Attendance for Fire games at Toyota Park is up nearly 21% "compared to this point last season, reaching a total of 109,222," according to Danny Ecker of CRAIN'S CHICAGO BUSINESS. That is an "average of 15,603 per game." There are several reasons for the increase, including that last year's early season games "suffered especially poor attendance because of bad weather." That followed the "earliest start to the season in MLS history, which left many teams struggling to draw fans to games in freezing temperatures." Fire COO Atul Khosla said that the team's "beefed up ad campaign this season is also paying off." He added, "The fans are engaging with us in larger numbers than before." Khosla said that the Fire have seen "a significant uptick in group ticket sales in conjunction with the most aggressive marketing campaign in its 17-year history." Ecker noted while the team's season-ticket base is "slightly higher than last year's number of about 6,300, single-game ticket sales have been pulling more of the weight, with a jump" of between 20-30% year-over-year (CHICAGOBUSINESS.com, 6/23).
