Who’s Heading Indoors?
By the looks of things, not a lot of folks. Now that the Philadelphia KiXX have become the last Major Indoor Soccer League team to open its home schedule (they couldn’t get 10 dates at their new home at Temple University, so they’re only playing 8 home games this year), here’s a look at the attendance figures for each of the five teams in what’s left of top-flight indoor soccer:
| Team | G | Total | Average | Median | High | Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore Blast | 5 | 32,801 | 6,560 | 6,511 | 9,614 | 4,208 |
| Philadelphia KiXX | 1 | 4,584 | 4,584 | 4,584 | 4,584 | 4,584 |
| Milwaukee Wave | 4 | 12,706 | 3,177 | 3,298 | 3,857 | 2,254 |
| Monterrey LaRaZa | 5 | 13,754 | 2,751 | 2,678 | 4,150 | 1,572 |
| Rockford Rampage | 5 | 5,793 | 1,159 | 846 | 1,900 | 690 |
| MISL TOTAL | 20 | 69,638 | 3,482 | 3,104 | 9,614 | 690 |
As they have for years, Baltimore sets the pace in indoor attendance. Philly’s opening-night crowd was the largest outside of Charm City in the league this year. Milwaukee hasn’t shown tremendous improvement yet, but it’s only a matter of time before my man Peter Wilt has the Wave’s fortunes trending positively. Monterrey used to get great crowds at Arena Monterrey - I wonder what happened? And Rockford is a mess. My friends Oscar Albuquerque and Jeff Kraft are doing their best there, but they haven’t been able to draw people for two years. Many moons ago, I heard a rumor they might move from Rockford to the now-vacant Chicago market (maybe even at the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates, which has been a spectacular failure but is under new management that is looking for tenants). I wonder if that will happen.
Tags: attendance, indoor soccer, MISL, soccer, things only I care about
January 12th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
I have to say that Sears Centre is a good place for the indoor game. Not to huge. Good sight lines. They had a nice carpet. You get a decent team in there and work on building a rivalry with the Milwaukee Wilt and you could get some people there.
January 12th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Erreta: Not too huge.
January 12th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Oh, the building ITSELF is a good building for indoor. Market Square Arena in Indianapolis was also a great building for indoor (and hockey).
Sears Centre’s problems were/are (a) its location and ( b) the teams that played in it.
January 12th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
I distinctly remember being shocked about not knowing about the Sears Center until it was built and in operation, and then wondering why the hell anyone would build a 10k seat stadium in Chicago, yet alone as far NW as Rt 59 and the NW tollway.
I’m not quite sure what market they’re trying to serve, although it was home to Chicago’s Lingerie Football team.
Kenn, who can I blame the World Cup bid fiasco on? Local government, ussoccer, White Sox fans?
January 12th, 2010 at 6:25 pm
I’m sure somehow it’s Denis Hamlett’s fault, right?
January 12th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Good job, that’s a much better answer….