Monday, June 1, 2009

Seals 2nd in Golden League Attendance

They may be in the North division cellar, but the Seals are doing well in one important category: attendance. According to the league's website, Victoria drew an average of 2,622 fans for its first three home games. This figure is good enough for second in the league, behind the popular Tucson Toros who are averaging 4,534 fans through their first seven home dates.

The Victoria numbers that were reported seem a bit low to me. The team drew 1,914 on Saturday and 2,176 on Sunday. However, the total listed on the league website is only 7,868, which means there were only 3,778 in attendance for Friday's home opener. No figures for Friday were ever report by the league or team (a potential fire code violation, perhaps?) and it was generally believed that well over 4,000 were in RAP. The number of people sitting in the soccer grandstand leads me to believe that there were closer to 4,500 than 4,000 fans in attendance.

Victoria is well ahead of the other franchises in attendance. Chico is in third place with 2,057 fans per game. St. George has the lowest attendance with only 945 fans per game.