The United Soccer League‘s 2015 postseason is building to a crescendo after its regular season hit a high note for American third division soccer. The USL became the first Division III league to draw a million fans over the course of a season, topping by about 50 percent the previous high, set last year.

Yes, the USL had 24 teams this year, more than a DIII league has had since 1999 and 10 more clubs than they had in 2014, so, in large part, it’s a matter of math. But inside that rather obvious conclusion are a lot of other positives requiring some context.

First, the numbers:

Team G Total Average Median High Low Sacramento Republic FC 14 158,516 11,323 11,442 11,442 10,906 Louisville City FC 14 94,707 6,765 7,011 8,414 4,772 Rochester Rhinos 14 77,976 5,570 5,383 6,922 4,251 Saint Louis FC 14 68,388 4,885 4,892 5,662 4,004 Tulsa Roughnecks FC 14 65,999 4,714 4,365 8,335 3,189 Real Monarchs SLC 14 65,770 4,698 3,161 13,979 1,001 OKC Energy FC 14 64,895 4,635 4,360 6,847 3,133 Charleston Battery 14 57,113 4,080 4,166 5,638 3,026 Richmond Kickers 14 52,452 3,747 3,472 5,957 1,632 Arizona United SC 14 46,254 3,304 3,184 6,108 1,884 Austin Aztex 14 45,171 3,227 2,958 5,146 1,439 Portland Timbers 2 14 43,702 3,122 2,821 5,892 1,734 Wilmington Hammerheads FC 14 41,433 2,960 2,883 4,265 1,789 Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC 14 38,121 2,723 2,537 3,823 2,012 Pittsburgh Riverhounds 14 36,817 2,630 2,387 4,297 995 Harrisburg City Islanders *13 33,673 2,590 2,492 4,741 1,652 Seattle Sounders FC 2 14 31,100 2,221 2,187 2,951 1,789 Charlotte Independence 14 25,205 1,800 1,931 2,241 1,271 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 14 23,545 1,682 1,431 3,208 1,106 Orange County Blues FC 14 19,573 1,398 963 3,000 674 LA Galaxy II *13 12,602 969 1,000 1,817 507 New York Red Bulls II 14 8,334 595 557 1,028 191 Toronto FC II *13 6,233 479 426 986 50 FC Montreal 14 4,383 313 256 1,301 112 USL TOTAL 333 1,121,962 3,369 2,880 13,979 50 *Missing one game

After the jump, some notes and the aforementioned other positives in context.

The USL’s average announced attendance as a league was also a record (up 9 percent from a year ago) and eight clubs averaged over 4,000 fans per game. It had only been done fifteen times in Division III history (going back to 1994) prior to this year.

Sacramento Republic FC broke its own league and division record by about 30 fans per game.

Eight clubs saw percentage gains of 20 percent or more from 2014 to 2015, led by Orange County’s 82% (still not enough, the Blues continue to exist only through the largesse of its owner), Austin’s 77 percent and LA Galaxy II’s 62 percent. Richmond was up 40 percent year-over-year, Arizona 38 percent, Harrisburg (which set a club record by averaging 2,590 with one game not reported) 33 percent, Wilmington 27 percent and Oklahoma City up 23 percent. In fact, the only club that saw an average announced attendance decrease from 2014 was Pittsburgh, which was down about 2 percent.

Austin’s performance was followed shortly after season’s end by the news that they will sit out the 2016 season to shore up their stadium situation . Before you ask, yes, a handful of clubs have taken a year off and come back, and if this were not the New Era of American Soccer, I’d be skeptical they would. Complicating things are USL’s plans/aspirations of applying for Division II status for the 2017 season. Austin would have to make some major gains to be DII-compliant.

Louisville led the 2015 expansion clubs with an average of 6,765, which has the locals talking about getting them their own stadium. Saint Louis FC did better than I thought they would, coming in with a solid average (4,885) and median (4,862). Tulsa and Real Monarchs (who had the season’s biggest crowd of 13,979) also did well. The new clubs who didn’t fare that well included Charlotte (whose stadium situation is neither ideal nor settled) and the developmental teams for New York Red Bulls, Toronto and Montreal.

In case you’re curious, “Independent” USL teams (those that aren’t primarily constructed to be developmental squads for MLS clubs) averaged 4,154 and those “MLS2” teams were at 1,779 (led, not surprisingly, by Portland and Seattle, who tend to lead most things).

Without Sacramento, the league was still over 3k, at 3,020. With 333 total games in the chart, Sacto’s 14 can’t skew the numbers that much. But someone will ask, so there it is.

much. But someone will ask, so there it is. August was the best month, average-wise, for USL. In 64 games during that month, the league drew more than a quarter of a million fans and averaged 4,020. March (which had just 15 matches) was “worst” at 2,957, but attendance was pretty steady throughout the seven months.

They’re not included in the above chart , but playoff crowds thus far have ranged from (the standard) 11,442 in Sacramento and 8,517 in Louisville to 915 at Red Bulls II and 2,046 at Orange County I have not found the crowd figure for Rochester’s quarterfinal last night, so if you have it, let me know. The Rhinos will host the East final next week, while either OKC or Colorado Springs will host the West final.

I’m missing three games, two of which (at LA Galaxy II and at Toronto) I’m unlikely to ever get and one at Harrisburg I hope to. But they should not impact the final averages that much.

USL has already announced new clubs in Edinburg, Texas, Cincinnati, Ohio and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for 2016 (and Reno, Nevada for 2017). With Austin sitting out, they’re looking at 26 clubs pending the establishment of any further MLS2 clubs and any potential foldings. (BTW, the last two third division clubs to fold outright were VSI Tampa Bay and Phoenix FC after the 2013 season. Yes, Arizona United is a different franchise from Phoenix FC.)

But, as mentioned above, the really interesting time for USL will be 2017, and we’ll have a peek at that later this year (supposedly). USL had originally announced its intention to apply for DII status for 2017 in late 2015, but with the recent kerfuffle over proposed changes to DII standards – and the fact that it would be simply unrealistic for all of USL’s current clubs to be DII-compliant – we’ll see if they stick to that. There’s no question it all this drama, with USL intending to become a DII league and the NASL seemingly intent on being a DI league, will be interesting to watch, however it unfolds.