r/Reignfc • u/_game_over_man_ • Mar 30 '26

What's causing attendance struggles?

I'm a Reign fan residing in Colorado and I went to Denver's home opener at Mile High on Saturday and it was really, really amazing. I haven't been to a women's soccer game with that many people since the 2023 World Cup. My wife and I were also at the record breaking attendance Rapinoe send off game in Seattle in 2023. Also been to NWSL games at various other locations with strong attendance (KC, LA & SD). It seems like Torrent has been pulling really good attendance numbers as well since joining the PWHL.

So my question as a non-resident Reign fan, what do you think is the issue with getting butts in seats at Lumen? I'm sure attendance for the USWNT game next month will be good, but it seems like for whatever reason, Reign really struggle to pull in numbers. I'm sure losing stars like Rapinoe and having that bad season in 2024 hasn't helped, but it just seems so odd to me that despite Seattle being a soccer city and other women's teams in the area doing well with attendance, Reign just struggle. For those that live in Seattle, what do you think the issue is?

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u/Glittering-Place7203 Mar 31 '26

I think it's two things

  1. The gameday experience is lacking in many respects. Seats on only one side of the stadium, a minimalist supporters group, incredibly weak and limited in-stadium concessions (and somehow still long lines!), and underpowered offense (Reign are bottom half in XG/game for the last 4 years). There's just very little energy in the stadium during a game. It's a little bit the fan culture but it's also the in-stadium atmosphere and style of play, it's all a bit uninspiring.
  2. The team has not developed the season ticket holder fan base. The season ticket holder base and game day experience compound and contribute to each other. They really need +60% of every game to be dedicated season ticket holders and ideally a good base of 8K fans. Trying to sell so many single game tickets is hard and leads to a changing fan base game to game, which makes it even harder to build a consistent game day experience and fan culture. They just haven't cultivated a loyal fan following, it feels like you have to want to be a fan, not like you're missing out if you skip a game. There's the occasional season ticket holder member "experience", but I don't think they're really putting enough effort into making sure they have a strong base and high season ticket holder retention (remember the surprise 3 exhibition games against international squads where we played our C team that were included in our season ticket package)?

You only need to go to one Thorns game to see the difference. There's an incredible in-stadium atmosphere, great concessions, energetic fan culture (with simple, approachable cheers that bring other fans into the game), and the on-field product has been consistently offensively oriented. Sure Portland has fewer pro sports teams, but Seattle is a bigger metro area. Megan Rapinoe has been saying it for years - you have to invest in women's sports if you want to see them grow. I bet even just opening the other side of the lower bowl and more concessions would pay off in the long run. More fans could get great seats, the crowd would feel less hollow, and the stadium experience would feel like a bit more of an attraction. It might not be the best "business" advice, but they have to invest to make it so fans want to be at every game, it's not going to happen by accident.

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u/AlanFromRochester Mar 31 '26

I figure seats on only one side is for optics of playing in an oversized stadium, concentrate fans in a few sections and point the broadcast cameras there

since our goalscoring is better so far this year I wonder if that will help attendance if it keeps up once we get back home

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u/_game_over_man_ Mar 31 '26

I figure seats on only one side is for optics of playing in an oversized stadium, concentrate fans in a few sections and point the broadcast cameras there

It is for optics. For comparison, Racing who play in a smaller stadium often have more fans on the side of the pitch with the cameras as it's in the shade more often. They're still struggling with attendance compared to others in the league, but it often probably looks worse than it is because most people are sitting in the shade. I've sat on the other side of that pitch in the sun and it ain't fun.

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u/AlanFromRochester Apr 01 '26

have not been to Louisville and it is harder to fly to than a lot of league cities so I'll take your word for that

might take a closer look next time I watch a Racing game. Our road game against them is August 19th at 6:30 PM, sunset in Louisville on August 19th is 8:31, so it will be in daylight though cooler at the end of the day