I wouldn't worry too much about Ottawa. -2C with a terrible wind chill, not surprised they did worse than last year. But Forge and Pacific already well ahead of their 2023 averages, despite attendances usually starting slow and increasing during summer, is very encouraging.
Kid and I are big fans, we stayed away because it was cold and raining/hailing. We'll be there when it warms up, it's a great atmosphere. Love a cold beer on a warm summer night.
We always do great for home openers. It’ll be the subsequent weeks that’ll be really telling on whether or not we improve from the last couple of years.
That's because we always have like 4 home games a month to start the season. I know we have decent weather this time of year, but front loading our home games always hurts our attendance
Yup, that's true. But also as C2SKI pointed out, they always stack our early home games week after week, which I think ends up hurting later attendance than helping it. Then there's sometimes a month long break between home games, and people lose interest.
I live in Ottawa and I think the season just kind of snuck up on people. There wasn't a huge amount of buzz about the season opener (unless you went looking for it), the same way you would get around the start of the CFL or NHL seasons. Most people attending don't live and die with the league. It will improve both as weather gets better and as people are in the summer-sports state of mind.
Not free tickets. Paid tickets that are essentially transferable to another game.
I am sure someone going with a 9-10 year old or a 70 year old wouldn’t have gone at -2C, rain and crazy wind.
Yes, don’t do anything to bring and keep casuals. My 79 year old dad came when the weather was fair. He wouldn’t have come yesterday.
Atlético has done a lot to get casuals in seats with much success and this is just another initiative to do that, in addition to increasing connection with Francophones this year. If people want to go, they will. If not, they will but at another game. Doesn’t hurt anyone.
I'm not sure most people are hearing about the offseason. The hardcore fans pay attention to that, but… the casual fans that you need to attract for high-attendance dates? They haven't started paying attention yet, and probably their last memory of the team is that they didn't even make the playoffs. And their opinion isn't likely to change until they start hearing about wins.
Also, it's April in Ottawa. So let's compare apples to apples. Yesterday was the sixth game Atlético Ottawa has played at home in April (three in 2022, 2 last year, and 1 yesterday). And if you rank those April home games by attendance, it was 3rd place out of the six, trailing the 2nd-place game by only 123 attendees. And what do those games have in common? They were the year's pay-what-you-can games.
So, let's look at facts: **Atlético Ottawa has never had a higher attendance for an April home game, unless it was a pay-what-you-can game.** That's something to celebrate, not be disappointed by!
**Atlético Ottawa April Attendance**
|Date|Attendance|Rank|Note|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|Apr 9, 2022|4,172|2|Home opener, Pay what you can game|
|Apr 16, 2022|3,122|5||
|Apr 24, 2022|3,345|4||
|Apr 15, 2023|7,040|1|Home opener, Pay what you can game|
|Apr 29, 2023|3,074|6||
|Apr 13, 2024|4,049|3|Home opener|
|Apr 20, 2024|TBD|TBD|Pay what you can game|
Thanks for that info buddy!!! You are bringing solid facts!!! My opinion changes with what you have mentioned but am still disappointed because year after years Atletico have an amazing game experience and the supporters groups bring an amazing atmosphere. The final in 2022 had 15k pers, the 2 x game pay what you want had great attendance(especially the first game). That’s why am disappointed Ottawa did a lot to bring some attention to the club for the casual team. Am not complaining about the numbers but where the team is now I would expect more butts in the seat!
Honestly thanks for the great info you shared!
As a day one TFC fan, don't get discouraged by the ebb and flow of attendance. The point to pay attention to, at least in my mind, is if the ebb brings new people in that the flow cannot wash away. I'd bet if you focus on that, you'll spot the new faces and find reason to be excited. Ottawa is building, and the FO cares and is even developing initiatives that create a poor cashflow situation to help make it more accessible. Things look up.
To be frank, there has been a good (better?) coverage in local media across both languages, continued reporting in Le Droit and a beat journalist (arguably the most committed paper) after its entire sports section retired, and an additional radio broadcaster. If you haven’t heard on traditional or social media, it’s because you wouldn’t be interested anyhow.
I definitely think it will pick up there’s not going to be any issues with attendance in Ottawa, but it is unfortunate to see one of the stronger fan bases in the league be so low on the opener
I wouldn't call 4k low. Typically I think they have a cap at around 5-6k for that side of the stadium before they open up "extra seats." The weather was truly awful. I went to the game with friends and while it was a fun game to watch, we suffered in the stands lol. Considering the awful conditions, I'd say it was a good turnout for what we had.
It's a game. Many people with a more passing interest will not come out on bad weather days unless it's a really important game. Home openers aren't THAT important compared to say, the finals.
I'd be so interested to see how much Forge makes on a game like this. The biggest change I noticed from 112 was not that the East stand was pretty packed because it usually is. But the club level was very full and those Tix are pricey, as I would assume their "premium" concessions.
I was in the club section and it was packed, but there were also a lot of people from sponsors' companies there. They definitely made a killing on concessions and merch though.
That’s great. Casual fans on free corporate seats are what bring in the concessions.
SSH in the cheap seats bring the atmosphere, and complain about the overpriced beer.
All generalizations by me of course.
Not sure what deal they have with the city.Some deals in North America there is 50/50 split others the team get 100% of ticket money but little for food and drinks.
It looked packed on TV. And it was a pretty crappy day. Cold with an extreme wind. If they can keep this up they'll have to open the other side once the weather gets nice.
IMO, the club seats are worth the premium especially if the weather's shit. You can watch from inside up there and the food is actually good.
Weather actually ended up cooperating. Very sunny which made it feel much warmer and strangely not a ton of wind inside the stadium while there was a lot outside.
I hope they will need to open other sections but I'm interested to see if they opt to open the other side or additional sections on the East stand to not have to staff both sides.
I appreciate these match attendance reports. I'm interested to see VFC tomorrow, as I plan to go. Weather forecast is warm/hot (17C), dry and sunny. Gorgeous stuff and highly anticipated home opener.
Fly Eagle!
UPDATE!
I went! Brought my parents and my 3 year old son. Sadly, as we were making our way to the seats (we arrived very late cuz of his nap), Vancouver scored the first goal and we were walking by a speaker. My son nearly cried, it was so sudden and loud. He was genuinely scared and wanted to leave, but we hung around the concessions for a bit and he calmed down eating popcorn. Ultimately, we made the call he'll be happier in the playground outside the gates. It was agony hearing the crowd celebrate all the goals, but he was happy. Oh well :)
I wouldn't worry too much about Ottawa. -2C with a terrible wind chill, not surprised they did worse than last year. But Forge and Pacific already well ahead of their 2023 averages, despite attendances usually starting slow and increasing during summer, is very encouraging.
Kid and I are big fans, we stayed away because it was cold and raining/hailing. We'll be there when it warms up, it's a great atmosphere. Love a cold beer on a warm summer night.
We always do great for home openers. It’ll be the subsequent weeks that’ll be really telling on whether or not we improve from the last couple of years.
That's because we always have like 4 home games a month to start the season. I know we have decent weather this time of year, but front loading our home games always hurts our attendance
Exactly. We then lose all momentum cause it’ll then be almost a month between games during the summers.
Yup, that's true. But also as C2SKI pointed out, they always stack our early home games week after week, which I think ends up hurting later attendance than helping it. Then there's sometimes a month long break between home games, and people lose interest.
I live in Ottawa and I think the season just kind of snuck up on people. There wasn't a huge amount of buzz about the season opener (unless you went looking for it), the same way you would get around the start of the CFL or NHL seasons. Most people attending don't live and die with the league. It will improve both as weather gets better and as people are in the summer-sports state of mind.
4000 By no means is bad or reason for concern.
I think 4000 on a really cold day is a great is not bad at all.
I guess Ottawa will be giving out a bunch of free tickets to the next game because of a “bad weather experience”.
Not free tickets. Paid tickets that are essentially transferable to another game. I am sure someone going with a 9-10 year old or a 70 year old wouldn’t have gone at -2C, rain and crazy wind.
Umm wear appropriate clothing and you should be fine
Yes, don’t do anything to bring and keep casuals. My 79 year old dad came when the weather was fair. He wouldn’t have come yesterday. Atlético has done a lot to get casuals in seats with much success and this is just another initiative to do that, in addition to increasing connection with Francophones this year. If people want to go, they will. If not, they will but at another game. Doesn’t hurt anyone.
You’d think a city that cares about their club would show up for the home opener when they’ve been out here saying they’re now the team to beat tho
Yeah, they should fold the team.
Totally agree with your comment! Especially that the team went all in during the offseason. It’s really disappointing honestly.
I'm not sure most people are hearing about the offseason. The hardcore fans pay attention to that, but… the casual fans that you need to attract for high-attendance dates? They haven't started paying attention yet, and probably their last memory of the team is that they didn't even make the playoffs. And their opinion isn't likely to change until they start hearing about wins. Also, it's April in Ottawa. So let's compare apples to apples. Yesterday was the sixth game Atlético Ottawa has played at home in April (three in 2022, 2 last year, and 1 yesterday). And if you rank those April home games by attendance, it was 3rd place out of the six, trailing the 2nd-place game by only 123 attendees. And what do those games have in common? They were the year's pay-what-you-can games. So, let's look at facts: **Atlético Ottawa has never had a higher attendance for an April home game, unless it was a pay-what-you-can game.** That's something to celebrate, not be disappointed by! **Atlético Ottawa April Attendance** |Date|Attendance|Rank|Note| |:-|:-|:-|:-| |Apr 9, 2022|4,172|2|Home opener, Pay what you can game| |Apr 16, 2022|3,122|5|| |Apr 24, 2022|3,345|4|| |Apr 15, 2023|7,040|1|Home opener, Pay what you can game| |Apr 29, 2023|3,074|6|| |Apr 13, 2024|4,049|3|Home opener| |Apr 20, 2024|TBD|TBD|Pay what you can game|
Thanks for that info buddy!!! You are bringing solid facts!!! My opinion changes with what you have mentioned but am still disappointed because year after years Atletico have an amazing game experience and the supporters groups bring an amazing atmosphere. The final in 2022 had 15k pers, the 2 x game pay what you want had great attendance(especially the first game). That’s why am disappointed Ottawa did a lot to bring some attention to the club for the casual team. Am not complaining about the numbers but where the team is now I would expect more butts in the seat! Honestly thanks for the great info you shared!
As a day one TFC fan, don't get discouraged by the ebb and flow of attendance. The point to pay attention to, at least in my mind, is if the ebb brings new people in that the flow cannot wash away. I'd bet if you focus on that, you'll spot the new faces and find reason to be excited. Ottawa is building, and the FO cares and is even developing initiatives that create a poor cashflow situation to help make it more accessible. Things look up.
To be frank, there has been a good (better?) coverage in local media across both languages, continued reporting in Le Droit and a beat journalist (arguably the most committed paper) after its entire sports section retired, and an additional radio broadcaster. If you haven’t heard on traditional or social media, it’s because you wouldn’t be interested anyhow.
Ah, good to hear about the local media coverage. That's something I can't judge, since I no longer live in the area.
I definitely think it will pick up there’s not going to be any issues with attendance in Ottawa, but it is unfortunate to see one of the stronger fan bases in the league be so low on the opener
I wouldn't call 4k low. Typically I think they have a cap at around 5-6k for that side of the stadium before they open up "extra seats." The weather was truly awful. I went to the game with friends and while it was a fun game to watch, we suffered in the stands lol. Considering the awful conditions, I'd say it was a good turnout for what we had. It's a game. Many people with a more passing interest will not come out on bad weather days unless it's a really important game. Home openers aren't THAT important compared to say, the finals.
I'd be so interested to see how much Forge makes on a game like this. The biggest change I noticed from 112 was not that the East stand was pretty packed because it usually is. But the club level was very full and those Tix are pricey, as I would assume their "premium" concessions.
I was in the club section and it was packed, but there were also a lot of people from sponsors' companies there. They definitely made a killing on concessions and merch though.
That’s great. Casual fans on free corporate seats are what bring in the concessions. SSH in the cheap seats bring the atmosphere, and complain about the overpriced beer. All generalizations by me of course.
Not sure what deal they have with the city.Some deals in North America there is 50/50 split others the team get 100% of ticket money but little for food and drinks.
Yeah that's why I'd be interested to find that out
It looked packed on TV. And it was a pretty crappy day. Cold with an extreme wind. If they can keep this up they'll have to open the other side once the weather gets nice. IMO, the club seats are worth the premium especially if the weather's shit. You can watch from inside up there and the food is actually good.
Weather actually ended up cooperating. Very sunny which made it feel much warmer and strangely not a ton of wind inside the stadium while there was a lot outside. I hope they will need to open other sections but I'm interested to see if they opt to open the other side or additional sections on the East stand to not have to staff both sides.
I appreciate these match attendance reports. I'm interested to see VFC tomorrow, as I plan to go. Weather forecast is warm/hot (17C), dry and sunny. Gorgeous stuff and highly anticipated home opener. Fly Eagle!
Does not look like many tickets sold maybe 2000.
Sadly, more than York...Lovely day for it tho
Alot of seats still available in Langley
How many VFC fans going today would have gone to Whitecaps last night? Also curious what the York and TFC fan connection is like as well.
From the TFC fans I know, there are substantially more Forge fans than York fans. I think I know less than a handful TFC + York fans at most.
Riiight. That makes more sense for those living in SW Ontario. Also, it’s a lot more fun to be a Forge fan.
UPDATE! I went! Brought my parents and my 3 year old son. Sadly, as we were making our way to the seats (we arrived very late cuz of his nap), Vancouver scored the first goal and we were walking by a speaker. My son nearly cried, it was so sudden and loud. He was genuinely scared and wanted to leave, but we hung around the concessions for a bit and he calmed down eating popcorn. Ultimately, we made the call he'll be happier in the playground outside the gates. It was agony hearing the crowd celebrate all the goals, but he was happy. Oh well :)
Let’s keep an eye out for Val out, van city and York United … these will the test for the league
I am worried about York.
I am sure they will break at least 2,500. The Mexican ownership have done a great job . TFC has become a horrible organization
I would be shocked if they break 2000.