J League History: 2003

After the boom of publicity generated by the World Cup, as well as the J.League's tenth anniversary celebration in 2002, the 2003 season was less flashy and filled with less hype, yet decades from now it may be recognised as the date that the league truly reached maturity. Some looked ahead with trepidation at the start of the season, worried that attendances would drop off as the World Cup-inspired blaze of publicity began to fade. But this was certainly not the case. On the contrary, attendances rose to their highest level since the "boom" of 1993-94. More importantly, the league began to develop solid roots in outlying regions of Japan, with teams like Albirex Niigata and Vegalta Sendai near the top of the list in terms of average attendances. Even tiny Ventforet Kofu, who once drew a record (low) crowd of 306 to a mid-season J2 contest, managed to attract attendances of over 10,000. Indeed, the team's total attendance for the season surpassed the entire population of Yamanashi prefecture!

As the J.League continued to gain popularity from fans in every part of the country, the top-drawing clubs started using their gate revenues to attract quality foreign players once again. Although some of the biggest blockbuster deals of the year (such as a bid by Yokohama Marinos to sign Cafu) fell through, the influx of talent to the league from overseas and the burgeoning numbers of soccer-playing younsters in Japan, contributed to a higher level of quality throughout both divisions.

In addition, there were indications that the league was entering a period of even greater parity among the various teams -- something for which the J.League has always been renowned. Though the Yokohama Marinos eventually won both stages, the races were close all season long. The second stage, in particular, was a wild and wooly battle to the finish line. With just two weeks left in the season, as many as ten teams still had a mathematical chance to claim the title. Never before had the league been so closely balanced, and this not only made for an exciting championship race; it also encouraged the smaller teams to begin developing longer-range plans to build a title contender.

The only truly disappointing thing about the 2003 season was that, despite the excitement of the final few weeks, the J.League decided at the end of the year to abandon the league's two-stage format, beginning in 2005. This was unfortunate and somewhat surprising, considering what an exciting race there was, for both the first and second stage crowns.

By having two separate titles up for contention, and wiping the slate clean in midsummer, the J.League had a format that kept hope alive even at bottom-of-the table clubs. Attendances in the final weeks of the season were tremendous, and this was good for everyone concerned, both financially and in terms of team spirit. It is hard to imagine that crowds of over 50,000 would have been turning out on rainy, late October evenings if the race had been narrowed down to just one or two teams, weeks or even months before.

Though the J.League format seemed to be doing that quite well in that respect, with a two-stage championship, the Eurocentric forces eventually managed to prevail, and change to a single-stage championship format beginning in 2005. The change did indeed have a negative impact on attendance, especially at lower-ranked teams that were out of the running by the end of August. Declining revenues prompted the League to reinstate a two-stage format in 2015, but it would last for just two years. A full discussion of that brief reversal can be found in our discussion of the 2014-2016 seasons.

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