The 61st edition of the U.S. National Gymnastics Championships, officially titled the 2025 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships, unfolded at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, from August 7–10, 2025. To start with, the men’s gymnastics team had Fred Richards and Stephen Nedoroscik, the ones who ended the USA’s Olympic drought. And Hezly Rivera and Joscelyn Roberson showed up when the women took to the apparatus.

Now, there must have been people around to watch the men who created history, right? Plus, Hezly Rivera had a very bad US Classics; this was supposed to be her comeback competition. Fans must have shown up in big numbers for that! Only if…

Inside Gymnastics Magazine took to its official Instagram handle with very disappointing news today. They posted a picture from the Smoothie King Center of an almost empty arena. In the image, the arena felt noticeably under-filled, with large sections of seats left empty during the event. Spectators sat in small, scattered groups, giving the championship a quieter, less electric atmosphere than expected.

Further confirming the low attendance in the event, the magazine captioned the post, “Unfortunately, attendance in New Orleans throughout the 2025 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships has been disappointing. On a Saturday night, with 4 of the 5 Olympic team members (with that historic medal-winning performance) from the Paris Games competing, the crowd is quite sparse.” And for fans, this has been a “Bummer, the guys deserve a crowd!”

The Smoothie King Center has a seating capacity of 17,791, and yet the spectators in the post appear to fill only about 20–30% of the arena, far below what you’d expect for a high-profile national gymnastics event.

Fans are clearly in disbelief.

Fans cite reasons for low attendance at the 2025 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships

To start with, there were signs that many seats might go empty at the Championships. A day before the 2025 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships, Ticketmaster still showed many unsold seats, even the upper sections with women’s finals tickets on August 10 priced as low as $30 for juniors and $47 for seniors, unusually cheap for a national championship finale. Yet fans pointed to the money issue. One said, “i love gymnastics, but the costs to go are too high in this economy! 🥺” And it’s not just about the tickets alone.

This fan summed the concerns when they said, “1) the cost to fly there was just too much, 2) lack of advertising, 3) overall cost. If we wanted to see both women’s events that is at least 3 nights accommodations, food, rental car etc. A more central location would be ideal too. Charlotte, Atlanta, Raleigh etc.” It was not only the ticket that would strain the wallet, but also the price of the flight, and then if a person wanted to watch all three days, he had to buy tickets for all three days and pay for his accommodation and food, too.

That is a big dent in the bank. And a lot of fans vouched for the lack of advertising and the location. One said, “Even as a gym follower I rarely saw anything about this!” while another chimed in with, “Why New Orleans?! West coast draws well always.”

One more reason, as this fan says, “I think the location and timing was wrong. It is back to school time for most kids. We would have loved to have been there. ❤️”

Previously, the Xfinity Championships were held in May or June. August is usually the period when all billboards advertise back-to-school campaigns. This conflicted with family vacations and holidays, leading to poor ticket sales.

Well, why do you think the arena was empty? Share your thoughts with us…