The Revolution sent out a letter, signed by COO Brian Bilello, to season ticket holders a couple days ago. Unlike the previous two, this one didn't have to do with SuperLiga. It said the team will open up seating on the west side of the stadium next season, the side that's normally tarped off. The cameras film the game from the tarped off side, so you may not have known it was tarped off at all if you've only seen Revs home games on TV.
As I began to read the letter, I immediately asked myself the following question, in the hope that the letter would answer it: why are they opening up the other side of the stadium when they've experienced drastically decreased average attendance the past two seasons? They can't even fill the Fort unless Landon Donovan is playing in the game (I mean-- unless his team is playing and people expect him to play at the time they buy their tickets).
Bilello answered my question by saying the organization has noticed "hightened enthusiasm in the stadium" when there are people in the west side, and that there has been increased demand for midfield seats. The first part of this can easily be explained away like this: the only games for which the west side is open to fans are Brazilian and European preseason tour games and David Beckham games. The second part of Bilello's reasoning could be true, but I have my doubts that there's more demand for those seats now than there was two years ago; I think the demand is either constant or down, but that the team is finally giving in because it's desperate for a bigger gate. That's me speculating.
By the way, you can all see updated average attendance each week at mls-daily.com. Gotta keep these executives honest.
Oh yeah, I should probably add that I think it's cool that they're opening up the west side next season. Seems relevant.
-John
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