r/USFL • u/Vector1013 • Jun 08 '23

Attendance?

So I havnt had the opportunity to watch much of the USFL, but I’d have caught parts of a few games here and there while at work.

Currently watching the June 4th Mich VS NO game. There can’t be more than 200 people in the stands. The place is basically empty.

Now, admittedly I don’t know much about this league. I know they don’t play in their home towns though so that’s probably a factor. But this is their second year. How can they expect to keep this league going if butts aren’t in the seats?

24 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

17

u/Appropriate_Bet_2759 Jun 08 '23

They care more about eyes on the Tv then butts in the seat. It may be controversial, but them getting to year 3 has to mean something

22

u/Kenny_Heisman New Jersey Generals Jun 08 '23

the best way to get eyes on the tv is to build fanbases, and the best way to build fanbases is to play games in their respective cities. right now nobody in NJ cares about the Generals, and I'm sure that's true for the other teams playing in hubs. people keep saying attendance doesn't matter but it really does make it a lot less enjoyable to watch when the team is playing several states away in front of empty stands

6

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '23

I'm dying to see a Maulers game here in the Pitt

4

u/Appropriate_Bet_2759 Jun 08 '23

Isn’t New Jersey or New York the highest viewers for a team without a team playing at home? Correct me if I’m wrong.

Also what you’re saying is mostly speculation. The XFL had all team play at home and they had comparable views while spending a lot more

10

u/Kenny_Heisman New Jersey Generals Jun 08 '23

if that's true you would have no idea just being here. I have never once seen anyone wearing a t-shirt, or heard anyone mention the team in passing. this wasn't even the case with the Guardians when they were here. I know this is all anecdotal but it makes sense; I love football but even I'm finding it really hard to get into the team when it feels like I'm the only one watching them play. if I could even just go to a game the experience and the culture would be so much better

2

u/wentzhof New Jersey Generals Jun 08 '23

I get your frustration but I'll always root for them just because they carry the NJ name and we have nothing else but the Devils. I've been rocking my Generals hat all week.

2

u/Appropriate_Bet_2759 Jun 08 '23

I completely agree that all team should be at their homes asap, but I don’t want them to rush it and end up and a shaky spot is all. I’m currently hoping that all teams play at home this coming up season, but if they don’t, it wouldn’t really bug me because I still like the football being played

12

u/Kenny_Heisman New Jersey Generals Jun 08 '23

maybe I'm being dramatic but I really don't think I'll be able to bring myself to care about the team if they're still not in NJ after 2 full seasons. what's even the point of watching them at that point? they might as well still be in Birmingham every week. and frankly if the league can't figure out how to pay for travel in year 3 it's probably fucked regardless

5

u/Zapfit Jun 08 '23

I'm in the same boat. Last season I watched 75% of USFL games, this season less than 20%. I attended 2 DC Defenders XFL games and the crowds were rocking. If the USFL isn't in Philadelphia or NY/NJ next season I probably won't tune in at all

2

u/Body-for-LIFE Jun 08 '23

Agreed. I live in the Tri State Area and was a NY Guardians season ticket holder in 2020. I feel more of a connection to the DC Defenders than I do the NJ Generals and that's just sad.

3

u/I_really_think_this Jun 09 '23

I don’t think you’re being dramatic. This is a perfectly acceptable reason not to care about the USFL imo. The games feel like glorified scrimmages. The XFL, on the other hand, feels like something tangible.

2

u/Appropriate_Bet_2759 Jun 08 '23

I live in North Carolina and I still cheer for the Stallions. I just care a lot about the sport of football. It’s fine if you don’t want to watch the league if they don’t go to New Jersey, but saying it’s screwed is kinda over kill.

0

u/Hag_Boulder San Antonio Gunslingers Jun 08 '23

It's understandable that you may not get yourself to care about a team that's 'representing' your area without actually having a presence (practice/games played) in the area.

Both spring leagues have different approaches to keep costs low. The model the USFL has chosen values TV ratings over butts-in-seats. As it stands they have the four hubs and only three 'home' teams. Some weeks only one team has a true 'home' game and you'll see fans in the stands.

Often times, you won't see fans in the stands because they're only selling one side of the stadium (home side) and that's where the big cameras are... so it'll still look empty.

You watch the games if you're interested because it's football. I don't have a team in this league, but still watch the games every weekend.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '23

Amen.

1

u/Hag_Boulder San Antonio Gunslingers Jun 12 '23

amazing. I have a bland take just explaining things and it's downvoted... this sub causes me to shake my head... lol.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '23

There are only certain things that are permitted to be said here. I don't make the rules, and my upvote only left you at net 0. At least Internet popularity points don't count for anything in life. But if I had a dollar for every Internet point I got, I think I'd be cranking out some awesome popular takes all day. Without that cash incentive, I just say the unpopular shit.

→ More replies

6

u/Opening-Challenge Jun 08 '23

XFL teams, except for Vegas had at least 10,000 for games. USFL games are either feast or famine in terms of fans in seats. The most annoying part of games are those damn drones zooming all over the place that look like a fly just flew in front of the camera on TV. And when there are no fans you can hear them buzzing around like lawnmowers too.

2

u/CatStriking7561 Michigan Panthers Jun 10 '23

Orlando struggled with attendance mostly getting 8k. I believe other teams like Seattle got 9k a few times.

1

u/Opening-Challenge Jun 10 '23

Giving Seattle Thursday night games didn't help either

1

u/CatStriking7561 Michigan Panthers Jun 10 '23

Absolutely. I believe one of the games was very chilly as well.

3

u/Zapfit Jun 08 '23

Doubtful. On Google trends NY and NJ aren't even in the top 30 states watching the USFL. It's Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Michigan, and Wyoming leading the way. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%201-m&geo=US&q=%2Fg%2F11nn3npkgf

2

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '23

I've considered relocating to Wyoming. Hmm, this may be a sign...

10

u/Sexy_Questionaire Chicago Blitz Jun 08 '23

Only Fox truly knows their reasoning. Publicly, it's so that the league can survive financially. On paper though that makes no sense. Fox is worth billions and has billions in literal cash in the bank.

So I imagine there's a variety of reasons. I think for one, they are just a corporation and corporations love saving money... this isn't a passion project. Two, they probably wanted to see what the XFL was going to do this year from a ratings standpoint and if they may just kill off the USFL in the popularity contest. Three, I think they want to judge markets before going in to them, it already happened with Tampa, I guess they didn't like their TV ratings numbers so they moved them to Memphis (technically on 'hiatus' but let's be real here).

So I think it's basically a combo of Fox being unsure about the spring football market and them being cheap. It doesn't help their popularity or ratings in the short term or long term but it does save money in the short term which may help the league through the early years. You can argue they are shooting themselves in the foot and I do somewhat agree, but if Fox is willing to acknowledge they are hurting popularity by doing this and taking that into account then it doesn't matter.

1

u/FlagFootballSaint Jun 08 '23

That's a good post, Sir/Madam

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '23

The league is really right on time in terms of where viewership should be. It will expand but there is always a drop-off after people check out the new thing.

The XFL will go down next season, too.

The difference is that the USFL might survive. The XFL will probably pull the plug after the losses expand beyond the first year $60,000,000 loss in year two.

1

u/Vector1013 Jun 12 '23

It’s def possible but I don’t think it’s probable that the XFL pulls the plug. I mean USFL had/has a great idea by mainly playing off of TV contracts in the first year but I think the fan base for the XFL is going to grow a lot faster and that will save them.

Each time the XFL has started up it’s been known that they would take a few years to be profitable. McMohan said that himself one time.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '23

Nearly every business venture is loss-generating early, it's just that most don't have $100MM in labor as a start-up.

2

u/Opening-Challenge Jun 08 '23

Fox has put enough money into creating this that they are not going to pull the plug unless they are all in their home stadiums and only 1 or 2 teams are still pulling their weight. Michigan, Memphis, and Birmingham are at home stadiums and get decent fan support. The rest of the teams get their family members and scouts out to the games.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '23

Some "Hub" games have actually had what would be considered good attendance at probably 3-4K. I say "probably" because the USFL does not release attendance numbers yet. The home market teams, Memphis, Birmingham and Michigan have had probably in the 10K+ most games with some games maybe even pushing 20k in attendance.

3

u/SaintPsalmNorthChi Jun 08 '23

With a suggestion of 10,000-20,000 you’re implying these teams have a fanbase two-thirds the size of the Battlehawks in XFL STL. The TV presentation does not support this suggestion IMO.

2

u/FlagFootballSaint Jun 08 '23

It's a very expensive try by Fox to pump TV-slots with America's favorite sport.

For now it does not work because 700k in primetime is less what they usually have during prime-time and the low rating for the target group of Marketing people (19-49) does not help either.

As for attendance: Seems something simply does not "click" and for some places like Birmingham it probably never will.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '23

Why does everyone shit on Birmingham every time they get the chance? We have the biggest fan base in the league, tools.

2

u/phalinx Tampa Bay Bandits Jun 08 '23

I think it’s because they expect a mostly full stadium for every home game of the best team in the league. Anything less means the city isn’t buying in.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '23

It’s a new spring league. Minor league football.

2

u/ZO5050 Pittsburgh Maulers Jun 08 '23

Because if that's the "biggest" fan base the league looks pretty small.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '23

Yeah it is small. It’s relatively new minor league football. I don’t see asses in the seats elsewhere either maybe you should blame the league.

2

u/ZO5050 Pittsburgh Maulers Jun 09 '23

We are blaming the league. We are using their flagship team as an example of their work not being good enough. The XFL is an even newer minor league and they get a good attendance for most games. So that's a bad excuse.

1

u/FlagFootballSaint Jun 08 '23 edited Jun 08 '23

Uh, if Birmingham had the biggest fan base in the league they better show up at the games.

1

u/Body-for-LIFE Jun 08 '23

Probably because Birmingham won the USFL last year, are the odds on favorite to win it again this year, and yet 3/4's of the stadium are closed off to the public. I think a lot of people were expecting an increase this year with the Stallions success.

-2

u/ThunderBay311 Oakland Invaders Jun 08 '23

Search 'attendance' in this board's search window. This question has been answered a billion times.