Allow me to introduce Vlad Bouchoev, a student at Carnegie Mellon University with a passion for soccer who is dipping his toes into the MFUSA waters with a piece on the Red Bulls and their new stadium attendance struggles. - JD


by Vlad Bouchouev

New York, New York. A city with nearly 10 professional sports teams. A city of over 18 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area. The world capital so to speak. Yet somehow the New York Red Bulls still manage to not sell-out their newly built state-of-the-art stadium. The question cannot be as simple as to whether or not soccer is popular in New York City, because NYC has a plethora of foreigners who have a passion for the game. Just last week the new Giants Stadium hosted a sell-out crowd of 77,507 for the Mexico-Ecuador match. Likewise, every summer we see sell-out crowds in New York's American football stadium when world-class soccer teams come play there, either against other international visitor or the local NY Red Bulls. So yes, there are soccer fans in New York City.


So then maybe this brings up the great ole’ New York City sports fans’ complaint of the horrid location of the Meadowlands and how commuting to the stadium takes away any motivation to see their team play. Well my friends, have no fear because Red Bull Arena is here. You hate driving? Don’t want to spend your entire day in traffic? Take the train. You can literally take the train from as far away as Princeton or Long Island, make it to the stadium in a little over an hour and not have to pay the ridiculous $15 parking fee. Sadly, I still don’t think that the commute has been the underlying problem. Attendance figures in the past two NY Red Bull game have only risen by about 4,000 people, bringing this year’s average to a little over 14,000 people. This is not including the barely sold-out NY Red Bull home opener against the Chicago Fire since the team was still riding the “Red Bull Arena-awe-effect” at that point. Remember, the new stadium seats 25,189 so we’re still looking at a stadium that is a little over half-full.


This almost leads us to my last point: competition in a big city market. In a city that boasts the historic NY Yankees and NY Mets, two football teams, a world-famous Midtown arena that sells out any team that plays inside, and the NJ Nets, NJ Devils, and NY Islanders (who even when they struggle seem to steal away some sports fans and bring them to their games), there just seems to be little room for the NY Red Bulls. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying to take my beloved NY Red Bulls away from this city. But I am hinting on the fact that maybe cities like Seattle, which have one less “big-4” (football, baseball, basketball, hockey) sports team than other large U.S. metropolitan cities may hold a formula for success for MLS. Granted, I know that argument will be shot down by the likes of the LA Galaxy fans (who live in a city that has more than 4 professional sports teams), Philadelphia Union fans (who even with the “big-4” in their city manage to get 30,000+ to their games), or Salt Lake City folks (who with only the Utah Jazz, don’t get numbers nearly as comparable as the Seattle Sounders at the Real Salt Lake games). Then again, I don’t really consider Salt Lake City a large U.S. metropolitan city. Bottom-line, the NY Red Bulls need to prove that they are a worthy competitor in the NYC sports market. Similar to the way the New York Cosmos did a couple of decades ago…


Ah, that’s more like it. The New York Cosmos. Could that be the missing piece of the puzzle? Were they doing something right that the NY Red Bull franchise has overlooked? Let’s flashback to way before my time, 1976. The Cosmos crashed out of the playoffs that year losing to the Tampa Bay Rowdies. At that point, the world’s greatest player ever, Pele, had been on the Cosmos for two years, and the “Soccer Bowl” was yet to be won. Attendance increased by a mere 8,000 people from the previous year. Thus, Pele initially had only a marginal “Beckham-effect.” The next year the Cosmos loaded up on more world-class players like Carlos Alberto, Franz Beckenbauer, and Giorgio Chinaglia and saw attendance skyrocket to a very steady 45,000 pace for the next several years.


The Cosmos then won a few championships but soon after ran out of money and folded. So what conclusions can we make about all this? Well, money is power. If you have the money (which the Red Bulls do) spend it, bring in high-end players, and fans will gradually flood the stadiums to not only see the talent of the players but to also see their team succeed. If you would like to grind out success from your team, feel free to go about this way. But here's another thought: Maybe it’s the brand that New Yorkers don’t support, not the game. If there’s one thing that stays away from American sports, it’s commercialization. You don’t see advertisements on your American sports jerseys; you see the name of the city, the name of the team, and the logo. In the case of the Red Bulls, the whole franchise is named after an energy drink that doesn’t even have an association to New York, and the logo on the New York Red Bull jersey is the actual logo of the Red Bull energy drink.


So New Yorkers: would you attend if your team’s name was the Cosmos? Perhaps we’ll find out if the MLS sticks another expansion team somewhere in Queens, NY and names it something more evocative. Will fans attend if the Red Bulls stock up their team with big-name players and dominate the rest of the season? Perhaps we’ll find out after the Red Bulls get Theirry Henry, Ze Roberto, and Raul, and go on to win MLS Cup. Until then, the case of the Red Bull franchise in New York City is just as much of a mystery as the Shroud of Turin. One thing is for sure: the Red Bulls have to continue building their name. The MLS is an investment. The NY Red Bulls is an investment. The arena is an investment. Professional soccer in the US may never reach the same popularity level as in Europe, but if it will, it will take time.