There has been plenty of talk this year of league wide attendance issues (except Seattle of course). This is quite prevelant in Chicago where our lifetime average attendance of 15,691 during the regular season, including a year at North Central College in Naperville while Soldier Field was renovated. This season had the lowest average attendance of 12,922.
Now during 2009 we are averaging 12, 838 per game through eight home games. This is only above 12,000 due to our last 2 games which had attendance numbers of 18,123 and 14,228. Before these two games not one game had more than 14,000 fans and only 2 of the 6 games had attendances over 12,000 fans. So how is it that what is arguably one of the most talented teams in the league is so low on attendance? Of course we can attribute some to the economy being down, but it is deeper than that. Much of the blame should really be on the front office of the club which is not getting their job done, and on coach Dennis Hamlett who is not utilizing the talents of his players to the fullest.
It seems that the front office of the Chicago Fire think that if they appear on ESPN2 and FSC a few times a year like other MLS teams and have a website that the success and fans will come. Were is the local promotion of the club and its successes? Were is the local tv and radio broadcast of games? Were is the up to date information on the website about the club history and players? There is a reason this club is failing when it comes to attendance.
One of the smartest moves the Fire could make would be to strike a deal with WGN TV and radio to broadcast the games to the local market. What better way to show fans in Chicago what a great atmosphere there is at Toyota Park than having the games on TV for them to see. Not everyone purchases cable and/or the extended sports packages but these are valuable people to the organisation all the same and can increase crowd size and ticket revenues and atmosphere and the games.
There is plenty of promotion to the “soccer mom” demographic. But where is the promotion to the downtown younger demographic who will bring more excitement and friends to the game? And who also is more likely to make the trek for a game during the week. There are definitely some easy ways to slowely build attendance. But there is still another important factor needed. We need to continue the clubs tradition!
How can the front office ignore the club’s tradition of performing well in cup competitions throughout the club history? Continuing this tradition is a valuable way to continue the success of the club if they continue to miss out on the MLS Cup as they have since 2004. Here is a look at our success in cup competitions to date.
US Open Cup
Champions: 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006
Runners Up: 2004
CONCACAF Champions Cup/League
3rd place: 1999*
*Took part in the Champions Cup competition which is now the Champions League
It’s great that we are taking part in the Superliga final this year, but it’s really a consolation tournament to the teams that did not get into the Champions League. The 2 best teams of recent years Houston Dynamo and Columbus Crew along his what could be argued is the most historic and tradition filled club in the MLS DC United are all in the Champions League (as well as the fluke New York Red Bulls). The way Superliga is good for Chicago is if we win the final and use that as momentum to push through the 2nd half of the season and playoffs to either win the MLS Cup or Supporters Shield and qualify for the 2010/11 Champions League.
The front office of the Fire talk about making the Fire a world wide brand. But how can we do that if we don’t take our own domestic cup and competitions seriously? Where is the passion from the people in charge to stop accepting being 2nd best? (or 3rd or 4th) Show Chicago you care, work to build our tradition and who knows maybe you will see Toyota Park filling up with fans again. And who knows, maybe another MLS Cup along the way?
Our Fire: Chicago Fire 