Final 2009 USL-1 Attendance Numbers
Updated with the one missing game (thanks to USL’s hard-working Gerald Barnhart), here are my final unofficial attendance figures for USL-1 this year:
| Team | G | Total | Avg. | Median | 2008 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montreal Impact | 15 | 180,494 | 12,033 | 12,180 | 12,696 | -5.22% |
| Portland Timbers | 15 | 146,008 | 9,734 | 9,157 | 8,567 | 13.62% |
| Rochester Rhinos | 15 | 96,425 | 6,428 | 6,381 | 7,313 | -12.10% |
| Vancouver Whitecaps | 15 | 79,678 | 5,312 | 5,288 | 4,999 | 6.26% |
| Charleston Battery | 15 | 53,013 | 3,534 | 3,826 | 3,991 | -11.45% |
| Puerto Rico Islanders | 15 | 49,391 | 3,293 | 3,198 | 4,423 | -25.55% |
| Minnesota Thunder | 15 | 48,135 | 3,209 | 3,311 | 3,573 | -10.19% |
| Austin Aztex | 15 | 44,611 | 2,974 | 2,786 | N/A | N/A |
| Carolina RailHawks | 15 | 40,953 | 2,730 | 2,377 | 3,869 | -29.44% |
| Cleveland City Stars | 15 | 22,362 | 1,491 | 1,502 | N/A# | N/A |
| Miami FC Blues | 15 | 15,952 | 1,063 | 922 | 1,701 | -45.80% |
| USL-1 TOTAL | 165 | 777,022 | 4,709 | 3,662 | 5,164 | -8.81% |
#Cleveland was in USL-2 last year and averaged 1,634 in a different venue.
Some notes:
- After three straight years of overall league average attendance growth, USL-1’s average dropped just under 9% in 2009. Only two teams (Portland and Vancouver, who, coincidentally or not, announced they’ll be going to MLS) saw average attendance growth. Everybody else was down - in some cases (Puerto Rico, Carolina and Miami), way down.
- Despite dropping off just over 5% (an inevitable new stadium sophomore slump?), Montreal still led the league for the fifth straight year.
- Portland’s 9,734 average made them the only team other than Montreal or Rochester to average over 9,000 per game since 1994.
- September (5,427) was the best month for USL-1 average attendance, while April (3,689) was the worst (with only 16 games in the first month).
- The league only averaged 4,168 on Saturdays, but (thanks largely to Montreal playing several games midweek) 7,205 in 10 Wednesday games.
- Home openers averaged 5,536, home finales 5,079.
- 22 games on Fox Soccer Channel drew just barely below the league average (4,617).
Whether or not the supposed “breakaway” league comes to fruition, I would have to think we’ve seen the last of Miami and Cleveland in the top flight.
Tags: soccer, soccer attendance, USL
September 21st, 2009 at 10:14 am
I realize the need for it (to reduce travel), but teams playing two matches in a weekend must be reducing the number of Saturday night matches the league can schedule, and therefore affecting their attendance numbers.
September 22nd, 2009 at 4:06 am
There have already been reports that the City Stars are strongly looking at a move back down to the USL-2. It was unfortunate that Martin Rennie and most of thier better players departed just a few weeks before the USL asked them to move to and fill Atlanta’s spot.
September 24th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Oddly enough, I’m not sure if the Aztex did any better on Saturdays than on Friday or Sunday. It may have an effect elsewhere in the league, but I don’t know if it matters in Austin. Then again, we may have too small a sampling size here in Austin so far. And next season, we’ll be at a different stadium, so, once again, all new data, in a way.
September 28th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
[...] numbers for 2008 and 2009 were obtained from http://www.kenn.com/ and Gerald Barnhart from USL headquaters in Tampa, [...]