Orlando Pride Seeing a Resurgence in Crowd Support

The National Women’s Soccer League has grown significantly over the past few years. It wasn’t long ago that players were struggling to make a living wage, largely because crowds were rarely more than 3,000 fans. However, many of the league’s teams have regularly seen attendances over 10,000 this season.

Orlando City’s ownership group launched a women’s team in 2016 and it looked like it would be one of the best supported women’s teams in the world. After Orlando City filled Camping World Stadium in 2015 and 2016 with over 62,000 fans, the club tried a similar marketing campaign with the Pride. It worked for the opening game, as the team saw 23,403 fans enter the stadium, setting a league record at the time.

Unfortunately, that momentum soon went away. Following the record-breaking crowd in the season opener, the Pride drew an average of 7,139. While it was a far cry from the more than 23,000 in the team’s first game, the average attendance, excluding the opener, was second to the Portland Thorns — who regularly filled Providence Park — and nearly 1,500 more than the Houston Dash.

To the Pride’s credit, they did everything they could to draw people to Camping World Stadium. The team filled its roster with USWNT stars, including Alex Morgan and Ashlyn Harris. They improved their roster in 2017, signing Ali Krieger, Alanna Kennedy, and Marta, arguably the best women’s player of all time.

The signings were fruitful on the field as the Pride qualified for the NWSL playoffs for the first time in team history, falling to the Thorns in the semifinal round. But the success didn’t show in the stands. The first game in the team’s new soccer-specific stadium saw 14,452 in attendance for the first game, a number that fell significantly during the season. The average home attendance in 2017 was 6,186, but only 5,435 without counting the season opener.

Over the next few years, attendance numbers continued to drop, falling to a team-worst average of 3,773 in 2021. Excluding the NWSL Challenge Cup — which drew much smaller crowds— the average was raised slightly to 4,227 fans per game.

The 2022 season saw a slight rise in regular-season home attendance for the Pride with an average of 4,385. However, that number is skewed by a special game at Daytona International Speedway, which drew 7,573. The team drew 4,067 fans at its home stadium.

A large part of the poor attendance that season was that the Pride were going through a rebuild. Star players like Morgan, Harris, and Krieger were traded away for draft picks and Allocation Money as the Pride looked to follow the example of the Washington Spirit, which won the NWSL championship in 2021.

The Pride made some big changes following the 2022 season. Head Coach Amanda Cromwell and Assistant Coach Sam Greene were banned from the league for retaliatory behavior and assistants Aline Villares Reis and Michelle Akers left the club. General Manager Ian Fleming was also let go. Seb Hines — who was the only coach remaining and took over as interim head coach — was hired permanently and Haley Carter was brought in as general manager.

The work of Hines and Carter has seen success on and off the field. When they felt the young core was ready, the duo began to bring in veteran players. As a result, the Pride narrowly missed out on the 2023 playoffs solely on goal differential and are unbeaten this year through 22 games and on the cusp of claiming the NWSL Shield.

The crowds have begun to show up as well. Last season, the Pride averaged 5,766 fans across all home games and 6,353 in home league games. That average league attendance is the second-highest in team history. That number has grown this year to 8,034 in all competitions and 8,448 in league games. The team drew an announced crowd of 17,084 Saturday night against the Houston Dash, the second-largest crowd in team history, the team’s largest in the current stadium, and its largest outside of a season opener.

The difference in the crowd support has been noticed by the players and few have a better viewpoint for comparison than Carson Pickett. The right back initially played for the Pride from 2018 to 2020 before being traded to the North Carolina Courage. She was brought back this year from Racing Louisville FC in a midseason trade and spoke about the difference in crowd support Saturday night.

“To be able to see this club turn from 2020 all the way until now, and just see the growth and everything that Haley and Seb have done here and the girls, the work that they’ve put in day in and day out. I stepped into this club, and I was like, ‘Wow, this is a winning club, a winning culture,’” Pickett said. “And just to be able to do it in front of, I think a record crowd, I mean, it’s unbelievable. It’s pushing the game forward. It’s pushing the Orlando Pride forward.”

While the team is glad to see the growth, it doesn’t depend solely on the fans to make it happen. The players and staff know they need to provide a product worth watching and put the responsibility on themselves to draw people to the stadium.

“I’ve said it from the start, we’ve had to make it our duty to try to attract more fans to come watch us play,” Hines said after the Houston game. “I know behind the scenes the front office are doing a terrific job to continue to try to promote fans to come out and support this team. And our job is to put the performances together. And I can assure you, the players are giving absolutely everything. They are doing the most to go out there and perform at their highest level and get victories. And I think tonight epitomizes with the crowd coming out and showing their support for this team. Because they’ve done so well this year.”

The success on the field and the support in the stands go together. The more the team wins, the more fans will show up. And, according to Hines, the team will play better when they have a supportive crowd behind them.

“It’s really important. It’s really important to get the backing of the fans, get them off their seats, get them excited,” Hines said. “I thought we started the half really well. I thought we were on the front foot. Created some opportunities and you could hear them. I’ve said it from the start, the fans are your 12th player. They’re the ones who spur you on. They’re the ones that stick by you, even towards the end. You can hear them loud and proud and pushing the players into getting the victory at the end.”

The future looks very bright for the Pride. They remain undefeated with only four games left in the season and could clinch the NWSL Shield Sunday. In addition to being the first trophy in club history, it would secure the first seed in the playoffs, guaranteeing the Pride home-field advantage until the NWSL Championship Game, which will be held in Kansas City.

The core of this team is still quite young, and Marta — the captain and undisputed leader — has played much younger than her 38 years of age this season. For this reason, the 2024 season likely won’t be an anomaly. The success on the field and growing crowds off the field should only increase in the coming years. If it does, the sky’s the limit for the Orlando Pride.