Week 1 Attendance

[Tank55]

USFL giving away tickets:

https://twitter.com/USFL/status/1513857464327888897

Very interested to see what the crowd looks like on Friday. It's easy enough to say attendance doesn't matter for most of these games, but the Stallions are a Birmingham team playing in Birmingham. Their attendance is a relevant metric as the USFL assesses 2023 markets.

For the record, I have no qualms with papering the crowd. Whatever it takes to fill the stands and create an atmosphere. There are some lines of thought that papering the crowd devalues the ticket to the point that it's counterproductive, but I don't think any of this is an exact science.

[4th&long]

USFL giving away tickets:

https://twitter.com/USFL/status/1513857464327888897

Very interested to see what the crowd looks like on Friday. It's easy enough to say attendance doesn't matter for most of these games, but the Stallions are a Birmingham team playing in Birmingham. Their attendance is a relevant metric as the USFL assesses 2023 markets.

For the record, I have no qualms with papering the crowd. Whatever it takes to fill the stands and create an atmosphere. There are some lines of thought that papering the crowd devalues the ticket to the point that it's counterproductive, but I don't think any of this is an exact science.

The tickets are $10, childern free, a little more for some "special seats" - they aren't losing any revenue this year if they give tix away. The city wants to concession rev anyway. By making people come to get the tix they know they are at least interested in going to the game.
4 Days to go!

[laxtreme56]

I'm sure week 1 will have decent crowds across the board, it's week 4 and beyond I worry about. Even if little to no money is being made of ticket sales, the larger the crowd the more local sponsorship can be attained. Sponsors will pay more to advertise in front of 20k people as opposed to 10k, 5k, etc.

[4th&long]

I'm sure week 1 will have decent crowds across the board, it's week 4 and beyond I worry about. Even if little to no money is being made of ticket sales, the larger the crowd the more local sponsorship can be attained. Sponsors will pay more to advertise in front of 20k people as opposed to 10k, 5k, etc.

I'm not even sure USFL gets that revenue in 2022. Its all about TV ratings, 100%. 1mm watching vs 15k in stands? Not the issue. Fox needs TV ratings to be solid in Yr 1.

[Tank55]

It's all about the ratings for the USFL, but it's all about attendance for the Stallions. If the league draws monster TV numbers and the Stallions are drawing flies, when it's time to move these teams into markets, you have to ask if Birmingham is still a fit.

[herns]

USFL giving away tickets:

https://twitter.com/USFL/status/1513857464327888897

Very interested to see what the crowd looks like on Friday. It's easy enough to say attendance doesn't matter for most of these games, but the Stallions are a Birmingham team playing in Birmingham. Their attendance is a relevant metric as the USFL assesses 2023 markets.

For the record, I have no qualms with papering the crowd. Whatever it takes to fill the stands and create an atmosphere. There are some lines of thought that papering the crowd devalues the ticket to the point that it's counterproductive, but I don't think any of this is an exact science.

They definitely don’t care about ticket money, I see this as a late push for a full sellout. I saw a local Birmingham media member say he thinks it’ll be over 30k and this was before they started doing giveaways

[Tank55]

30K would be totally respectable.

[SamTheRam28]

30K would be totally respectable.

Especially considering the Iron claimed to have 17K for their first game (looked like less than that, and the AAF seemed to fudge a lot of their attendance numbers).

30K+ paid would be a great number, and I am completely fine with them giving away tickets to fill the place up.

[Tank55]

Just took a peek at the weather forecast. Looks like cloudy with a chance of rain both Saturday and Sunday. That's unhelpful.

[super390]

Perception is everything when papering the house.
The WFL coverup of ticket giveaways in 1974 involved only 2 teams, but it appears to have done tremendous media damage at a time when media was nothing as reactive as it is today. If you dig deep into that story, what happened in Philly was simply that blocks of seats were sold cheap to local businesses to give away. But that's not what 99% of the online stories about the WFL say. Because it's not what ordinary sports fans believed at the time.
The key is being open about it without looking ridiculous. Don't put 60,000 people in the house and then refuse to explain how such a miracle occurred.
I think $10 tickets are NOT papering the house. Actually, they're a refreshing populist statement (with the underlying reality that the league owner is relying on TV money).
Free seats for children are more problematic, but again a populist statement. Similar to how minor league baseball rose from the dead by emphasizing family entertainment over having fans actually care about a really meaningful competition. Just be open about how many tickets were actually paid for. If that figure is over 15,000, we ought to be happy.