USL C Attendance 9/12

[u/US_SocFan50]

Birmingham-Charleston*: 828 (-75.30%)
Brooklyn-Miami: 2,474 (+27.07%)
Hartford-Tampa Bay: 3,908 (+36.64%)
Louisville-El Paso: 8,834 (-6.80%)
Pittsburgh-Loudoun**: 5,150 (-0.52%)
Jacksonville-Rhode Island: NR
Oakland-Lexington: NR
Orange County-Las Vegas: 3,990 (-6.32%)
Phoenix-Tulsa: 6,191 (+22.47%)
Sacramento-Detroit: 10,005 (+2.08%)

* = Did not play at usual venue
** = exceeds reported stadium capacity

Over performing by 5+ pts:
Brooklyn (1,947), Hartford (2,860), and Phoenix (5,055)

An average night meaning within +/-5 pts:
Pittsburgh*** (5,177) and Sacramento (9,801)

Under performing by 5+ pts:
Birmingham (3,352), Louisville (9,479), and Orange County (4,259)

Yet to Report:
Jacksonville (1,807) and Oakland (5,345)

*** = Pittsburgh is averaging above their reported capacity

[u/DownvoteMeIfICommen]

Pittsburgh had 5k?! The turnout we had was surprisingly big considering the downpour but I didn’t think it was that much!

[u/Buckles01 → u/DownvoteMeIfICommen]

It was not. There’s been reports that a few teams report tickets sold and not actual attendance. The stands were not a sell out last night so I unfortunately think we report tickets sold. I was really hoping we were having sell out attendance every week this season but now that’s in doubt

[u/thinkcow → u/Buckles01]

All teams use “tickets distributed”. Pittsburgh’s lower capacity means it definitely still could have been a sell out despite the empty seats.

[u/BullsAtBuffalo → u/thinkcow]

Teams don’t use tickets distributed because they have to pay USL royalties based on attendance.  If they inflate it with distribution, they are simply raising their expenses.  

[u/thinkcow → u/BullsAtBuffalo]

I assure you that they are using tickets distributed. They pay USL for every ticket sold

[u/BullsAtBuffalo → u/thinkcow]

No, they pay USL for each ticket sold or used for admissions.  

If they give away a ticket, they still have to pay the royalty for the person to attend the game for free. 

This has been an annoyance for some owners who wanted to boost attendance with giveaways as they are charged to give tickets away.  

But it actually helps keep game value high by limiting giveaways that can boost attendance in the short term but kill teams in the long term when people realize you don’t need to pay as they are always doing give aways.  

It’s why a lot of the giveaways teams have done are actually sponsor purchased tickets that are then given away.  

[u/thinkcow → u/BullsAtBuffalo]

I’m skeptical of what you’re saying for multiple reasons, mainly widespread reports throughout the history of USL to dump tickets on their youth systems, corporate comps, etc.

Every report on this always says tickets _sold_.

But the simpler way to prove this is there is no way that 3/4s of the people who supposedly buy a ticket to a Cosmos, CRW, or Corpus Christi game fail to show up, _every game_.

So Occam’s razor says either they don’t pay the $1.50 on non-sold tickets, or - and this is also quite possible - terms of their sponsorship contracts require them to eat the difference to maintain their contracts, but either way, it’s tickets distributed. Which has always been the language used.

[u/CharadeUR → u/Buckles01]

at the end of the day, they were still tickets sold, so i kinda get the logic for reporting that

[u/OpenGallo → u/DownvoteMeIfICommen]

I was at the Riverhounds game and the stadium was probably at 40% occupancy. It was raining like crazy and we ended up drenched. I think they are reporting tickets sold, not actual attendance. Many people probably decided not to go at the last minute because of the weather.

[u/PatternAntique4294]

I watched several games and I was shocked that the attendance was as high as it was for several games. Specifically the Phoenix game

[u/MattIn113 → u/PatternAntique4294]

I was at the Phoenix game. No way that place was over half full.

[u/PatternAntique4294 → u/MattIn113]

It looked mostly empty for a 10,000 seat stadium on ESPN

[u/Apprehensive-Loan944]

What the heck happenend with Birmingham?

[u/US_SocFan50 → u/Apprehensive-Loan944]

They weren’t playing at their normal stadium. They were playing at a much more remote and small venue

[u/fredthefan25 → u/Apprehensive-Loan944]

Also that new venue is pretty bad for TV cameras. Seemed MLS Next Pro-ish (probably worse).

[u/Physical-Sky499]

Dang Sporting Jax already at the not reporting attendance portion of low tickets sales

[u/Designer-Line1871 → u/Physical-Sky499]

They suck at playing soccer and marketing soccer.

[u/mcsteam98]

Jax/RIFC was probably a ghost town given the lightning delay beforehand. There were probably more people at the RIFC supporters’ watch party than were at that game in person.

[u/ToTellYouHowToFeel → u/mcsteam98]

Probably not.

[u/bcjohn02]

Just received email from USLHQ regarding the attendances for the following: Sporting Jax/RIFC: 1,320 Oakland/Lexington: 5,324