Division 3 Code: % of season completed 10.0 Year Average Median %<1K %>3k 2005 1687 1470 22.2% 11.1% 2006 2013 1523 11.1% 33.3% 2007 2022 1843 30.0% 20.0% 2008 1911 1822 20.0% 30.0% 2009 1881 2105 11.1% 0.0% 2010 1896 1356 66.7% 0.0% 2011 2188 1231 33.3% 22.2% Code: Final Numbers Year Average Median %<1K %>3k 2005 1680 1457 21.4% 11.9% 2006 1803 1703 14.1% 11.8% 2007 1575 1423 28.1% 6.3% 2008 1614 1629 26.0% 7.3% 2009 1602 1518 31.8% 7.1% 2010 1689 1385 35.1% 17.5% If we ever make it through an entire D3 season with all teams reporting their attendances, the Apocalypse will happen shortly thereafter. Sad, after Antigua's wonderful reported first attendance, that they haven't seen fit to give us numbers from their next two games. At this point, I'm missing 1/7 of the attendances, so, as with pretty much all previous D3 seasons, these numbers are virtually meaningless. Nevertheless, I carry on. And you probably don't even want to know how those numbers would look without Orlando. And I'm not even going to try. Not worth the effort. Not sure if we're far enough into the season to really know anything. Typically Andy used to wait for 1/3 of the MLS season before he felt like there was any trend to speculate on. So I should probably hold off here as well. There's still four teams that have yet to have a home opener, one of them being Rochester. It will be interesting to see what happens there. The two home openers we have this week are FCNY and LA.
They'd probably improve greatly without the PR teams, but suck incredibly without Orlando (the median would drop below 1,000 for sure). We'll get an additional bump with Rochester. LA and FCNY will be the wild cards. I suspect we'll have no PR teams in 2012. Antigua, who knows? I find it hard to believe they fell from 3,500 to PR numbers. I think they can survive starting off with Richmond or Wilmington numbers. But they have to start winning.
Plus I guess that ticket prices in Antigua are pretty low, probably Wilmington makes more money selling 2000 tickets than Antigua selling 3500
Antigua plays Rive Plate on Friday, same day Islanders plays Strikers. Attendance shouldn't break the 100s. Also today PR United will actually play in their home stadium, the problems haven't been fixed but since it's at 4pm lighting shouldn't be a issue.
Without the PR teams, I can't see how Antigua survives in USL-Pro. They simply cannot afford the travel costs. So the entire international division will likely be scraped.
A USL pro with Charleston, Orlando, Pittsburg, Dayton, NY, Rochester, Wilmington, Charlotte, Richmond etc... would make sense. But without Antigua / LA of course
Some attendance figures are better then none. Where on the NASL site do they have attendances? I can only find it occasionally in some of the game recaps. Maybe I'm missing something.
I go to the Schedule page and click on the score link for the match report. Since that's official, it's what I've used for as long as I've been doing this (3rd year now?) As to Whitestar's comment, the reporting of attendances this year is about the same as previous years. D3 has always been spotty, usually caused by one or two negligent teams.
It's not attendance figures, but at the bottom of "Stats" page, you can at least see the average of each team.
Wilmington announced an attendance of 2984 for tonights game versus the Riverhounds. http://www.uslsoccer.com/scripts/runisa.dll?M2:gp::72013+Elements/Display+E+47107+Stats/+2175607
Very good work for Wilmington. Barracuda @ River Plate was 127. Probably the only redeeming factor is that at least they are reporting it. Charleston @ Charlotte was at 938. Typically depressing. We'll just have to wait and see if the reports of a near-sellout at FCNY hold up. It would only be 2,600, but it would be better than the PR teams, that's for sure. And we still have the LA opener tomorrow, and the Rochester opener (finally) next Saturday.
Maybe someday Harrisburg will get to have a home opener. Actually, it's now set for Tuesday, May 10 against Rochester. Expect the numbers to be low because the match is rescheduled for a Tuesday night (traditionally Saturdays draw much larger crowds). The City Islanders are getting killed by the weather gods, two home openers postponed. At least the Rhinos bring name recognition, so maybe fans will come out. The team averaged 1,711 fans per home contest in 2010, hopefully they're able to surpass that despite several weeknight matches and the confusion surrounding the postponements.
Whats going on with Charlotte? Its one of the biggest, oldest markets in the USL Pro system. Is the team not marketing or something?
On Friday evening? I thought Eagles had pretty steady attendance, they seemed a pretty consistent and strong team in the past. Wheels coming off now?
Eagles don't market, normally play in a crappy market and to be honest, the religious angle makes some people uncomfortable (especially playing at christian high school ) Last nights match was in Rock Hill SC about 40 min south of where they normally play and I didn't know about the venue change (still don't know exactly why) until late this week. That said I don't think the Eagles are as concerned about attendance as their goal isn't making money, it is more of a missionary mission and i'm sure they get large amounts of money from churches.
I didn't realize the Charlotte Eagles is an evangelical mission, I guess you learn something new everyday! Buxmont Torch is a new NPSL team in PA that also has the missionary angle: http://www.buxmonttorch.com/home.html This is pretty interesting, I wonder how people would respond if other religious denominations sponsored teams. Are there other teams like these in the USL/NPSL system? I remember some touring basketball teams that used to play exhibitions against colleges who were missionaries, groups like Athletes in Action. Considering the sectarian history of soccer, this is pretty surprising, but then again, American soccer typically doesn't carry the histories or fan behavior that's made this a problem elsewhere. Huh, I don't why I'm so surprised, maybe it's because so many questions emerge from such an arrangement. Do Charlotte or Buxmont only sign Christian players? Does it make them more disciplined on the pitch (i.e. fewer bookings)? Do they attract fans who could care less about their religious beliefs? I guess private teams can operate anyway they deem fit, but it seems exclusionary and limiting in terms of establishing a fan base.
I don't attendance has anything to do with religion or beliefs. But it may have everything to do with with a said church sponsoring the team not caring about promoting the team. You don't have to be a church to have that agenda.
I'm not jumping on the Eagles case or anything, they have their own thing and thats cool. But starting the game off with a prayer over the PA, like they've done a few times, DOES turn some people off. Also tonights game in Dayton had about 600 people, around the same as last week... i think they're out if their league, on and off the field.
Dayton lost 6-0!!! They played terrible, our 4th loss in a row. The fans that were near me, including one of the Dayton player's parents, were frustrated the entire game. Richmond scored after 4 minutes and then the flood gates opened. The ref made some bad calls but at the end of the day we were outclassed. Last night was a great night weather wise and the crowd was very small. I was kind of surprised but after last nights performance not anymore. They are playing a game at the minor league baseball stadium in town at the end of May........ I bought season tickets, just like last year, I'm going to all the home games but honestly something needs to change! We only have like 4-5 guys returning from last year, everyone else is new. Last night 3/11 starting players were returning players.