It’s been a rocky start to 2015 for Fury FC. Ottawa, playing in its sophomore season out of the gigantic TD Place Stadium, has just five of a possible eighteen points to date in the North American Soccer League. Add to the mix an early exit in the Canadian domestic cup via a 6-2 defeat on aggregate against FC Edmonton, and things have been bleak for the most part on the pitch for Ottawa.
I have faith, however, that the ship will be righted on the field for the Fury. The club is in good hands with Marc Dos Santos at its helm, and it’s been an improbable mixture of a lack of finishing combined with sheer bad luck which has seen the club side to tenth place in the eleven-team NASL.
It is off the pitch that I believe Ottawa can, and must, improve. Specifically, the team needs to draw more at the gate to maintain par with the NASL, which has grown by leaps and bounds in 2015. Newcomers Jacksonville are drawing superbly in Florida, while Minnesota, Indy, and Fort Lauderdale have buoyed the league average.
Ottawa has averaged 3,859 through three NASL home matches against Minnesota (5,093), Fort Lauderdale (3,023), and Tampa (3,461). That’s hardly any lower than the 3,875 the club averaged during the 2014 Fall Season (note – that average excludes the home opener against the New York Cosmos in an effort to reflect a truer average). What is different is that the league is averaging more fans across the board in 2015, nearly one thousand more per match (5,501 to 6,501 according to nasl.com) to be exact.
Ottawa’s average of 3,859 pales in comparison to its expansion brethren Indianapolis’ average of a 10,524 sellout.
I’m not saying Ottawa has an attendance problem. Fury FC is certainly in a better spot than FC Edmonton, which struggles to pull two thousand people out to games at Clarke Stadium. But, Ottawa does need to keep up with the rest of the league – something that it is not doing as of mid-May.
I have no doubt that the club’s operators, the Ottawa Sports & Entertainment Group (OSEG), have done their absolute best in marketing the team. They are trying. They just need new approaches to marketing Fury FC as the novelty of professional soccer in Canada’s capital wears off.
Five Booster Shots for Fury FC’s Attendance
- Kids: Ottawa’s Fury Fanatics program, targeted at youth soccer players in the National Capital Region, is a good start. Opening up matches to an estimated 24,000 Under-14s in the region is a solid step in the right direction. But what about the kids that don’t have the resources to play organized soccer, or kids who wouldn’t normally be soccer fans? Why not just make all league matches free for kids? Simply to try and advance the club’s profile in the local community and form bonds with passionate young supporters in a similar ilk to that of the early-2000s Ottawa 67’s. Not to mention, having more butts in the seats would project a better image.
- Market it as an Event: Professional sport shouldn’t need sideshows to draw spectators. But, in many minor-league cases, sideshows are necessary to draw paying fans. And while the NASL and Fury FC are not minor-league by any stretch, the Ottawa sports market clearly views it as such. So, take the Minor League Baseball approach: fireworks, theme nights (which the club is already trying out) – anything to get people out to the stadium.
- Find the Footy Fans in Ottawa: There is zero doubt in my mind that soccer/futbol/footy is the second-biggest sport in Ottawa (behind hockey, obviously). It’s easy to find Premier League and Champions League fanatics at any decent-sized establishment with a feed of the day’s European/English matches. Target them. Get them out to the park any way you can – free tickets, parking, scarves, etc. – in an effort to get them hooked and tap into their passion for the beautiful game.
- Lower Ticket Prices: Single-game ticket prices aren’t outrageous for Ottawa matches, with the cheapest gameday ticket going for $17 plus fees. However, other teams around the league charge substantially less: single-game Indy Eleven tickets start at $10, while Fort Lauderdale Strikers tickets start at $12. I’m not saying Fury FC’s current prices are unreasonable, but lowering prices could make the club’s home matches accessible to a whole new demographic in the Ottawa sports market.
- Just Win, Baby: The National Capital Region is a notoriously fickle sports market. Teams have come and gone in virtually every professional sport that has existed in North America: baseball, lacrosse, football, basketball, you name it. The one constant in the Ottawa sports landscape is the following:
Winning teams sell tickets.
If Marc Dos Santos can right the ship on the pitch and push Ottawa back into the NASL playoff discussion, I firmly believe the club could bounce back up to the 4000-5000 attendance range it enjoyed during the summer days of the 2014 Fall Season, as opposed to the 3000-4000 range it currently sits in.
If Dos Santos could work a miracle and thrust Fury FC into contention for a home playoff gate, his club would grab the attention not just of local fans, but of the local sports media which has largely ignored the second-year club.
Main Photo Courtesy of the Ottawa Fury.
