porta-potties they are a necessary evil.  By that I mean they do the job all right, but I believe the in 2023 you have to do better if you want to host events at a fixed location. 

Agreed. I like the food I have gotten from the food trucks at York United games, but it's a bit of a hike to get there. It would be much better if there were better/more concessions by the actual stands.

[Kingston]

I'm very happy to see how well Vancouver did in the stands for game one.

Now I'm very curious to see if they can sustain it for future matches.  I hope so as I would be great to have a west coast Halifax.

[K Edgar]

[Kent]

I'm guessing Atletico will just not report any more attendance so they can be crowned the attendance kings with an average of over 7000 per game.

It's annoying. I copied that weekly attendance graph idea that someone posted (I forget who it was) and thought I would post it weeklyish with this years numbers plotted against last year's numbers. But I don't really want to have the gaps in the data, so I haven't been able to update the graph. Maybe one day I'll give up and just post it with the missing data, and add something to my spreadsheet to keep track of which games are missing data. It's just annoying though.

[jonovision]

1 hour ago, Kent said:

I'm guessing Atletico will just not report any more attendance so they can be crowned the attendance kings with an average of over 7000 per game.

It's annoying. I copied that weekly attendance graph idea that someone posted (I forget who it was) and thought I would post it weeklyish with this years numbers plotted against last year's numbers. But I don't really want to have the gaps in the data, so I haven't been able to update the graph. Maybe one day I'll give up and just post it with the missing data, and add something to my spreadsheet to keep track of which games are missing data. It's just annoying though.

That was me, I think. I'm also kind of peeved at this hole in the data as more likely than not Ottawa would be pulling up the league average.

Edited May 12, 2023 by jonovision

[Kent]

What the hell. Here is the graph without the missing games. So far every week has been higher attendance on average, year over year. When I say "week", I actually did it lazily and it's literally just 4 game chunks. So the first data point is for games 1-4, then 5-8, 9-12, etc. For this year with the missing data points I am counting the missing games to determine when to start and stop the 4 game chunk, but you end up with a 3 game average instead of a 4 game average for those weeks.

[nolando]

On 5/9/2023 at 10:57 AM, Kingston said:

I'm very happy to see how well Vancouver did in the stands for game one.

Now I'm very curious to see if they can sustain it for future matches.  I hope so as I would be great to have a west coast Halifax.

Just to be clear, I was there and at no point were there more than about 2/3 of the seats occupied. I realise a sellout was reported; I will let others draw whatever conclusions they wish.

I still think having even 3 or 4K actual tickets sold, and in attendance, is nothing to scoff at.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

This weekend's game will tell us more about VFC's level of support.

There are way more green dots on the showpass website for this stand than was the case at this time last week, so I don't think they are doing the youth club discount sales and giveaways to anything like the same extent.

[CDNFootballer]

Good thing Vancouver's game is later this week. Its an evening start instead of 4pm, so the heat wave temps expected won't be as high by that time and the sun won't be scorching the eastside fans that actually use their seats instead of standing behind the northside fence and under the westside stands at the kids activities they had all game last week.

Don't expect a sellout but hopefully 3500-4000.

[nolando]

3 hours ago, CDNFootballer said:

Good thing Vancouver's game is later this week. Its an evening start instead of 4pm, so the heat wave temps expected won't be as high by that time and the sun won't be scorching the eastside fans that actually use their seats instead of standing behind the northside fence and under the westside stands at the kids activities they had all game last week.

Don't expect a sellout but hopefully 3500-4000.

Sounds reasonable. I have heard zero mention  of freebies or club discounts for this match so perhaps it is a litmus test for the club and for the league in general.

[Unnamed Trialist]

6 hours ago, nolando said:

Sounds reasonable. I have heard zero mention  of freebies or club discounts for this match so perhaps it is a litmus test for the club and for the league in general.

I'm pretty sure the famous population base in the Valley will work in their favour all season long. There'll be word of mouth, families going once, youth soccer. There are a couple schools nearby and the kids would be curious (it'd be great to get a teen section working). Probably hidden diehards. In the summer lots of kids use those facilities. It's only 14 home games 

I'm walking distance from BC Place when there. I'm not their target, but they have a strong demographic base where they are and in a city where so much entertainment is in Vancouver centre having an option in Langley will work. The only one they miss imo is one that should work for the Whitecaps, young working professionals without kids. Which also could mean a drop off in the fall as kids go back to school.

Edited May 13, 2023 by Unnamed Trialist

[BearcatSA]

4 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

The only one they miss imo is one that should work for the Whitecaps, young working professionals without kids. Which also could mean a drop off in the fall as kids go back to school.

I am not sure I agree with your last sentence, and it goes back to the summer month attendance swoon which I have posted about before on here.  There are many more family recreational options available in late June, July, and August.  Those outdoor rec options become a little more limited after Labour Day and I think you do see an uptick in attendance again at that time.

If some are concerned about a mid-May heat wave affecting attendance in Langley, what would July and August look like with the potential of something much more lengthy?  Heck, what about Kelowna CPL having summer month home games during forest fire season?  

I think it was @jonovision who created some attendance graphs (much appreciated, btw!) that showed the summer month drop in attendance.  I am curious to see what the trend would be over the next couple of seasons.

 

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

18 minutes ago, BearcatSA said:

I am not sure I agree with your last sentence, and it goes back to the summer month attendance swoon which I have posted about before on here.  There are many more family recreational options available in late June, July, and August.  Those outdoor rec options become a little more limited after Labour Day and I think you do see an uptick in attendance again at that time.

If some are concerned about a mid-May heat wave affecting attendance in Langley, what would July and August look like with the potential of something much more lengthy?  Heck, what about Kelowna CPL having summer month home games during forest fire season?  

I think it was @jonovision who created some attendance graphs (much appreciated, btw!) that showed the summer month drop in attendance.  I am curious to see what the trend would be over the next couple of seasons.

 

 

I stand corrected, I just assumed in summer you looked for entertainment and it dropped in the fall. But of course soccer season starts for kids so I just don't know.

[BearcatSA]

5 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

I stand corrected, I just assumed in summer you looked for entertainment and it dropped in the fall. But of course soccer season starts for kids so I just don't know.

I'm not sure, either, but I know there is a lot more competition for that recreation dollar and time during those summer months than ever before.  CPL is no different from any other summer pro sport that aspires to grow beyond a hardcore niche fan base.

[Watchmen]

2 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

I'm not sure, either, but I know there is a lot more competition for that recreation dollar and time during those summer months than ever before.  CPL is no different from any other summer pro sport that aspires to grow beyond a hardcore niche fan base.

 

8 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

The only one they miss imo is one that should work for the Whitecaps, young working professionals without kids. 

It's been a number of years now, but I also recall reading that the core demographic for a lot of soccer in North America was "young professionals without kids".  That they're the ones who primarily made up the hardcore fan base - the season tickets were generally more in their price range (relative to other sports in NA) and the weekend games made it appealing.  It's not that families don't go to games - it's that they go to one or two games a year, as a family event.  This is actually where I think VFC might have a bit of an advantage, as I've heard from a few people that the Whitecaps having 730 starts all the time (forced by the league/Apple TV deal) has made it harder/unappealing for some families. 

[Tigers]

Is the complaint that 7:30 is too early (trying to get downtown after work) or too late (ending around 9:30).

7/7:30 seems like such a standard time for an event.

[Aird25]

15 minutes ago, Tigers said:

Is the complaint that 7:30 is too early (trying to get downtown after work) or too late (ending around 9:30).

7/7:30 seems like such a standard time for an event.

I would love for a few 7/7:30 Saturday games in Langford 

[CDNFootballer]

4807 in Hamilton for Forge FC vs Valour today, good to see them around 5k.

[Watchmen]

1 hour ago, Tigers said:

Is the complaint that 7:30 is too early (trying to get downtown after work) or too late (ending around 9:30).

7/7:30 seems like such a standard time for an event.

Too late, even on a Saturday.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Fotmob is the place to look for official crowd numbers apparently:

https://www.fotmob.com/match/4113200/matchfacts/cavalry-fc-vs-hfx-wanderers-fc

3546 Cavalry vs Halifax

https://www.fotmob.com/match/4113201/matchfacts/vancouver-fc-vs-atletico-ottawa

2800 Vancouver vs Ottawa

More reasonably announced in actual terms than the Forge one where the active section of the stadium clearly wasn't around two-thirds full.

Edited May 14, 2023 by Ozzie_the_parrot