From: "Rich Gauszka" 


"Phil Payne"  wrote in
message news:45a66f0a$1{at}w3.nls.net...
> "George Sherwood"  wrote in message
> news:6r4i74xsh6.ln2{at}athlon.p3pilot.gotdns.org...
>> Will be interesting to see if it does anything for the popularity of the
>> sport in the US or only serves to make Beckham even richer.
>
> You wait.  Your main problem will be that Posh is in the package.
>
>

Posh in the package might help the MLS with their anemic attendance. - one
less free ticket to have to give away.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/soccer/20060927-9999-lz1s27goal.html

Before Major League Soccer matches at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford,
N.J., fans looking for tickets congregate outside Gate D. Some people are
selling them. Some people are giving them away.

Bill Donohue, a longtime season-ticket holder, said his father has gone to
games eight times over the years without a ticket. Seven times he got one
for free.

There are just so many tickets floating around that they are borderline
worthless," Donohue said.

MLS' own documents tell a similar story. On average, nearly one in four
tickets for regular-season matches last season was complimentary, or free,
according to an internal attendance report obtained by the Union-Tribune.
The average paid attendance for the 2005 season was 10,746 per match, or 29
percent less than the 15,108 "official attendance" reported by
the league.

Subtract the international doubleheaders that swell MLS crowds - the seven
last season had an average announced crowd of 48,589 - and the per-game
paid attendance in 2005 drops below 10,000.

The document, called the "Game Attendance Summary," breaks down
ticketing for every match for every club and is regularly circulated to the
league's Board of Governors with the words, "CONFIDENTIAL: Not for
distribution," across the top. The version obtained by the
Union-Tribune is from the end of the 2005 regular season.

It shows that while the 11-year-old league has made strides in several
areas - the construction of soccer-specific stadiums, additional sponsors
and investors, new national television contracts with ABC/ESPN and
Univision - the cornerstone of any pro sports league may be lagging: the
number of people actually buying tickets to view the product. Only one
team, the Los Angeles Galaxy, had an average paid attendance above 13,000
last season, and six of the 12 teams were below 10,000.

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