Memphis 901 FC’s Final Average Attendance Worst in Team History

Memphis 901 FC is gone now. Nominally, the reason for their demise and departure is the lack of a legitimate stadium plan. While the lack of a stadium is undoubtedly the biggest and most obvious reason, one factor that cannot be ignored is the ever-decreasing attendance. Despite a robust average of nearly 6,700 fans for the first 20 home games of the team’s existence, attendance had been dropping every year for the last four years. 2024’s average was, like 2023 before it, the worst attendance in team history.

Just how bad was it in 2024? Here’s the list of every game that Memphis 901 FC played at AutoZone Park in 2024.

Memphis 901 FC hosted 19 total games at AutoZone Park in 2024: 17 USL Regular Season games, 1 USL Playoff game, and 1 US Open Cup game. The average for those 19 home games was a paltry 2,874 people per game. That was the lowest in team history and a 17% drop from 2023’s 3,455 fans per game (which was the worst in team history at the time and itself a drop of 11% from 3,886 per game the year before).

Here’s a look at the year by year attendance for Memphis 901 FC.

In short, Memphis 901 FC’s attendance got worse every single year. This year’s attendance was frustrating for two reasons. First, the team was good. By the time they had announced the franchise rights were being transferred to Santa Barbara, Memphis 901 FC had made four straight playoff appearances and finished in the top four of their conference in three straight seasons (the only team in the league to do so in that time). They had additionally been moderately successful in the US Open Cup, competing four times, winning at least one game three of those four times, and winning at least two games twice (including a famous Cupset win over Atlanta United of MLS in 2023). The poor attendance despite the on-field success has caused many to wonder about the veracity of the most famous of Memphis sayings: “Memphis will always support a winner.”

The second reason this year’s poor attendance was so frustrating was that the team finally started trying to promote and market themselves better. They made numerous appearances at youth tournaments out at Mike Rose Soccer Complex (and stayed for the whole day most days). On top of that, they made a number of appearances at various rec leagues around town. They once again, held an open practice where youth players could participate in drills with the 901 FC players. They hosted a pair of watch parties for games when the team was on the road. Head Coach Stephen Glass and Sporting Director Caleb Patterson-Sewell put on a free coaching clinic for youth and high school coaches. They held events with numerous agencies around town including the Shelby County Health Department, the Memphis Fire Department, and the Memphis Police Department. It is also not a coincidence that the game they very clearly put a lot of time and effort into marketing (the regular season finale against the Sacramento Republic for Hispanic Heritage Night) was the largest crowd in nearly two years.

But in the end, it was too little, too late or perhaps a case of a day late and a dollar short. Despite their efforts, the attendance tanked again and the team is no longer here. In fact, only three teams in the USL Championship had a worse attendance than Memphis 901 FC in 2024.

Memphis 901 FC finished 2024 with the 21st ranked attendance out of the 24 teams in the league. That is a spot worse than they were in 2023, when their average of 3,455 was good for 20th out of the 24 teams in the USL Championship. It’s also worth noting that two of the four teams with worse attendance than Memphis 901 FC in 2023 (Charleston Battery and Loudoun United) moved past 901 FC this year. Additionally, one of the three teams behind Memphis 901 FC this season (North Carolina FC) was a new addition to the USL Championship after having spent the prior three years down in USL League One.

The team may have ostensibly transferred their rights to Santa Barbara because there was no chance of getting a soccer-specific stadium built, but one does have to wonder if the transfer would have been made if Memphis 901 FC was drawing bigger and better crowds. Ultimately, if professional soccer is to make a return to Memphis at some point in the future, the lesson in this: marketing must be the biggest priority for the team. It must be constant and it must be ubiquitous. They must be present at community schools, they must be ever-present at rec leagues and youth tournaments in the area, and they must sell themselves to local media outlets (newspapers, TV stations, and radio stations). Otherwise, professional soccer will never truly make it in a town that is a much better soccer town than it gets credit for.