Maine’s Portland Hearts of Pine Obliterates All League Attendance Records in First Year

The home schedule for Maine's newest professional sports team has finally come to an end here in year one. To say it was a success would be the understatement of the century.

The Portland Hearts of Pine soccer club took the state by storm with exciting play and one of the best fan experiences in the league. Fitzpatrick Stadium had never experienced this kind of energy in its nearly 100 years of existence.

Portland Hearts of Pine Sold Out the Entire First Season

The Hearts played a total of 15 league games at their home stadium, more affectionately known as Fort Fitzy (three other non-league games were played, but they will not count in this discussion). And, surprise, surprise, the entire season was a sellout. (It’s amazing people still think soccer isn’t popular in the States.)

Not only was the entire season sold out, but Portland led the league by a wide margin in attendance. The Hearts averaged 5,829 fans per game this season—a whopping number. The next highest club was the Richmond Kickers with 4,416. This means Portland averaged over 1,200 more fans than the team in second place. That is pure domination.

Portland Hearts of Pine Holds Every League Attendance Record

Speaking of domination, Portland basically holds every attendance record in the league now. According to Transfermarkt.us, the 5,829 average is the best single-season number in the seven years the league has been around. Maine also broke the record for single-game attendance when a total of 6,440 fans came to the October 21 game against Spokane. And finally, the 87,439 fans who watched league games this year set a new all-time league record as well. Just complete and utter domination by Maine fans. It’s simply astonishing to see how well this team was supported in year one.

And really, it shouldn't be surprising. Portland is a fantastic minor league sports town, with successful franchises like the Portland Sea Dogs, Maine Celtics, and Maine Mariners. The Hearts of Pine have seamlessly fit right in.

While Portland dominated its own league in attendance, the team actually outperformed many clubs in the league above, the USL Championship.

The Hearts of Pine’s attendance was better than that of 15 teams in the USL Championship. That includes clubs in Phoenix, Tampa, Miami, Hartford, and El Paso—just to name a few. That is simply stunning.

So, how does Portland top this in year two? Well, it already helps that the team had incredible season-ticket retention and now has a waiting list from here to California. There will also be more games scheduled at Fitzy next season, so one would imagine attendance will only get better.

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One also has to wonder if it’s at all possible to expand Fitzy in the future to hold more seats. There’s no denying that there’s clearly demand for it.

Congrats to all involved with bringing this team to Portland. What a wildly successful run so far. Here’s to many more years of the same.