Week 6 Produces AAF’s Worst Attendance Numbers

Forum for XFL fans to discuss the Alliance of American Football.
Post Reply
User avatar
MikeMitchell
UFLBoard Correspondent
Posts: 2133
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2018 5:28 pm

Week 6 Produces AAF’s Worst Attendance Numbers

Post by MikeMitchell »

Here are the attendance numbers for The AAF’s week 6 games.

Week 6 of AAF : 58,113 In paid attendance (14,528/game)

• MEM @ SLC 8,150

Salt Lake, which has drawn poorly all season, continued that trend. SLC has 2 remaining home games left this year. This was a battle of two of the league’s worst teams. Memphis might get a boost in future games because of their addition of Johnny Manziel.

• AZ @ ORL 18,358

Despite Orlando being undefeated going into this game. The Appollos drew their worst attendance of the season. 18k is a respectable number otherwise but considering the teams standing. This number should have been better. Orlando finishes the season with 2 straight home games. They will most likely be hosting a playoff game as well. So the number in theory should go up.

• SA @ ATL 10,619

This is Atlanta’s worst turnout for a game this year. The benefit to playing in the league’s smallest stadium has helped from a visual standpoint.

• BHAM @ SD 20,986

The best news of the week for the league besides the Manziel signing. While this is not The Fleet’s best attendance of the season. Their numbers have been pretty steady.

Thus far, the AAF has drawn poorly at the gate. The Manziel signing couldn’t have come at a better time. With ratings also falling in recent weeks. The playoff push and better weather could help the league in this department despite March Madness starting up. It will be interesting to monitor where things go in the final quarter of their season.
Tank55
MVP
Posts: 2804
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2019 3:57 pm

Re: Week 6 Produces AAF’s Worst Attendance Numbers

Post by Tank55 »

Orlando having to practice in Georgia is brutal. Surely not helping local interest.

I only caught the Sunday games, but those attendance look about 5K too high to me, which has been the standard all season. Totally agree that Atlanta benefits from a smaller stadium; such a shame the AAF went for such big venues. Makes me nervous for the XFL in the instances where they had MLS stadiums theoretically available (Houston, New York) and decided to go bigger.
2020 East Division Champions
2021 February Monthly T-Shirt Giveaway Champion
User avatar
MikeMitchell
UFLBoard Correspondent
Posts: 2133
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2018 5:28 pm

Re: Week 6 Produces AAF’s Worst Attendance Numbers

Post by MikeMitchell »

Tank55 wrote: Mon Mar 18, 2019 8:51 pm Orlando having to practice in Georgia is brutal. Surely not helping local interest.

I only caught the Sunday games, but those attendance look about 5K too high to me, which has been the standard all season. Totally agree that Atlanta benefits from a smaller stadium; such a shame the AAF went for such big venues. Makes me nervous for the XFL in the instances where they had MLS stadiums theoretically available (Houston, New York) and decided to go bigger.
I think that the Houston stadium is a good size. It’s not a 70k capacity type stadium. It’s the perfect middle ground of 40k. In Texas, you want to give yourself the chance of drawing 25 to 30k plus.

I agree about New York. I am not saying this is going to happen again but The Hitmen were second in the original XFL in attendance with an average of 28,000 per game only behind San Fran. The league probably thinks that because of the market. They can do better than 20k per game. The Hitmen were a 4 and 6 team and still drew well despite that and bad weather.

MetLife is a monster stadium. So it’s really hard to make 20k look good in there. You can put the team logos in the end zone seating and tarp off the entire top portion of the stadium. Funnel all the fans to the home side camera but 30k in an 80k stadium can still look like an empty stadium.
ev1357
Kicker
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2019 12:57 pm

Re: Week 6 Produces AAF’s Worst Attendance Numbers

Post by ev1357 »

Week 6 produced the highest average attendance since week 2. Orlando hurt by going up against Orlando City and their ECHL team that draws well. Atlanta hurt by going up against Atlanta United. The Fleet posted their highest attendance to date, which is promising.

Week 7 should get a boost with San Antonio back at home this weekend and the possibility of Johnny Manziel playing for Memphis.
Last edited by ev1357 on Tue Mar 19, 2019 4:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
GDAWG
MVP
Posts: 2885
Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2019 6:15 pm

Re: Week 6 Produces AAF’s Worst Attendance Numbers

Post by GDAWG »

MikeMitchell wrote: Tue Mar 19, 2019 10:19 am
Tank55 wrote: Mon Mar 18, 2019 8:51 pm Orlando having to practice in Georgia is brutal. Surely not helping local interest.

I only caught the Sunday games, but those attendance look about 5K too high to me, which has been the standard all season. Totally agree that Atlanta benefits from a smaller stadium; such a shame the AAF went for such big venues. Makes me nervous for the XFL in the instances where they had MLS stadiums theoretically available (Houston, New York) and decided to go bigger.
I think that the Houston stadium is a good size. It’s not a 70k capacity type stadium. It’s the perfect middle ground of 40k. In Texas, you want to give yourself the chance of drawing 25 to 30k plus.

I agree about New York. I am not saying this is going to happen again but The Hitmen were second in the original XFL in attendance with an average of 28,000 per game only behind San Fran. The league probably thinks that because of the market. They can do better than 20k per game. The Hitmen were a 4 and 6 team and still drew well despite that and bad weather.

MetLife is a monster stadium. So it’s really hard to make 20k look good in there. You can put the team logos in the end zone seating and tarp off the entire top portion of the stadium. Funnel all the fans to the home side camera but 30k in an 80k stadium can still look like an empty stadium.
I don't think the XFL wanted any other venues in New York/New Jersey except MetLife. There's Rutgers and Princeton but I doubt those were options for the XFL. Red Bull Arena is also a no because the New York Red Bulls aren't going to allow American football played at their place. Besides there's already a relationship between Vince McMahon and MetLife Stadium as they will be hosting all 100 hours of WrestleMania 35 in a few weeks.
User avatar
MikeMitchell
UFLBoard Correspondent
Posts: 2133
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2018 5:28 pm

Re: Week 6 Produces AAF’s Worst Attendance Numbers

Post by MikeMitchell »

ev1357 wrote: Tue Mar 19, 2019 2:25 pm Week 6 produced the highest average attendance since week 2. Orlando hurt by going up against Orlando City and their ECHL team that draws well. Atlanta hurt by going up against an Atlanta United. The Fleet posted their highest attendance to date, which is promising.

Week 7 should get a boost with San Antonio back at home this weekend and the possibility of Johnny Manziel playing for Memphis.
3 of the 4 teams hosting in week 6 did their lowest attendance of the season.
Tank55
MVP
Posts: 2804
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2019 3:57 pm

Re: Week 6 Produces AAF’s Worst Attendance Numbers

Post by Tank55 »

Good point about Red Bull potentially not being available. It takes two to tango. But all else being equal, I think you'd rather sell out a 22K stadium and turn away people rather than sell 28K and have the place be only 40% full.
2020 East Division Champions
2021 February Monthly T-Shirt Giveaway Champion
Sounder
Coach
Posts: 697
Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2019 9:04 am

Re: Week 6 Produces AAF’s Worst Attendance Numbers

Post by Sounder »

Why is it that nowadays if something isn't an instant smash...... it's trash? The original AFL owners faced all these same difficulties when they launched..... poor turnouts......so so ratings ......teams bleeding red ink....... just think.......in today's times......when everybody has a snarky opinion thanks to social media......the AFL would've never had a chance. Those owners were resilient and weathered their early storm clouds and they won. A merger that is because if there were no settlement.......they and the NFL would've knocked each other silly. In contrast..... the AAF is actually performing better. And it isn't even top level......it's the NEXT level. I accept that. And I want it to be around. Something like this is not usually a network television attraction. Having CBS and TNT carrying their games is actually quite a coup......I guess it truly displays how people love football. Still......find a free digital service such as Stadium Channel to send their game feeds to..... so that we ALL can see.....and then maybe the stands will see more people in them.
GDAWG
MVP
Posts: 2885
Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2019 6:15 pm

Re: Week 6 Produces AAF’s Worst Attendance Numbers

Post by GDAWG »

I want San Diego to do well so that they can tell Spanos to shove it every time they do.
Post Reply