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Thanks for the correction; I forgot about this, in that case, any of the other ones I meationed deserve it.
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Originally Posted by Bill Loney
Seattle is 1/4 the size of Houston. Yet is drawing well over double the fans.
Amongst the "big boys" you say? LOLOLOL
Hardly.
Just wait until Vancouver and Portland hit the league. They will immediately go from 6th in attendance to 8th.
I think nearly all new franchises have stellar attendance, Houston averaged between 23,000-18,000 in its first 3 seasons, I believe.
After 4 seasons, and and Vancouver or Portland manage to pull in over 20,000, then I'll be impressed.
Well for a city that only has 3 major proffessional sports franchises(Sorry WNBA, you don't count), I would expect there to be good attendance for one of the franchises. And Seattle is even smaller than LA(2 teams), NY, DFW, and Philly, yet Seattle's soccer team's game are still better attended, so it's not like its that bad of a put down for Houston.
Houston is still a better city to host WC games than Seattle, as are about 7-9 other cities, the fact that it has the league high attendance is a relatively minimal factor.
I think nearly all new franchises have stellar attendance,
No team in the history of the MLS has come remotely close to Seattle "Last Year", never mind this year when they sold over 30,000 season tickets.
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Well for a city that only has 3 major proffessional sports franchises(Sorry WNBA, you don't count), I would expect there to be good attendance for one of the franchises.
Please don't speak of something your clearly do not understand. Seattle has always supported its sports teams by attending games. Even when the year the Sonics left (who played in a small arena) still drew fans. Seattle has always drawn well. Whether it's the Hawks, Sounders, or the M's Now mind you, the Mariners have sucked for a long time now and they still draw half assed decent.
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And Seattle is even smaller than LA(2 teams), NY, DFW, and Philly, yet Seattle's soccer team's game are still better attended, so it's not like its that bad of a put down for Houston.
Hardly changes anything. Nor does it explain away the disparity.
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Houston is still a better city to host WC games than Seattle,
You mean other than the fact that Seattle is a far better soccer town, has dramatically better weather that time of the year, 3 National Parks within 60 miles and is a much nicer city to visit?
Yeah ok.
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as are about 7-9 other cities, the fact that it has the league high attendance is a relatively minimal factor.
You mean other than the fact that Seattle is a far better soccer town, has dramatically better weather that time of the year, 3 National Parks within 60 miles and is a much nicer city to visit?
Btw, I'm from Houston, I think Seattle will easily make the cut if we host the World Cup. Seattle has a great stadium and a great fan base to serve the Northwest for the World Cup. There was talk of the US bid committee showing the FIFA delagation a Sounders match during their inspection visit to show them we are a burgeoning soccer country, but the schedules didn't align.
As for Houston, I think the Dynamo's attendance will definitely go up once we move downtown in 2012. The current stadium is old and located in a not-so desirable area. All the cities with higher attendance than Houston with the exception of Seattle (plays in a NFL stadium), have a new soccer stadium to go with them, while were stuck with a run-down college football stadium. Once we move, I think our attendance will average over 20K. I would not underestimate Houston's soccer fan base, a lot of our fans are from Central America, and usually support teams from that region only. They will come out in full force when World Cup rolls around.
Also, weather will not be an issue at all in Houston during the World Cup. All the matches will be played at Reliant Stadium, which has a retractable roof and will be climate controlled. It might be an issue for the tourist taking a stroll outside, but otherwise the players will be fine.
Wow. I thought that the poll on the USA bid site was only to see which city got the championship game, but I guess you can't have teams flying all across country for every game. Really surprised that Chicago and San Francisco didn't make the cut. Also, Seattle > Houston in this discussion above my comment.
Last edited by gearedtowardssalad; 09-09-2010 at 12:03 AM..
Wow. I thought that the poll on the USA bid site was only to see which city got the championship game, but I guess you can't have teams flying all across country for every game. Really surprised that Chicago and San Francisco didn't make the cut.
I believe Chicago isn't in the bid because they didn't want to pay a commitment fee for the bid because they had just lost the 2016 Olympic bid. The Bay Area currently has no suitable stadium for soccer right now. That will probably change if the Niners can get a new stadium in the near future. I think Chicago and San Francisco (if they get their stadium) will be added down the line because they serve very large markets. We aren't hosting in either 8 or 12 years, so that makes a lot of room for adjustment. If they do get to host matches, it will obviously be at the expense of others. This will **** off the cities that are somewhat located near them, as they were bidding in the first place, and will get that chance taken away from them.
1. Baltimore: Hosted the World Football Challenge and was the only stadium to sell out during the entire tournament. I was at that game personally watching my boys Chelsea beat AC Milan and it was a great event.
2. Boston: The people who are eliminating Boston because of Foxboro being located outside the city core are obviously new fans to football. Foxboro hosted 8 1994 World Cup games including a Quarter Final match and sold out every single one. It didn't seem to be an issue then and the infrastructure is even more advanced since then. In addition Foxboro/Boston was a 2003 FIFA Womens World Cup Venue, Host venue for the World Football challenge, home of the New England Revolution in the MLS. Plus for historical reasons the city of Boston was home to the first organized football club in the USA.
3. Dallas: Large Hispanic community, Great Stadium and Host to Consistently a CONCACAF Gold Cup host city.
4. Indianapolis: I would imagine they would want one Mid-West city since Chicago was elimated from contention.
5. LA: One of the most renowned and major cities in America or the World. A natural fit to host the event. Constant host for Gold Cup events and was a host city for the 1994 World cup already.
6. Miami: The Capital of Latin America, great airport access to Latin America and the Caribbean. Host of CONCACAF Gold Cup events.
7. NYC: Its New York, C'mon why does anyone need to even dispute this.
8. Seattle: Home to the highest attendance in the MLS, host of World Football Challenge and CONCACAF Gold Cup Venue.
9. Washington DC: Nations Capital, enough said.
10. Atlanta/Houston: I think the final slot could go to either of these cities and they would both be great choices for host.
No team in the history of the MLS has come remotely close to Seattle "Last Year", never mind this year when they sold over 30,000 season tickets.
Please don't speak of something your clearly do not understand. Seattle has always supported its sports teams by attending games. Even when the year the Sonics left (who played in a small arena) still drew fans. Seattle has always drawn well. Whether it's the Hawks, Sounders, or the M's Now mind you, the Mariners have sucked for a long time now and they still draw half assed decent.
Hardly changes anything. Nor does it explain away the disparity.
You mean other than the fact that Seattle is a far better soccer town, has dramatically better weather that time of the year, 3 National Parks within 60 miles and is a much nicer city to visit?
The first statement was for Vancouver and Portland's future attendance, you just assumed I meant for Seattle, which I didn't, its attendance is spectacular and is the envy of every other MLS team.
Oh, I understand that the Seattle Seahawks ranked 21 in attendance last season. I understand that the Seattle Mariners are currently ranked 18th in attendance(vs 16th for the Astros), which wouldn't seem like a big deal compared to Houston, but I wouldn't call a 55.6% filled stadium decent, more like mediocre (compared to Houston's 68.7%, which is what I would call decent btw). Really the only team that's well attended currently and in the near future in Seattle appears to be limited to the Sounders.
Has Seattle hosted over 25 international soccer matches this decade like Houston? Really what do you think makes Seattle a better soccer town than Houston? (Note that I said soccer, not better overall city)
The first statement was for Vancouver and Portland's future attendance, you just assumed I meant for Seattle, which I didn't, its attendance is spectacular and is the envy of every other MLS team.
And the "Why that is" is the salient point.
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Oh, I understand that the Seattle Seahawks ranked 21 in attendance last season.
Oh now we are talking about Football are we? Let's change sports now. since obviously you don't want to talk about the only one that matters regarding the World Cup.
And nevermind the Seattle Seahawks sucked wind last year. I mean seriously.
Thanks for playing REALLY BAD ANALOGY
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I understand that the Seattle Mariners are currently ranked 18th in attendance(vs 16th for the Astros), which wouldn't seem like a big deal compared to Houston, but I wouldn't call a 55.6% filled stadium decent, more like mediocre (compared to Houston's 68.7%, which is what I would call decent btw).
Here, perhaps we should look at some facts. I mean please try to bring something to the table. While you're looking at these facts, go back and look at the Mariner's record during the erosion of attendance. They have been absolutely horrible.
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Really the only team that's well attended currently and in the near future in Seattle appears to be limited to the Sounders.
Oh we're back to soccer now are we? Nice digression.
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Has Seattle hosted over 25 international soccer matches this decade like Houston?
LOLOLOL Well now, 25 individual matches? Really? and that's your qualifier? You're killing me here.
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Really what do you think makes Seattle a better soccer town than Houston?
Numbers don't lie. Despite your attempts, these numbers shout otherwise.
You have yet to explain why these are meaningless. If the disparity was 10 or even 20%, then spin away sure. But 80% more than the nearest city? 80% And more than double the attendance of 9 cities and triple the attendance of 4 cities?
Seriously. It's clearly a far superior soccer town.
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(Note that I said soccer, not better overall city)
There are plenty of people that like Houston as a city more than Seattle. Honest to God I have no earthly idea why. But they exist.
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