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Bad attendance and atmosphere


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#31
NittanyMetros

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Guys, it's many things.  But for a huge portion of this populace it really does come down to not being emotionally invested in a team named after an energy drink that plays in Jersey.  

 

Orlando, Seattle, Portland, KC have ingrained themselves in their local city and it has become "cool" to be a fan of that team.  It's totally accepted.  LAG won and always had stars. There's nothing cool about supporting a team named after a soda you drank in college.  Nothing.  Add in the fact we do very little to market this team to the 18-34 demographic (we expect the youth development to take over) and have no real attachment to NY in identity.  It's a whole mess that requires a total revamp in how this club is branded and marketed to the local population.  We also never won a championship, so that hurts us too.

 

People act like the Red Bull brand is a reason people in the 18-34 demo would come to our games.  With very few exceptions that's total bullshit.


#RedBullOut


#32
ivo

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Guys, it's many things.  But for a huge portion of this populace it really does come down to not being emotionally invested in a team named after an energy drink that plays in Jersey.

People act like the Red Bull brand is a reason people in the 18-34 demo would come to our games.  With very few exceptions that's total bullshit.

 

Who acts like that, apart from (maybe) RB employees?

 

The name is not necessarily helping, but I also think there aren't many people deciding against going to games/supporting the team BECAUSE of the RB association. I'm sure there are some, maybe even hundreds of former Metro fans who gave up in disgust upon the RB takeover and never came back? But even if the team is renamed to Metro FC tomorrow, we still aren't filling 25k seats on Saturday.

 

The NJ location and the lack of titles are much bigger issues for attendance than the team's name.



#33
Captain Koolaid

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Who acts like that, apart from (maybe) RB employees?
 
The name is not necessarily helping, but I also think there aren't many people deciding against going to games/supporting the team BECAUSE of the RB association. I'm sure there are some, maybe even hundreds of former Metro fans who gave up in disgust upon the RB takeover and never came back? But even if the team is renamed to Metro FC tomorrow, we still aren't filling 25k seats on Saturday.
 
The NJ location and the lack of titles are much bigger issues for attendance than the team's name.


I agree with you. But I do think that a championship plus a complete makeover would generate more fans. Something like what happened with Shitty Fc. They were new kids in block so people flocked to them. Now a couple years in and no championship for the blue team has resulted in reduction of attendance. Makeover plus winning will guarentee more people IMO.


LONG LIVE METRO

#34
SatansHockey

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I don't think the name thing has anything to do with it. Would we get some more people out? Perhaps but comparing us to the cities you did isn't a fair comparison. Orlando and Portland only have an NBA team, Kansas City and Seattle only have NFL and MLB teams.

We have way too many options for sports here, we can be called *whatever you want to call us* SC or FC and we still won't be selling out the place. One look at our rivals in blue and they aren't exactly drawing amazing numbers either and their name doesn't have an energy drink in it.

#35
SatansHockey

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I agree with you. But I do think that a championship plus a complete makeover would generate more fans. Something like what happened with Shitty Fc. They were new kids in block so people flocked to them. Now a couple years in and no championship for the blue team has resulted in reduction of attendance. Makeover plus winning will guarentee more people IMO.


This just shows how many bandwagon fans we have in this area. It's only their 3rd season and they made the playoffs and finished 2nd last year in the east standings. That's pretty damn good for an expansion team.

#36
gravediGGer

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Unfortunately it does come down to us being just one of many shows in the NYC area and changing the name, colors, players, underwear would help a little in the short run but a soccer team here will never draw as much as it could elsewhere because there is so much shit to do every day.

I just don't understand why we, the true supporters of this team, give a shit how many bandwagon fans join us at the arena to take selfies while drinking beer and not knowing three players on the field. We all know who shows up every week and contributes to the atmosphere so let's try to be on the same page rather than talking about the potential fans that are not there.

Sometimes I think the entire Red Bull existence has been some 19 year old kids football manager save file he only plays when he comes home drunk. - 'Mibabalou'

#FUCKredbull


#37
ivo

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I agree with you. But I do think that a championship plus a complete makeover would generate more fans. Something like what happened with Shitty Fc. They were new kids in block so people flocked to them. Now a couple years in and no championship for the blue team has resulted in reduction of attendance. Makeover plus winning will guarentee more people IMO.

How much of that would be the makeover and how much the winning? We've done well in the regular season, but if we killed in the playoffs and won 2-3 titles in the next 5 years (I know, I know), we'd get more bandwagon fans even with the current name.

 

Agreed on new teams and fans. Same thing is happening with Atlanta and everyone gushing over their 30k season ticket holders. Let's give it a year or two and see where it goes.



#38
break516beatz

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Guys, it's many things.  But for a huge portion of this populace it really does come down to not being emotionally invested in a team named after an energy drink that plays in Jersey.  

 

Orlando, Seattle, Portland, KC have ingrained themselves in their local city and it has become "cool" to be a fan of that team.  It's totally accepted.  LAG won and always had stars. There's nothing cool about supporting a team named after a soda you drank in college.  Nothing.  Add in the fact we do very little to market this team to the 18-34 demographic (we expect the youth development to take over) and have no real attachment to NY in identity.  It's a whole mess that requires a total revamp in how this club is branded and marketed to the local population.  We also never won a championship, so that hurts us too.

 

People act like the Red Bull brand is a reason people in the 18-34 demo would come to our games.  With very few exceptions that's total bullshit.

Absolutely nailed it. I've noticed over the last 2 years or so there seems to be less fan engagement coming from the club. The clubs listed above (mainly the Cascadia clubs) not only have ingrained themselves into their community but actually give a shit about their fans. Seattle has a season ticket holder"alliance" with a board voted on by season ticket holders that sits with the Sounders FO and discusses issues with regards to season ticket holders. I'm not trying to compare us to Seattle at all, but little things like that.... fan interaction, emotional involvement (like, I dunno, having the owner of the club actually show up to a game once)... those things actually matter. Maybe it would move the needle with regards to asses in the seats. Maybe it wouldn't. But fuck man, it would be a good start at least.

 

EDIT: Local ownership would be nice too. Someone who actually has their eyes and ears to the local community that knows what's happening. 

 

F U NYCFC

Our home, our club. You will always be #2 in NY/NJ

 

If you want to hear my ramblings on football and hockey on Twitter, give me a follow: @jeffreykleiman


#39
break516beatz

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Duplicate post. 


F U NYCFC

Our home, our club. You will always be #2 in NY/NJ

 

If you want to hear my ramblings on football and hockey on Twitter, give me a follow: @jeffreykleiman


#40
sabremike

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Of course it's been said over and over but it bears repeating: the goals of the owners of Seattle, Orlando, Portland, KC, ect. are completely different from those of Red Bull (and we all know what their main goal is).
Let's Go Buffalo!!!

#41
hurricane1091

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We don't have the best location or team name, or best front office in terms of advertising or fan engagement, but even if all these things were in our favor we'd still struggle. Not a big deal, used to it being a NJD fan.



#42
sabremike

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We don't have the best location or team name, or best front office in terms of advertising or fan engagement, but even if all these things were in our favor we'd still struggle. Not a big deal, used to it being a NJD fan.

Three of those four things can be rectified if our ownership gave a flying fuck, but they don't. And saying "nobody cares about the Devils" argument ignores that they have been historically badly run off the ice which is why they never really gained momentum from the glory days.
Let's Go Buffalo!!!

#43
adam22

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Three of those four things can be rectified if our ownership gave a flying fuck, but they don't. And saying "nobody cares about the Devils" argument ignores that they have been historically badly run off the ice which is why they never really gained momentum from the glory days.

In what way were the Devils 'historically badly run off the ice'?

 

In many cities, like Philly, you have 4-5 professional sports teams playing at different times. There is a central hub where all the teams play and a central channel (CSN in their case). Lots of cross-promotion and buzz on the local news. Our city, our team sort of thing.

 

With NJD/RBNY, Newark/Harrison are not proper hubs. The games get scattered on a couple different stations and they will always be second-rate to 'true' NY teams. NJD can't identify as the state's team because they aren't even on TV for half the state. And they entered a market that had 2 established/successful teams already.

 

RBNY could do things differently. But they play in a fringe league in a competitive market. 20 years later and we're still sitting at the same 15k folks week-in and week-out.



#44
sabremike

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Under the Lou years they went out of their way not to market their stars because Lou didn't believe in that. Guys like Brodeur and Stevens were never marketed like Richter and Leech so even though the Devils players were better than the rags ones they toiled away in anonymity.
Let's Go Buffalo!!!

#45
sabremike

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I'm also tired of people making excuses for Red Bull when it's the team's deliberate incompetence that's the reason we are in the position we are. Some people may not remember this but until their stadium opened KC was probably the complete armpit of MLS with no fans whatsoever. What happened is that the new ownership saw what was wrong and did a complete 180 on how the team was being run. The result is that they are now among the best supported teams in the league. Why can't that happen here? We all know the answer to that one (hint: it has wiiiings.)
Let's Go Buffalo!!!




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