D.C. United’s biggest non-David Beckham crowd of the season last weekend at RFK Stadium, a crowd of more than 25,000, came as no surprise to team officials. It was the perfect storm of the team’s first Saturday night match since July, the height of the fall youth soccer season and the last chance for season ticket holders to redeem previously unused tickets.
The weather pattern doesn’t appear ready to change for the rest of the season.
United is set to finish the 2007 regular season second in Major League Soccer in average attendance, behind only Beckham’s Los Angeles Galaxy, and above 20,000 per game (currently 20,458) for the second time in its history.
“Even scheduling doesn’t seem to be standing in our way right now,” said United executive vice president Stephen Zack. “I’m not going to say we didn’t benefit from David Beckham’s arrival, we certainly leveraged that very well, based on the timing and the fact that he played. To have three Saturdays right in the heart of fall soccer season also doesn’t hurt.”
Attendances around Major League Soccer are all on the rise (16,387 per match through last weekend, up from 15,504 in 2006), and while Beckham has had a major influence, the league points to the rest of the league’s newest international stars, from Luciano Emilio to Juan Pablo Angel and Cuauhtemoc Blanco, whose arrival intothe league was exactly what fans wanted, according to league research last offseason.
“Our most valuable promotion has been the on-field product,” said league spokesman Dan Courtemanche.
Despite not obtaining a high-priced designated player, United has averaged more fans than Toronto FC (20,100), a brand new team with a brand new stadium, BMO Field, which has been sold out for every home game this year. United also has been unaffected by the now-departed Washington Nationals — “We saw no discernable effect from sharing the stadium with the Nationals,” said Zack — and it isn’t worried about the Washington Redskins’ visit to the Dallas Cowboys at 1 p.m. on Nov. 18, a game in direct conflict with the MLS Cup final at RFK Stadium, which kicks off at noon.
“From a scheduling standpoint, if we’re in the Cup, I’m not worried about it one bit,” said Zack. “If we’re not in the Cup, do I expect United fans to come? They’re going to choose however they choose. Having said that, we’re already about 21,000 tickets sold for that game.”
