With a week to go in the regular season, we saw another solid performance for 2018 NWSL attendance numbers, with great gains over the 2017 season.
Here is the 2018 NWSL attendance through Sept. 8, the final week of the season:
| Team | Av. | Totals | Gms | 2017 | YoY | Week 24 | |
| 1 | Portland Thorns FC | 16,959 | 203,506 | 12 | 17,653 | -0.04 | 21,144 |
| 2 | Utah Royals FC | 9,466 | 113,593 | 12 | NA | NA | 11,851 |
| 3 | NC Courage | 5,129 | 61,549 | 12 | 4,389 | 0.17 | 9,505 |
| 4 | Orlando Pride | 4,837 | 58,046 | 12 | 6,186 | -0.22 | |
| 5 | Chicago Red Stars | 4,368 | 48,048 | 12 | 3,198 | 0.25 | 2,974 |
| 6 | Houston Dash | 3,896 | 42,859 | 12 | 4,578 | -0.22 | |
| 7 | Washington Spirit | 3,892 | 46,704 | 12 | 3,491 | 0.11 | |
| 8 | Seattle Reign FC | 3,824 | 45,885 | 12 | 4,037 | -0.05 | |
| 9 | Sky Blue FC | 2,531 | 30,374 | 12 | 2,613 | -0.03 | 4,086 |
| TOTALS | 6,024 | 650,564 | 108 | 5,083 | 0.19 | 49,560 | |
| WEEKLY AV. | 9,912 |
The total attendance of 49,560 was the second-highest of the season, as well as the per-match average of 9,912. (Take the total for NC Courage with a small grain of salt: it was the total attendance for a USL/NWSL doubleheader.) The Portland Thorns crowd was a sellout at Providence Park and the largest of the season. The issue for the NWSL in the future will be spurring growth in existing franchises. Adding Utah Royals this season was a huge bump, but for future growth teams like Seattle and Houston — once big draws — need to improve.
Information from the NWSL website. Image courtesy Orlando Pride.