I'm thinking more likely they know this is it, they were slashing costs at all expenses to get through the year. They have been super quiet on all fronts when it comes to next season that I don't believe they will be defending their title.
So to wrap up this thread the final Spring/Fall Combined NASL numbers are : NASL 2016 average per game 4736 Down 20% over the previous years D2 record NASL set with 5913 per game. First time the league didn't increase its average since inception in 2011. 4736 is the 3rd lowest average for NASL in 6 years of existence so far. Ft Lauderdale inexplicably did not use the pro sport standard of announcing tickets distributed numbers announcing turnstile numbers instead bringing down the average further than it would have otherwise. 2016 Team Averages : Minnesota.................8573 Indy..........................8396 Tampa Bay................5878 Ottawa......................5482 Miami.......................5427 Carolina....................5058 Puerto Rico...............3801 New York..................3775 Jacksonville..............3499 OKC..........................3242 Edmonton.................2060 Ft Lauderdale............1343 For comparison sake USL's average attendance for this season was up 2.1% at 3439 per game. Expanded figures and analysis can be found on Kenn's website : http://www.kenn.com/the_blog/?p=8333
Not Edmonton but your correct on Rayo OKC doing so as well after SOS was gone in the summer apparently.
Way to go Burrough Boys! At least you're authentic and proper and aren't sellouts to a soda or EPL minor league team. Congrats!
It's pretty standard at the minor league level that teams owe the visitors a payment based on attendance. This is to help even expenses out and cover some of the costs of travel. If you're drawing 1300 fans at and you announce 3000 to make it look better to potential sponsors or advertisers, you also increase what you owe the visiting team (and in some leagues - the league office is funded off of a small percentage, but I don't know the NASL's arrangement). You can artificially drive up your expenses without any offsetting revenues. If you're a struggling financially, the cost/benefit can tilt towards announcing a lower number to keep costs down as opposed to a higher number to make it seem like a fun thing to do or appeal to sponsors. When this happens it is usually teams that are in a death spiral - like OKC.
If this ends up being the last season of NASL I'd like to thank @brentgoulet and @The One X for helping out with the attendance threads these past few years. It's been a fun ride.