FC Cincinnati shattered attendance records this week and all season

When FC Cincinnati was announced as the newest USL team, there was some skepticism about how they would do. The club would have enough support, but a new team in the third division, in a city that had no established record of professional soccer support and playing in 40,000-seat college football stadium? It was hardly ideal.

And yet all FC Cincinnati have done is smash attendance record after attendance record, making them not just a success, but the new gold standard in USL and all American lower division soccer.

On Saturday, the club drew 24,376 fans for the final home game of the regular season, which broke a USL single-game attendance record. Of course, the record they broke was one they had set twice this season.

With FC Cincinnati's win on Saturday, they clinched third place in the Eastern Conference, which means they will open the playoffs at home and get one more gigantic crowd on hand.

And to think, this is only the club's first season. It's no wonder that MLS commissioner Don Garber has been mentioning the city more and more often in expansion talks, but it wasn't just FC Cincinnati who had a big weekend. The whole league did, with USL breaking their record for total attendance in a week as three teams recorded sellouts.

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