A strong end to a strong campaign, as the 2018 USL attendance was over 112,000 for the last week of the regular season.
Here is the full listing of 2018 USL attendance through Oct. 14:
Team | Av. | Totals | Gms | 2017 | YOY | Week 31 | |
1 | FC Cincinnati | 25,717 | 437,197 | 17 | 21,199 | 0.21 | |
2 | Sacramento Republic FC | 11,311 | 192,293 | 17 | 11,569 | -0.02 | 11,569 |
3 | Indy Eleven* | 10,163 | 172,776 | 17 | 8,954 | 0.14 | |
4 | Nashville SC | 9,561 | 162,540 | 17 | NA | NA | 16,614^ |
5 | Louisville City FC | 7,891 | 134,153 | 17 | 8,613 | -0.08 | 17,379^ |
6 | Las Vegas Lights FC | 7,266 | 123,529 | 17 | NA | NA | 5,929 |
7 | San Antonio FC | 6,939 | 117,969 | 17 | 7,152 | -0.03 | 7,018 |
8 | Phoenix Rising FC | 6,380 | 108,465 | 17 | 6,127 | 0.04 | 7,289 |
9 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 5,553 | 94,399 | 17 | 5,894 | -0.06 | |
10 | Reno 1868 FC | 5,066 | 86,128 | 17 | 5,559 | -0.09 | 5,136 |
11 | Fresno FC | 4,871 | 82,810 | 17 | NA | NA | 6,248 |
12 | Ottawa Fury FC | 4,752 | 80,778 | 17 | 5,427 | -0.12 | 5,385 |
13 | North Carolina FC* | 4,730 | 80,414 | 17 | 4,489 | 0.05 | |
14 | Rio Grande Valley FC | 4,650 | 79,049 | 17 | 7,067 | -0.34 | |
15 | OKC Energy FC | 4,298 | 73,071 | 17 | 4,293 | 0.00 | |
16 | Saint Louis FC | 4,271 | 72,615 | 17 | 4,571 | -0.07 | 11,442^ |
17 | Richmond Kickers | 3,976 | 67,594 | 17 | 4,665 | -0.15 | |
18 | CS Switchbacks FC | 3,804 | 64,674 | 17 | 3,389 | 0.12 | |
19 | Seattle Sounders FC 2 | 3,370 | 57,285 | 17 | 1,097 | 2.07 | 3,219 |
20 | Orange County SC | 3,095 | 52,618 | 17 | 2,527 | 0.22 | |
21 | Tulsa Roughnecks | 3,094 | 52,599 | 17 | 3,851 | -0.20 | 3,018 |
22 | Charleston Battery | 2,872 | 48,824 | 17 | 3,167 | -0.09 | |
23 | Atlanta United 2 | 2,598 | 44,158 | 17 | NA | NA | 4,653^ |
24 | Pittsburgh Riverhounds | 2,401 | 43,212 | 18 | 2,639 | -0.09 | |
25 | Bethlehem Steel FC | 2,347 | 39,898 | 17 | 3,052 | -0.23 | 262 |
26 | Penn FC | 2,147 | 36,495 | 17 | 2,429 | -0.12 | 4,117^ |
27 | Portland Timbers 2 | 2,015 | 34,256 | 17 | 2,524 | -0.20 | |
28 | Real Monarchs SLC | 1,731 | 29,432 | 17 | 2,577 | -0.33 | |
29 | Charlotte Independence | 1,659 | 29,858 | 18 | 1,615 | 0.03 | 1,486 |
30 | LA Galaxy II | 1,048 | 17,818 | 17 | 1,215 | -0.14 | |
31 | Swope Park Rangers | 881 | 14,978 | 17 | 1,015 | -0.13 | 1,074 |
32 | New York Red Bulls II | 812 | 13,805 | 17 | 632 | 0.28 | 1,592 |
33 | Toronto FC II | 810 | 12,143 | 15 | 1,089 | -0.26 | |
TOTALS | 4,916 | 2,757,833 | 561 | 4,301 | 0.14 | 113,430 | |
WEEKLY AV. | 5,156 | ||||||
*Played 2017 in NASL | |||||||
^Total of two matches |
We’ll be posting a longer story on this record season, but for now, the big story is the big increase in league attendance. The league’s season per-game average of 4,923 is a healthy improvement over 2017’s 4,301 season average. Whether it can be matched in 2019 is a good question: FC Cincinnati will not be part of the mix with a move to MLS, but neither will low-drawing teams like Toronto FC II (moving down to USL League One) and Penn FC (on hiatus).
These reports are compiled from team postings on the league website. Photo courtesy USL and Orange County SC.