Thread for Questioning CPL Attendance Numbers 2024

[Watchmen]

14 hours ago, CDNFootballer said:

^^^ Wait.........can't remember how your CPL attendance conspiracy theory works, are the blue dots good or bad in your micro parrots mind?

Ah shoot, whatever, we'll just wait for your mention of the partial crowd shot 4-5 minutes into the game before everyone gets to their seats and your silly fractional formulas of how this should look like that for this and so and so to be credible numbers. Don't forget to mention its in the context of something that happened 30-40 years ago by the Toronto Metro's Croatia or some bs like that, always makes it funnier!

[K Edgar]

54 minutes ago, Ivan said:

I actually thought the crowd looked pretty good for a typical Valour game? 🤷

3,032

[CDNFootballer]

4 hours ago, Ivan said:

I actually thought the crowd looked pretty good for a typical Valour game? 🤷

Don't know why they use the far end sections for seating past the goal line though, makes everyone more spaced out and makes it look like there's even less fans in the big stadium. The teams gotta configure the stadium to their crowd size better.

Edited June 15 by CDNFootballer

[Aird25]

4 hours ago, Ivan said:

I actually thought the crowd looked pretty good for a typical Valour game? 🤷

Wrong thread 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

5640 just announced in Ottawa which looks broadly reasonable. A "euros celebration" theme seems to have done the job whatever that entailed. The active sections in the lower bowl on the camera side are obviously close to full and there is a small overspill into the lowest part of the stand on the other side.

[SthMelbRed]

19 hours ago, K Edgar said:

3,032

Is that the updated number of people on the Weirdo's ignore list?

[SoccMan]

19 hours ago, CDNFootballer said:

Don't know why they use the far end sections for seating past the goal line though, makes everyone more spaced out and makes it look like there's even less fans in the big stadium. The teams gotta configure the stadium to their crowd size better.

It’s tough when you play in a massive stadium no matter what you do it will always look empty even with 5000 in attendance , in a perfect world every team would be playing in smaller venues appropriate to the expected attendance the teams get but we don’t,  it is what it is .

Edited June 16 by SoccMan

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

No league website number, but 6281 was apparently announced for Vancouver vs Cavalry in Kelowna:

The bleacher seating that was added and standing room areas appeared close to full despite the weather so there is no obvious reson to question that. Provides more evidence that if the league let go of the fantasy scenario of displacing MLS there is a niche to be filled in midsized regional markets where junior hockey is a major draw in the winter months but there is nothing much happening in pro sports terms in the summer.

One lesson that needs to be learned from Halifax though is that one of the reasons things went a lot better with the Wanderers in comparison to the Nova Scotia Clippers is that they were allowed access to a piece of municipal land in a prime location where they could build a pop-up modular stadium around a full-sized pro level soccer pitch. In contrast, the Clippers tried to shoehorn soccer into a high school gridiron type venue in Dartmouth and it had a negative effect on the quality of the soccer in a similar way to what we saw at the Apple Bowl:

Stephen Hart does the colour commentary in this clip back when his King of Donair involvement was launching him on the trajectory that led twenty eight years later to coaching the Wanderers in their debut game.

Edited June 17 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

York vs Pacific announced as 844:

https://canpl.ca/matchcentre/a4qw63s8wxkzztndt1n37t5w4/highlights

Unusual but not unprecedented for them to announce in three digits. Playing at home on the same weeknight as TFC (whose crowd looked less than stellar by their standards) during the Euros was probably not the smartest scheduling decision.

Edited June 20 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[Stanley]

On 6/16/2024 at 11:55 PM, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

No league website number, but 6281 was apparently announced for Vancouver vs Cavalry in Kelowna:

The bleacher seating that was added and standing room areas appeared close to full despite the weather so there is no obvious reson to question that. 

 

I'll question it.  The grandstand seats 1054 and the bleacher seating on the opposite side (which are always there) seats 1200.  They did add bleachers behind the goals and there were people standing, but there is no way there were over 6,000 there.  Good crowd, but not anywhere near 6,000.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Latest quasi-official numbers:

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

No website number for the Cavalry vs Ottawa game:

https://canpl.ca/matchcentre/a55fxd6wvae9hjsnx1tc6bl78/highlights

but the main stand was unusually full (maybe 70%?) so easy to believe it was 4000+ overall.

Edit: Minor Soccer Appreciation Night apparently:

https://calgaryherald.com/sports/cavalry-to-salute-citys-minor-soccer-programs-during-key-cpl-match

Edited June 22 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

I find it impossible to rationalize how the Forge could be anywhere near the announced 6231 for the Valour game:

https://canpl.ca/matchcentre/a5k7i3q2brcxg8vvpocd268es/highlights

even half that is a stretch in actual terms from what is readily visible in the highlights. No number on the website yet for Vancouver vs Halifax:

https://canpl.ca/matchcentre/a5yvpvlmd78cyi1jgxo1uerro/highlights

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Latest quasi-official numbers:

 

That Vancouver number is almost as difficult to take seriously as the Forge one but at least they are not announcing at significantly higher than the capacity that appears to be in use this season.

Edited June 27 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[StillOnFire]

Over 160 posts on a thread to discuss the legitimacy of attendances... 

Canadian Soccer... 🤣

[Aird25]

3 hours ago, StillOnFire said:

Over 160 posts on a thread to discuss the legitimacy of attendances... 

Canadian Soccer... 🤣

Yeah, but it's basically 50% one angry poster and 50% people mocking them

[Cicero]

On 6/24/2024 at 8:17 AM, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

I find it impossible to rationalize how the Forge could be anywhere near the announced 6231 for the Valour game:

https://canpl.ca/matchcentre/a5k7i3q2brcxg8vvpocd268es/highlights

even half that is a stretch in actual terms from what is readily visible in the highlights.

It was a pretty good crowd, but nowhere near capacity. Strange thing they do, every once in a while they open the section on the far end, beyond the supporters section. Normally it's covered, but then no one sits there. It's as if they're prepping for walk-ups and the rest of the seats are filled. Are most of the empty seats paid for and just no shows, or is it just attendance theatre?

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

My pet theory is that some of the money from league sponsors gets converted into ticket sales across the league but I am basically mystified by what happens with the Forge because York, Cavalry and Atletico announced numbers are usually only about 500 or so higher than I would expect based on eyeballing while Forge announced crowds are often 3000 or so higher.  Whatever they are doing isn't standard practice across the league.

Edit: all I can find for announced numbers from last night because there is nothing on the league website yet:

 

Edited June 28 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[Ftduck]

I judge attendance at Forge games throught the 50/50 draw lol. Below $2000, shitty turn out. $2500 average. Pushing $3000 and above, better than usual. Last game I think was around $2700 but could be wrong, I don't usually buy tickets. Anyway here is my captain obvious take on Forge's inflated attendance. Drove by the stadium during the last Ti cat game and was a bit shocked how many seats were empty. Next day read the announced attendance was 22 000. Not a chance unless there were A LOT of people still in the concourse areas. Earlier this month read an article regarding how much the Ti cat franchise was worth. Believe it was $50 000 000 and that people  were shocked and pleased that it was that much. Is Mr. Young inflating the attendance on paper to inflate the worth of his teams? If he does this for the next 5 years will Forge be worth significantly more? My 2 cents and probably won't comment on it again. Don't really care either way. I'm just gonna watch in person as long as this league exists....

 

https://www.thespec.com/sports/hamilton-region/what-does-the-ticats-forge-new-ownership-structure-all-mean/article_5baad33b-7729-547b-abf3-95fe14466a63.html#:~:text=The exact sale price will,pleased%2C everyone in the CFL.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Ottawa vs Forge was announced as 5081:

https://canpl.ca/matchcentre/a76en8ktkep2f68rzxwplvbpw/highlights

No website number so far for the Halifax vs Cavalry game:

https://canpl.ca/matchcentre/a7mz73w3g1sneuw9ghfl0e8es/highlights

but close to a full house as per usual.

[Aird25]

6 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Ottawa vs Forge was announced as 5081:

https://canpl.ca/matchcentre/a76en8ktkep2f68rzxwplvbpw/highlights

No website number so far for the Halifax vs Cavalry game:

https://canpl.ca/matchcentre/a7mz73w3g1sneuw9ghfl0e8es/highlights

but close to a full house as per usual.

Wrong thread 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Latest quasi-official numbers:

 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Ottawa announce 5794:

https://canpl.ca/matchcentre/a8uq9sb0hu8z3hgfipyiq7qxg/highlights

Might be a bit high relative to a tickets scanned number because the endzone sections were not that full but 5000+ looked credible in a this is definitely not a Forge game because those more central sections are actually almost full sort of way. Suspect the Forge and York games were around 3000 and 500 actual but the announced numbers when they finally emerge will no doubt be significantly higher.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

No website number for the Valour game:

https://canpl.ca/matchcentre/a99fub58n3zf5k5og05op8xsk/highlights

But hard to believe it was over 2000 actual given that would imply significantly over a quarter of the seats in the active sections in use.

Edited July 8 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Forge vs TFC announced as 11341:

https://canpl.ca/matchcentre/8qe3n6qn3n8llh52w2daakqok/highlights

both sides of the lower bowl appear to have been open for this one and weather became problematic so no obvious reason to question that. Meanwhile the Pacific game provides more evidence that the seating capacity at Starlight stadium is significantly under 6000. Crowd was announced as 5103:

https://canpl.ca/matchcentre/7xhmu5h149bp6iafviufx72ms/highlights

and the seats as would be anticipated were clearly very close to full when the game was in progress even with the scope for standing on the hydro pole side. Something to bear in mind when people are claiming eyeballing provides a misleading picture because 1500 people are hiding from the cameras up on a concourse.