Whats going on with Tormenta's attendance?

This past weekend Tormenta hosted the closest team to them, and even then they struggled to fill half of the seats. Tormenta Stadium can hold upwards of 5,300 fans for games but so far this year have averaged around 700 fans a game depending on where you get your data. So, why is it a team that is nestled in area that has more 430,000 people, struggling so much to bring in fans and what could be a fix?

Right away we look at Statesboro the wonderful town that Tormenta is located within. Home to Georgia Southern University that has an average attendance of 26,000 a year, so you would assume that they would be a great market to target. Matter in fact one of the supporters groups for Tormenta, The Flight Crew, is made up of students from Georgia Southern. But during the summer months it seems their attendance dwindles as students take their summer vacations. So how could this impact the rest of the season as classes will begin around the middle of August, maybe we could see an uptick in the student population coming out to games. Outside of the college the city of Statesboro is still home to some 30,0000 people. The signage is there so local’s cant say they aren’t aware of the team.

The city of Savannah has no pro soccer team currently and the only team that competes directly with Tormenta for fans would be The Savannah Banana’s. So its not like there is a huge competition in terms of sports to give attention to Tormenta. There are two possibilities for why and one of them is being taken into consideration during the build up around the stadium. Savannah has a robust food and lounge locations once you hit the old town and River Street. The Van Tassell’s (Tormenta FC owners) have dedicated more than 300 acres to an entertainment district that is an ongoing build up as we can see around the stadium. One would assume once completed this might help the team see more fans in the stadium as well.

The other possibility could be from a marketing standpoint. Is Tormenta relying largely on word of mouth for the time being, as they continue to work towards building the stadium and area around the stadium, to much. When I talk to co-workers most aren’t familiar of the club despite living not but 1 hour away from them. Many I work with are soccer fans or even former players themselves. Tormenta’s social media has a wonderful following for a smaller club with more nearly 15,000 followers on Instagram, and nearly 9,000 on facebook there is a good flow of content as well. We see post’s and reels daily on both websites for the men’s, women’s and academy teams as well as upcoming events constantly being shared. So I wouldn’t say there is an issue with the social media presence. Tormenta does a lot of community engagement, with their different recreational and academy teams within the Savannah market.

The name is out there for Tormenta so what is keeping the attendance down right now? Is the brutal summer heat causing people from wanting to come out the games, just this past weeks games all seen temperatures up around 85-95 at kickoff. Unfortunately there is not much anyone could do outside building a dome to counter that one. For me personally I think brand awareness could be something that is hurting the attendance. Unless you have a child in one of the Tormenta teams, live in Statesboro, or have friends who are regulars you might not know about the team. I would love to see a billboard on I-16 near Pooler with either Niall Reid-Stephen, Sebastian Vivas, or a mix of the men’s and women’s teams on it. Or maybe put one out in Savannah near the down town area. This is just one way they could help put their name out there even more.

Tormenta FC is still getting their roots planted but they have an amazing ownership, a short but winning team history on the pitch, young talented teams on both men’s and women’s sides, multiple youth academies that are growing in size and in talent, and lastly a community of fans who are loyal and at time a loud and rambunctious group who are there for the team no matter the result. I do feel this is a lull for Tormenta and things will get better for the organization in the coming months. One thing that will help them is to continue the recent play that we have seen this past week from the men’s side as they fought off 5th place Naples and took USL Championship 2nd place team Charleston to PK’s in the Jagermeister Cup. Until next time Vamos Tormenta.