After a major dip in attendance from 2017 to ‘18 as a potential move to Austin, Texas, loomed over the Crew’s season, average attendance nearly fully recovered in 2019 but still remained near the bottom of Major League Soccer.

The Crew had an average attendance of 14,856 in 2019 with a total attendance of 252,555, compared with 12,447 and a total attendance of 211,603 in 2018. That’s a 19.4% increase and the most year-over-year attendance growth of any MLS team last season.

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The Crew’s attendance still ranked 21st out of 24 MLS teams and still below the average of 15,439 from 2017.

Given the tumultuous events of 2018 and a front office that had to be rebuilt as part of the team’s sale to keep it in Columbus, last season’s attendance figures were more a benchmark for its aspirations rather than proof that interest for the Crew wasn’t as grand as the Save The Crew movement made it seem.

Executive vice president and chief business officer Steve Lyons said 2019 was a promising start to the new era, but he knows there’s much to be done before reaching the goal of 14,000 to 15,000 season-ticket holders.

After selling more than 9,000 season tickets last season, Lyons said the team is trending upward in season-ticket sales, though he declined to give specific figures. The team added about 50 seats in the VIP terrace in the southwest corner of Mapfre Stadium, which sold out for the season in about three weeks.

“What that indicates for me and for us is not only is there continued demand for bowl seating, but also the premium seating options, which we’re all excited about what we’re building and supplying to the market in the new stadium,” Lyons said.

The Crew has consistently ranked near the bottom of the league in attendance. Even in 2016, when the club had its best attendance figures since 2002 with more than 17,000 fans per game, the club still ranked in the bottom five. On the other hand, the Crew ranked just behind New England and Toronto FC in terms of average attendance growth among all MLS teams from 2012 to ‘16.

Mapfre Stadium is one of the smaller venues in the league with a capacity of 19,968. A 20,000-seat stadium opening in 2021 will be no different, so the Crew won’t ever be in the top five of total attendance.

But to increase the fan base, the Crew has expanded its footprint into the Short North and other areas around the city with billboards and electronic signs advertising the new stadium and the club’s most expensive player signing in Lucas Zelarayan.

Lyons said he has already received a lot of positive feedback about the increased visibility.

In terms of the schedule, March and early April weather in Ohio affected attendance figures in 2019, and will likely do the same in 2020 with four of the first six games at home again.

The Crew should be able to build on its two sellouts in 2019 compared with none in ’18, and this year’s schedule is more fan friendly, with games that have the most sellout potential being on the weekend.

There’s no shortage of factors on attendance, and the Crew is far from the only team dealing with this issue. With so many moving pieces, it will be a few years before attendance figures reveal any significant shift in interest in the Crew.

“We felt that we needed to continue to have an elevated presence not just in and around the stadium,” Lyons said, “but we needed to showcase our brand throughout the community just to remind people on a daily basis that the community is why we’re here.”

jmyers@dispatch.com

@Jacob_Myers_25