You’d think in a league that’s struggling for money, you’d do everything you could to make it easier for fans to spend their dollars with you. Apparently in NISA, that’s not the approach of the majority of clubs in the league. With excitement beginning to build in the small but growing fanbase, only two clubs have tickets available for purchase.

Two weeks ago, the NISA regular season schedule was finally released, to much fanfare from supporters and member clubs alike. After a ton of hand-wringing and worrying, there was something positive to talk about. There were some, including myself, who had wondered if a 2023 season was even going to happen, given the rumors that were swirling on the west coast. So when the schedule dropped, you would have thought that teams would have been ready to begin collecting cash from interested fans. Instead, for the most part, crickets.

Before I get to the REST of the clubs, let’s take a moment to celebrate the TWO clubs who were ready for the schedule drop. It’s no surprise that Chattanooga FC has been ready for 2023 with the same professionalism that it brings to everything it does. From the friendlies to the dual schedules (men’s and women’s), the club has been firing on all cylinders and you can easily purchase season, flex packages, and single-match tickets from the club’s website. For $165 you can get a dual season ticket to catch the WPSL and NISA teams ($145 gets you NISA alone). The cost of the ticket is a great deal, fans will get to see matches in one of the best facilities in the league (Finley Stadium) with a legit lower league crowd. Last year the club averaged close to 3,000 a match, making it the best attended team in the league. And the club adds other perks as well: “Season ticket members receive a 25% discount on the official CFC Jerseys and gain exclusive offers - including $5 beer at Finley Stadium all season long.” So yeah, CFC continues to shine brightly in a league filled with operators who are always playing catchup.

CFC continues to fill Finley, year after year.

Another club that has season tickets available is Flower City Union. For a club which struggled with attendance early last season, its great to see their system up and operating, ready for first customers. While there are no single match tickets available as of yet, the club is offering season tickets (with scant information beyond the price and section). Season tickets range in price from $149 to $249, plus there’s suites available for half ($3,000) and full season ($5,000) tickets. No word yet on timeframe for single match tickets.

Albion San Diego very recently updated its website to include single match tickets for 2023, except when you click the link to purchase a single match ticket, it directs you back to the club’s homepage. The club’s season ticket option still lists it as “2022.” So maybe there’s still some processing/programming going on? Hopefully, everything is working soon for a promising club that finished runner-up last season.

As of Friday (24th), the rest of the clubs are not selling tickets, season or single match. Two expansion clubs, Gold Star Detroit and Savannah Clovers, are taking season ticket deposits ($50) but no word on what the cost or timeframe will be for the actual tickets (links: Detroit Savannah). Here’s a list (put together by John Howard-Fusco) of the rest of the clubs.

Club De Lyon - Still no official club website and no info on tickets

LA Force - Ticket link says Details TBA February 2023 and requests information so the club can notify you of when they become available.

Maryland Bobcats - Has ticket link, but nothing on the page once you get there

Michigan Stars - Ticket link sends you to a page that’s still showing tickets for last year’s championship match with Albion.

For a full half of the clubs to be without available tickets, a month out from the season opener, is unacceptable. For any professional side to survive, it must build a fanbase. Fans attend matches, but they have to be able to plan for that. Purchasing a ticket is the first step. When clubs don’t allow for that, they are uprooting any chance of support.

- Dan Vaughn