Attendance As Point-Scoring In The 21st C Soccer Struggle
Attendance As Point-Scoring In The 21st C Soccer Struggle
Comments made by MLS commissioner Don Garber sparked discussion around attendance at soccer matches in the U.S.
Low attendance at soccer matches can happen anywhere. It can happen in the U.S. Open Cup and it can happen in the Leagues Cup. It can happen in MLS and it can happen in Europe and South America. It can even happen in the soccer capital, St. Louis.
There are many reasons for this, but discussion on attendance can often focus too much on totals, income and optics, often forgetting the various difficulties fans encounter when attending games throughout the season.
These difficulties include ticket pricing, travel issues, the day and time of the fixture, and fitting it in around work commitments among numerous other variables.
Oversaturation—too much soccer—can also play a part, diluting the occasion, as can games with no real jeopardy for the loser or sense of achievement for the winner.
Open Or Closed
The most recent high-profile discourse around attendance at U.S. soccer matches, and specifically Leagues Cup and U.S. Open Cup games, started when MLS commissioner Don Garber, speaking at the MLS All-Star event in Columbus last month, made an unnecessary dig at the attendance at a recent U.S. Open Cup match.
“There were 1,400 people in the stands in Atlanta for the game that they played the other night [a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal against Indy Eleven],” he said when asked about MLS’s decision to withdraw most of its teams from the U.S. Open Cup this year.
“That's a big building. Opening up that big building—that we have to pay for—for 1,400 people doesn't make sense.
“I love the legacy of it, our founder's name is on the trophy, but the tournament needs to get better."
The Atlanta United versus Indy Eleven game was actually played in Kennesaw, GA, not at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta as Garber presumed; and had an attendance of 2,417, not 1,400 as Garber stated.
It takes some dedication for a group of fans to go to that game on a Wednesday night in Kennesaw, just as it takes dedication for fans to attend certain Leagues Cup games, especially for those uninspiring MLS versus MLS matchups.
Rather than fans being praised for making the trip out to Kennesaw, perhaps encouraging more to do so in the future, it was used by MLS to criticize the U.S. Open Cup as the league attempts to justify its withdrawal of most of its teams from this year’s edition.
It was then made to look like even more of a careless, needless comment as the MLS-organised Leagues Cup—the addition of which to the schedule was one of the reasons for not entering the U.S. Open Cup—experienced sparse crowds for some games.
A game can have a low attendance and still be good for the sport. Even a few hundred fans turning up for a U.S. Open Cup game, witnessing U.S. soccer heritage in a 110-year-old competition, and maybe witnessing a game between teams from different divisions, is good for the game. It is not a waste of time or something to be sneered at and is arguably more beneficial for the game as a whole than bigger crowds in other tournaments.
Of course, the U.S. Open Cup would like higher attendance, wider acknowledgement, and more attention on its games, but its openness, its uniqueness and history, not just in American soccer but in American sport as a whole, is important in itself.
The Leagues Cup, on the other hand, is a new tournament about which it is easy to be cynical.
Particularly in its newly expanded version, it can be seen as a cash grab, looking to use Liga MX teams and the arrival of Lionel Messi to ringfence certain elements of the soccer landscape for the sole benefit of MLS and its marketing arm, Soccer United Marketing (SUM).
Even if some early games are included as part of season ticket packages, it is also more money out of the pockets of fans, especially as the ticket price isn’t the only matchday cost. Supporters themselves should not be criticised for any low Leagues Cup attendances.
Leagues Cup Low
The idea of the Leagues Cup in isolation from the rest of the U.S. soccer ecosystem, is not a bad one, and can produce some highly-anticipated MLS versus Liga MX matchups.
The 2024 edition has already witnessed such occasions, including the game between San Jose Earthquakes and Chivas which saw 50,675 spectators turn up at Levi’s Stadium for a group stage game.
Of course, the Leagues Cup is not played in isolation, and its presence affects the rest of the sport. It has most obviously trodden on the U.S. Open Cup, but it also dilutes the other continental club competition, the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
The Leagues Cup can be seen as a tournament prioritising money for MLS and SUM over the growth of the game across the country.
Its effect on the Open Cup this season backs this up. It might still contribute to growth in some way, but the U.S. Open Cup is more important for the bigger picture and the depth of the game in the United States, even if only a few hundred turn up for some games.
It was unnecessary for MLS to take shots at the U.S. Open Cup, so it is no surprise that there has been such a strong response in the opposite direction, pointing out poor crowds at Leagues Cup games.
Fan boycotts of Leagues Cup games will also have played a part, and concerns such as these should be listened to.
Another Needless Battle
Rather than MLS’s attendance-related jibes, this issue is something for everyone involved in the organisation of U.S. soccer to work together on, not cherry-pick certain games and situations to score points.
Aside from the cheap dig at Open Cup attendance, there was at least some optimism in Garber’s speech—signs that MLS is looking to work towards returning to the Open Cup next season.
But, in truth, it should not be MLS’s decision to make. Participation in the U.S. Open Cup is a requirement of all professional leagues and MLS should not be allowed to hold the Open Cup to ransom in this manner.
Hopefully the fan boycotts, regardless of scale, have an impact, and their point is made and listened to. Such fan movements will be important going forward.
The focus needs to be on making American soccer as a whole a more attractive proposition, and not just MLS/SUM creating tournaments and situations for its own ends.
Offering existing fans an enjoyable, affordable, matchday experience and meaningful competition, while also appealing to more casual or general sports fans.
Working for the benefit of the game from top to bottom. Getting soccer fans in America (of which there are millions) interested in becoming fans of American soccer—fans of soccer in their local communities.
A game that people want to get involved in, whether in their tens, hundreds or thousands.
Super article.
Those are poor comments from The Soccer Don, and as you rightly point out it's all a function of SUM, as Major League Soccer's various innovation tentacles have always been. Some of that's been for the good of MLS and the sport as a whole, but one suspects that's a side effect.
Maybe this is just because I'm an outsider looking in, but I find it fascinating that MLS, which is in so many ways highly professional and theoretically in a nice little sweet spot between being established and still needing to grow, can sometimes be so very CONCACAF.