Opinion: Revolution undefeated - does anyone care?

by Eric Slack

April 9, 2011

In about an hour, I'm leaving to see my first Revs game in person in 2011. I've shared season tickets with my family since the inaugural 1996 season. Although we've downgraded to the least expensive seats, we've never come really close to not renewing. Not that there aren't reasons - we've often felt like second-class citizens, we've questioned many of the decisions around player personnel and marketing. Heck, I even worked there and got laid off along with half the Revs front office in 2002 in a cost cutting move. But my family and I continue to support the Revs because we love the team, and frankly, we can afford it. Unfortunately, the Revolution experiment still hasn't caught on with enough soccer fans in the region.

Just look at the attendance for last week's Revs-Portland game. 7,114. That is sad and pathetic, but it also shouldn't be surprising to anyone who's followed the Revs for any length of time. In the early days of MLS, the Revolution were the league's attendance juggernaut. But the quality of soccer was poor. As the Revs moved into Gillette, the team got better, but the atmosphere in the stadium got worse, the tickets got more expensive, and the organization made a lot of blunders around how they treated the hardcore soccer fans. Since then, the team has declined in quality while appearing to make little to no headway on some of the issues important to fans (i.e., designated player, soccer stadium).

The Revs have failed to make significant gains with the soccer following population of New England. By banking on the group sales/soccer mom market for so long, and by choosing to focus paltry marketing efforts on visiting players like David Beckham, they have been unable to build a large, passionate fan base of people willing to buy season tickets and show up on game days despite weather conditions or the quality of the team.

Tonight, Real Salt Lake comes to town. The Revs are 1-0-3 even though they are missing some of their expected starters. The style of soccer is ugly, but the team looks better than last year. As for Salt Lake, they are an exciting team that plays an interesting and attractive style, one that could earn them the CONCACAF club championship. I'm going to go to the game and cheer my head off for the Revs. I'm interested to see how the new stadium configuration looks in person. But I also know that there will be far too many empty seats. That isn't the players fault, and it isn't the fans fault. Put simply, the Revolution organization has failed to devise an effective strategy to unite all the soccer fans of New England solidly behind this team.

UPDATE: Train wreck. Although the game was still fun and the Fort was in good voice, especially in the first half, the Revs are no longer undefeated after an offensively anemic, red card heavy 2-0 loss. I was in attendance with just 7,969 of my closest friends. Although a little cool, it was a great night for soccer. Clearly, the vast majority of New England soccer fans do not think this team is worth supporting at all costs, and the organization is doing a horrible job at reminding people that the season has actually begun.