Riverhounds building buzz with successful season on field, at box office

On May 24, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds players and coaches were celebrating on the field at Highmark Stadium after a milestone 1-0 win over the Columbus Crew in the U.S. Open Cup round of 16.

At the same time, the Hounds’ front office staff was celebrating as well.

A record crowd of 6,107 turned out that night, and it was a visual that showed team president Jeff Garner and his staff that all the work they’ve put in has paid off.

It’s been a strong year on the field for the Riverhounds.

Not only were they on an 11-game unbeaten streak in the USL Championship entering a matchup with Louisville City on Wednesday night, their victories over MLS teams Columbus and New England in the U.S. Open Cup, a tournament that matches up teams from multiple levels of American pro soccer, were touchstone moments.

It also has been a good year at the box office.

The Hounds are in the midst of a record-setting attendance year, and the wins on the field are part of a larger equation that’s led to the success.

“I’ve lived by this my entire career: I don’t believe necessarily that we are in the soccer business, but we’re in the memory-making business,” Garner said. “A night like the Open Cup game, when you put all the pieces together, that made a lot of memories for a lot of people. Whether they were here with their friends or family, it’s a night that they’ll talk about. They’ll say they were there for the white-out game or that they were there when we beat Columbus. It was great for the city. It planted our flag and put us on the map.”

The crowds have continued to grow in what has been a loaded home schedule in the summer.

The Hounds are averaging nearly 1,000 more fans per USL Championship home game than last year, according to soccerstadiumdigest.com, a website that curates attendance numbers for U.S. pro soccer leagues.

Those numbers do not include the two U.S. Open Cup matches the Hounds hosted.

“We had a 30% increase in attendance last year, and we’re already on pace to be 20% ahead of that this year,” Garner said. “We’re headed in a really good direction, partially from what’s happening on the field and another part is our refocusing on the fan experience and commitment to making sure they have a great time when they are here.”

Having a winning product surely helps. The team is 9-0-3 at Highmark Stadium this year, but Hounds coach Bob Lilley knows it takes more, because he’s already lived it.

The Hounds have been a playoff regular since his arrival in 2018.

In 2019, during his second season, the Hounds finished the season on a 19-2-2 run, but average attendance numbers were over 1,000 less than this year.

“Clearly it has taken time, but it’s constant application from (Riverhounds owner) Tuffy (Shallenberger) trying to improve things here, whether it be the training facility, the relationship with AHN or the facilities,” Lilley said. “He’s made the investments, and I give a lot of credit to the front office staff. They are selling tickets and reaching the people from a marketing standpoint. The hard yards are being put in by the front office.

“It was sellable probably before we got to this point, but it’s never an easy sell. There’s a lot of competition in the summer in Pittsburgh. It’s really nice to see, and I think part of it is the team having success, but we’ve been pretty successful year-in and year-out. You can’t get anywhere without everyone.”

Garner was named team president last July. He came to Pittsburgh after three years as the President of Business Operations with fellow USL team Orange County FC. Before that, he cut his teeth in minor league baseball.

One of the first things he said he did was survey fans to see what they thought was going well and what could be improved.

Then the front office staff went on a retreat and looked at ways to improve the game day experience. Some things they put in place were the return of select dollar beer nights, theme nights geared toward families, appearances by local celebrities at games and most recently, a separate entrance for season-ticket holders.

“We added things like having full-time staff at the gate to just say thank you for coming, be careful going home and we can’t wait to see you next time,” Garner said. “I think a focus on those kinds of details, which our fans told us were important to them, built a level of trust where the fans said not only are we asking, but we are actually listening.

“We can’t do everything, and we tell our fans that, but we’re looking at everything. I think we’ve made the commitment that the fan experience is important. That’s what we want to make sure we focus on, and if the team’s winning, even better. If they don’t, you can still come and have a great time.”

Garner said there’s still more work to be done, but they’re going to enjoy the ride that this season has brought them.

“In a special season, all the little pieces come together,” Garner said. “We have a long way to go, but I won a championship in this league in 2021 in Orange County, and this year feels eerily similar. The type of season was totally different. We let our manager go in July and caught fire at the end, but the atmosphere is similar. You can feel the momentum building. People are talking about us. It just starts to feel special. That’s what we’re embarking on right now.”