[Dan Loney]

8,630
4,176
10,217
15,110

Those aren't necessarily bad numbers. If we're talking about orgasms per year, they're actually pretty good numbers.

Maybe a little too good. Check with your physician.

But, sadly, those are the past weekend's playoff attendances. New York and Colorado have the "well, we're saving up for a new stadium, and by the way, we suck" excuse...I guess. But then, if that's their attitude, then what's the point of having fourth place teams in the playoffs, huh? Yeah, don't have an answer for that, do you, smart guy? (And if that IS their attitude, then they have pretty short memories. It's not as if a fourth place team hasn't won MLS Cup in our lifetimes.)

We expected better from Chicago - I know, the game was on television, and the Bears were playing. Well, playoffs are always going to be when the Bears are playing, aren't they? And isn't the goal one day to have every game on television? I mean, doesn't hurt the Bears that much. Just be happy that this year the Cubs and White Sox decided to boycott the postseason, I suppose.

Okay, the Bears only theoretically benefit from blackout of home games, but back in the day they probably did. And MLS teams would benefit from home game TV blackouts until their popularity gets to NFL levels. I suppose I should give the Fire a pass here, but they still averaged less than their already disappointing season attendance average.

Chivas USA won the weekend, and maybe the first round, depending on how motivated DC United fans are to get to RFK instead of ABC. Wonderful, right? Yeah, except it's their first playoff game ever, and they were still 12,000 short of capacity. You could have fit the attendances for Saturday's games into the Home Depot Center.

I don't mean to pick on those four teams, especially because next week's teams will ring up similarly ugly numbers. Just like the eight teams did last year.

I can look at this in two ways, neither of which are mutually exclusive.

(1) Enough with the damn playoffs. East v. West in MLS Cup. Give two weeks between the end of regular season and MLS Cup, so fans don't get boned trying to buy airline tickets. Without the playoffs, you have room for that, the silly-ass All-Star Game which apparently makes money these days, and room left over for international tours which apparently also make money these days.

(2) I'm chowing down a battery acid sundae and complaining that the cherry tastes funny. MLS attendance is a problem, across the board, full stop. (Ironically, I will continue the post after writing "full stop." Thus, we gauge the depth of my feelings on the subject.) New stadiums will help, sure. Just like they did in Chicago and Dallas. And in Columbus - remember when Columbus Crew Stadium wasn't a decrepit, outdated old wreck?

I've had a lot of MLS Kool-Aid over the years, and I can still rattle off the flavors. New stadiums, corporate sponsors, SUM, expansion, overall quality of play - all vastly improved since 1996. I added that last one because it's true, not to annoy Bruce Arena, who I doubt spends a lot of time reading soccer blogs.

And maybe the whole of Major League Soccer, not just television rights, can act as a loss leader for the World Cup. (No one seriously makes the argument that MLS has hurt the national team anymore, right?) Bundle up MLS with the World Cup, sell the occasional young prospect abroad, sign a couple of over-the-hill stars every couple of years (not three per team like NASL teams did), host some summer tours with guys wearing fashionable jerseys - maybe Major International Tour Soccer is profitable, even if no one shows up to league games, and I'm just jumping at shadows.

But I can't be the only one concerned about low attendance numbers. Why do you think the league lied about attendance for so long?

Jesus, what if they're STILL lying about attendance....

[U.S Chiva]

I totally agree with you. Also why the ******** do they have the MLS final in the same fvken places, why can it be played in one of the final teams home? this is not the fvken NFL we dont have that kind of fan base yet.

[writered21]

Any attendance number that falls short of baseball's all-time hits number is so not good.

[seahawkdad]

4,176 !!

Hell, the WUSA pulled better numbers than that.

And look what happened to them.

Your attendance concern is a valid one.

By the way, I predict 22,000 at RFK on Sunday, ABC or no ABC.

[LeperKhan]

Originally Posted by Dan Loney

We expected better from Chicago - I know, the game was on television, and the Bears were playing. Well, playoffs are always going to be when the Bears are playing, aren't they? And isn't the goal one day to have every game on television? I mean, doesn't hurt the Bears that much. Just be happy that this year the Cubs and White Sox decided to boycott the postseason, I suppose.

Okay, the Bears only theoretically benefit from blackout of home games, but back in the day they probably did. And MLS teams would benefit from home game TV blackouts until their popularity gets to NFL levels. I suppose I should give the Fire a pass here, but they still averaged less than their already disappointing season attendance average.

I don't think I'm missing a joke here, although it's always possible, but the Bears weren't playing. They had their week off this week. So no competition there.

[truthandlife]

My prediction for Houston on Sunday is 25K. I really believe they will blow everyone away with attendance. Chivas will have their fans and Dynamo will have theirs.

[Forever Red]

You need to take into account the following when assesing Chicago's numbers.

90% of youth soccer players (average around 6,000 group sales at fire games) are playing at Noon on a Sunday so that is players, parents and siblings not able to attend the game

100% of adult soccer are playing on a Sunday at noon (male, female and co-ed)

Chicago Marathon

39 degrees and raining.

Traffic backlog and road closures due to marathon

Noon game on ABC (when it is cold and raining outside), more of an exscuse for the casual observer

[gocaps]

Originally Posted by Dan Loney

Chivas USA won the weekend, and maybe the first round, depending on how motivated DC United fans are to get to RFK instead of ABC. Wonderful, right? Yeah, except it's their first playoff game ever, and they were still 12,000 short of capacity. You could have fit the attendances for Saturday's games into the Home Depot Center.

I don't mean to pick on those four teams, especially because next week's teams will ring up similarly ugly numbers.

Not so fast...DC's presale numbers are excellent for this Sunday's game.

[jgildea8]

DC has the upper deck already open, and the lower bowl holds appx. 20K
It would be nice if RBNY brought a decent sized group considering that we are only 4 hours away, but I am not holding my breath on that.

[chelseacrew]

This could all be solved by limiting the playoffs to six teams...top teams in each conf get a bye then the other two matchups get a week off due to less of need to rush the games to fit them all in...extra week to market and the sh*t teams aren't allowed, two birds with one stone(rob stone that is