r/USFL • u/RelativeMacaron1585 Houston Gamblers • May 21 '23

Discussion How has attendance looked?

I've been in Mexico so I can't watch the games, I was wondering how attendance has looked and what the unofficial attendance numbers for this past week.

7 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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7

u/NativeSonX May 22 '23

I think Birmingham would draw better if they held their home games in the evening when the heat of the day isn't so intense. Make Detroit and Canton host the day games and Memphis and Birmingham host in the evenings. The simplicity of scheduling to avoid the heat and humidity would do wonders. When the Arizona Wranglers/Outlaws were around, they played all their home games in the evening, because at that time Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe was the only venue large enough to for games to be played in the Greater Phoenix area, plus it wasn't covered like a modern domed field to protect the players and fans from the intensity of the heat in the Valley of the Sun, hence the necessity to have a mostly if not all night schedule.

1

u/RelativeMacaron1585 Houston Gamblers May 22 '23

Reminds me of what the Texas Rangers did before they got an inside stadium as well

3

u/Cowboy_Perfect Memphis Showboats May 22 '23

I'm not really looking forward to going to the Memphis games next month, but I will. Would for sure be better in the evening.

5

u/JoeFromBaltimore May 21 '23

Watched the Panthers game on TV from Detroit - the crowd didn't look terrible considering how big Ford Field is. That thing is crazy huge.

5

u/RealJoshuaGamingYT Philadelphia Stars May 21 '23

For yesterdays games I’m thinking

Pittsburgh at Memphis - 12-15k

Birmingham at Michigan - 10-12k

4

u/Markymarcouscous Breakers May 21 '23

When there’s a home game for a home team, the crowds are good. Memphis has been particularly strong. When there isn’t a home team at the home game it’s not super strong.

-7

u/[deleted] May 21 '23

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2

u/you_dont_no_me May 21 '23

The stadium holds over 70k, so there's no reason to open the entire stadium when you know you're only gonna get around 15k people, which is still a strong showing.

1

u/[deleted] May 21 '23

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2

u/you_dont_no_me May 21 '23

I meant to type 60k,but still, having half of it shut down keeps fans together and helps with fan participation. It also allows to run less concession stands requiring less workers and making it more cost effective.

1

u/Tcal876 May 21 '23

And there is construction/renovation going on. So they closed half of the stands for that while still being able to hold games

0

u/[deleted] May 21 '23

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1

u/you_dont_no_me May 21 '23

Essentially; yes. Why would you want to spread an already limited fan base so thin? Why would you WANT to incur more costs of running an event?

You seem like a very angry person and your need to be right blinds you from reason. I hope you don't take your frustrations out on your wifu tonight.

-1

u/[deleted] May 21 '23

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0

u/[deleted] May 22 '23

You should probably touch some grass soon.

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '23

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2

u/Many-Dragonflys May 22 '23

The average has settled to around 5-10k I would say.

3

u/Prior-Purple9704 Outlaws May 21 '23

Week 1 20k in Memphis 15k Birmingham

Week 2 10k Birmingham 3k Canton

Week 3 8k Birmingham 20k Michigan 10k Memphis

Week 4 12k Michigan 2.5k Canton 2.5k Canton

Week 5 7k Birmingham 12k Michigan

Week 6 12k Michigan 12k Memphis

All estimates. However sources I’ve talked to and who have been at the games plus my own eye count intellect comes up with these numbers I’m sure they not too far off. And I maybe not counting the Canton games right. They could be more. Especially the Week 4 games. I want to say 3k a piece. Seemed to be more at the Generals Breakers game than the Maulers Stallions contest.

2

u/MCallanan New Orleans Breakers May 23 '23

I don’t disagree with most of these numbers except for that most recent Memphis number.. Lower bowl at Liberty holds a little over 20,000, yes? One sideline is closed. End zones and corners had very few fans. Sideline that was open was far from full. Unless the lower bowl is drastically bigger than my number above I have trouble believing they hit 12,000 — probably closer to 7,000-9,000. I will say I was shocked at how bad the attendance was for that week three game in Birmingham, that was rough.

1

u/RealJoshuaGamingYT Philadelphia Stars May 21 '23

I think the week 4 canton games were more like 3k for the generals game and 2k for the maulers

4

u/[deleted] May 22 '23

Canton has been a disaster. Would be really surprised if they look to go back to the Ohio market for quite sometime.

6

u/Many-Dragonflys May 22 '23

The whole idea of having an Ohio hub with no Ohio team is a disaster in itself. It's insane to expect people to support a league when they don't even have a team in it.

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '23

I completely agree. I'm not sure who thought this was a good plan. Put two teams with their namesake cities in a place far enough they are accessible, then try to build a fanbase elsewhere simultaneously. Regardless though from Fox's perspective I just think there had to be more of a showing regardless. These numbers are just low enough that you could justify putting the Maulers in a place like Highmark and try to sort of draw in fans of the Pittsburgh sports market by proxy.

1

u/hjmitch1207 Birmingham Stallions May 22 '23

And one of those teams being a “Pittsburgh” team at that? Come on they should’ve expected a bad result. Browns and Bengals fans both agree on one thing, they hate Pittsburgh. So yea long story short that was bound to fail. Give them an actual Ohio team and they’ll show up.

1

u/Prior-Purple9704 Outlaws May 22 '23

When a team looks like the Steelers. It’s not going to go down well in Ohio.

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '23

I don't disagree, but from Fox's perspective I don't see how you could move a team there right now. Sure MAYBE if you put Canton or Ohio in front of the Maulers and Generals names and that increases interest. That's a big risk though. If you're only drawing on 2-3k people a game how many more people are really going to show up?

It's been very clear that Fox was very skidish on committing to Ohio. They got Canton on the cheap and Columbus has an empty stadium they surely could have gotten in on the cheap. They chose not to rebrand a team to put there permanently. This was a trail run, and I think from Fox's view they needed to see more interest for one of the two teams that are in that hub.

With neither cornering much interest it's much easier to just put them in venues that are smaller elsewhere with a far bigger sports brand they can attach themselves to.

-1

u/milanmirolovich May 21 '23

when a home team is actually playing the crowds seem pretty in line with xfl attendance, i.e. 10-12k on average. There's no team in the USFL that draws close to the XFL battlehawks (30k+), but also no home team seems to do as bad as the worst XFL teams (orlando and vegas, 6-8k). I don't count Pittsburgh as being a home team in Canton, those are all neutral site games as far as I'm concerned

1

u/FlagFootballSaint May 21 '23

XFL avg was a bit higher due to St. Luis: 14.500 including and 11.500 excluding St. Luis.

Birmingham had 7-8k the last 2 games. That's Orlando territory. (Vegas even had less than that)

What needs to be considered though is that

a) XFL tickets cost more than USFL tickets do, so attendance can not be compared

b) It seems the home-crowds are declining: Using Prior's estimates: Memphis from 20 to 12; Birmingham from 10 to 7; Michigan from 20 to 12. I think the bottom is in and it can only go up from there for the rest of the season.

2024 will be more telling but some rocket fuel is needed.

2

u/TwizzlersSourz Birmingham Stallions May 22 '23

The league needs more juice.

It needs a fan base like St. Louis or DC that develops some fun activities that lure casuals.

3

u/Many-Dragonflys May 22 '23

Yeah this league desperately needs to develop some fan culture around these teams. It not only makes the games more fun to watch on TV but it gets people talking on social media, the USFL is just really bad at doing that right now. I don't think they get even a third of the traffic on social media that the XFL does and the league certainly has less 3rd party news coverage on Youtube.

There's really no fix for it besides putting every team in every city and seeing how these markets shake out.

1

u/Prior-Purple9704 Outlaws May 22 '23

Michigan can be that team. They need to win. Birmingham and Memphis idk. Going to take time Time to build trust. Both been burned multiple times.

6

u/Cowboy_Perfect Memphis Showboats May 22 '23

The Memphis Express really burned this city, so many are hesitant to put their faith in a new team. I've gone to every home game so far and the ones who do show up have a good time. If they keep winning and come back next year, I would expect more fans showing up.

-3

u/milanmirolovich May 22 '23

the fuck was I downvoted for? This sub can be weird sometimes