Hmm... with Saturday's 6k in ORL, the league is currently at 746+ total attendance for the year. If we assume POR sells out their finale (25k), UTA gets another 15k+, and maybe ORL gets at least 6k again... that'd be 792k for the year. If NC can draw 8k, that would push the league past the 800k mark for the year! NC and ORL could draw less if UTA comes through with, say, 17k or 18k. Or ORL could draw more. Who knows? So straw poll for everyone here: yay or nay on the league hitting 800k this coming weekend?
I think it could happen but I don't see Utah drawing 15,000 and that NC and Orlando will come in higher then the 8000 and the 6000 your listed to make up for the difference. It will be close though.
NWSL teams like Reigh, Spirit and Skyblue sure need to go to bigger stadiums with easy access by fans. Not too big, more like 10,000 seat stadiums for teams with only 5k capacity or barely over it. Need to help accommodate more fans and help generate revenue. We saw what happened when teams move to bigger venues. You should see whats happening in England the FA Superleague, they have large fans in bigger stadiums for the derby. But, when they go to their own pitches, they are small some only 2k to 5k or less. Some have stadiums with about 10k capacity. But their attendance is like barely 800 average! Same for European women's' teams!
Attendance in Orlando:8,103— Chris Henderson (@chris_awk) October 13, 2019 Attendance in Utah:9,513— Chris Henderson (@chris_awk) October 13, 2019 Attendance in North Carolina:9,195— Chris Henderson (@chris_awk) October 13, 2019
Aw, that's not the number I was hoping for from Utah. We came so close to breaking 800k for the season... Not to mention Portland didn't sell out. Good numbers from Orlando and NC though. Wish we could've made up that last ~2350 somehow.
Portland numbers: Tonight's attendance: 24,521.2019 season average: 20,098.2019 total attendance: 241,181.Nothing compares, Rose City. 🌹 #BAONPDX pic.twitter.com/SUoEuLnRzn— Portland Thorns FC (@ThornsFC) October 13, 2019
Portland's numbers are ridiculous! Also, for the first time, women's pro soccer averaged more fans than the WNBA.
Not to take away from NWSL's awesome growth this year, but the WNBA comparison is knocked a little bit by the fact that the WNBA has hit a record low this year. It's been slowly decreasing over time since founding, and has been sub-7k for the past two years. The Mystics' move from COA (where the Wizards and Capitals play) to their own new venue has hurt a lot, since the new venue only holds about 2/3 of what they Mystics had been drawing.
Here's my look at 2019 NWSL attendance. By my count, @UtahRoyalsFC joined @ThornsFC and @TigresOficial as well as Washington Freedom and Atlanta Beat from WUSA days as only women's clubs to average 10,000+ in a season. https://t.co/Wx7bDuEuEr pic.twitter.com/SAtO2r8fvi— Paul Kennedy (@pkedit) October 13, 2019
The @ThornsFC had an average attendance of 20,098 in 2019.It is the highest average attendance for any women's club team in any sport ever. #BAONPDX🌹— Mike Donovan (@TheMikeDonovan) October 13, 2019
A bit on the WWC Bump: Biggest beneficiaries of post-Women's World Cup bump in @NWSL were @SkyBlueFC and @WashSpirit with jumps of 245% and 208%, respectively, in average attendance after their world champs returned. https://t.co/Wx7bDuEuEr pic.twitter.com/CKgv51YYX4— Paul Kennedy (@pkedit) October 13, 2019
NWSL announced attendance for today's semifinals:Chicago 9,218North Carolina 7,422— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) October 20, 2019
For the final: The Courage has now set a record attendance at Stahlen Stadium with 10,227. This is the third most for an NWSL Championship game all-time #NWSLChampionship #NWSL #NWSLonESPN #NCvCHI #NoFinishLine— Girls Soccer Network (@girlssoccernet) October 27, 2019