There is no chance on earth that Birmingham actually increased attendance. I was at close to 75% of the matches and most of those games looked like less than 1,000 were in attendance. A significant chuck of legacy fans straight up refuse to come to Protective Stadium because it’s so big and unfriendly to fans.
Short answer, no. Long answer, the contract at Protective allegedly runs through next year and the team hasn’t been public about any plans to build a new stadium. Local politics also make it hard to build anything within city limits since the city wouldn’t be willing to wave the white flag on Protective five years in despite it being a massive failure for UAB and the Stallions as well and the city wants its hands deep in basically anything to extract as much money as possible (massive Ticketmaster fees, concessions and parking prices among others). And the team’s shown no outward willingness to build in the suburbs.
Thank you for that detailed and concise reply. I met some really great Stallions fans at the Inaugural UFL championship game in St. Louis last year. I hope the have better attendance this spring, too. Hang in there.
Attendance against available seats would be a good metric. There is a comfort level for too high or too low. That would measure health of the teams and league.
Wonderful piece, as always. And thank you for the plug!
There is no chance on earth that Birmingham actually increased attendance. I was at close to 75% of the matches and most of those games looked like less than 1,000 were in attendance. A significant chuck of legacy fans straight up refuse to come to Protective Stadium because it’s so big and unfriendly to fans.
I agree, but I can only use the data they're putting out!
And I don’t blame you for reporting it! I imagine it’s a problem across sports in general.
Oh that is unfortunate. Is there any possibility or plans for a soccer specific stadium?
Short answer, no. Long answer, the contract at Protective allegedly runs through next year and the team hasn’t been public about any plans to build a new stadium. Local politics also make it hard to build anything within city limits since the city wouldn’t be willing to wave the white flag on Protective five years in despite it being a massive failure for UAB and the Stallions as well and the city wants its hands deep in basically anything to extract as much money as possible (massive Ticketmaster fees, concessions and parking prices among others). And the team’s shown no outward willingness to build in the suburbs.
Thank you for that detailed and concise reply. I met some really great Stallions fans at the Inaugural UFL championship game in St. Louis last year. I hope the have better attendance this spring, too. Hang in there.
Thank you for the attendance chart!
What gives with my Rising’s attendance? The crowd has been sparse all year and now you see it in black and white.
Attendance against available seats would be a good metric. There is a comfort level for too high or too low. That would measure health of the teams and league.