Code: Final Numbers Year Average Median %<10K %>20k 1996 17406 15093 21.9% 26.3% 1997 14619 12733 25.0% 16.3% 1998 14312 11871 26.6% 16.1% 1999 14282 12973 32.3% 15.1% 2000 13756 12690 34.4% 12.5% 2001 14962 13431 26.6% 17.7% 2002 15821 14108 17.1% 18.6% 2003 14898 13641 23.3% 18.0% 2004 15559 13285 24.7% 25.3% 2005 15108 12619 27.1% 17.7% 2006 15504 14175 18.8% 18.8% 2007 16770 15353 8.2% 29.7% 2008 16459 15188 11.0% 24.8% 2009 16037 14686 14.7% 20.9%
Final AAQ: Average: 4th out of 14 Median: 4th out of 14 <10k: 3rd out of 14 >=20k: 5th out of 14 Final AAQ = (4+4+3+5)/4 = 4
AAQ's by year: 1996 - 3 1997 - 10.5 1998 - 12 1999 - 12.25 2000 - 13 2001 - 9 2002 - 5.5 2003 - 8 2004 - 6.5 2005 - 10.5 2006 - 5.75 2007 - 1.25 2008 - 2.75 2009 - 4
So this is in line with what ESPN said about MLS being on solid ground regarding attendance. A great year in general, nice push to make it over the 16K average. What does 2010 hold? More seats in Seattle to topload the numbers? Close to capacity in 18.5K Philly stadium? Maybe not 25K in RedBull Arena but close to at least another 18K? Better numbers in Columbus, Chicago, both LA teams, traditional good clubs that could grow attendance a bit with a 2009 title? A few more thousand fans pushed into BMO to up average?
*tips cap* Thank you, as always, Andy for compiling this information for us. It's convenient for us attendance-philes but also helps greatly in clarifying the state of the league. That the numbers are this strong despite the times and with fewer single, gimmicky events at the NFL stadiums (that distorted the figures for some earlier years) is a testament to the progress the league and soccer fans have been making. I sincerely believe a 17k average is possible next season. Cheers to Andy for the data, and cheers to all the MLS fans who keep the numbers healthy.
Thanks Andy, Great work as usual. Nice result for the year. Things are really starting to look up in MLS. If TFC can pull it off in the stands for a fourth season, I'd be impressed but we might start to see some cracks in TFC attendance next season. There is a lot of bandwagoners who will be jumping off, we'll see how strong the waiting list really is.
Also, the (at least) one game at Lincoln Financial Field for Philly makes it possible they could exceeed 18.5K for a season average.
Scroll down a bit and you will see the complete numbers here http://web.mlsnet.com/stats/index.jsp?club=mls&year=2009
Seattle looks almost certain to do better next season. And with at least one game at the Linc, Philly's likely to average better than 18.5. RBA is a complete mystery. But I would think that they'll do substantially better than the 12,491 they had this season. The only reason that Columbus, Chicago and the LA teams (or any others) will grow is if the economy really starts doing better. And that's still an open question. Regarding Toronto: With an additional 3,000 seats (right?), and that ridiculously long wait list, I don't think we need to worry about Toronto yet. What a heartbreaking year for them, and a horrible way to finish it off. Man, there's a lot of teams in the league now. It's going to be hard to move the needle much anymore. I'm impressed that they nudged the average over 16K. That says a lot. And I feel pretty confident that it'll improve slightly next year, and stay above 16K. But it would take a lot to make 17K and I think the odds are against that. I'd be satisfied with matching 2007's average.
^^ No expected expansion to seats in Toronto. Not that we've heard. Best case scenario right now is 1500 in the north end by mid summer. Tickets renewals are complete and yet to be announced. Read not as good as expected. I'd say around 75% if we're lucky. That frees up 4,000 for the waiting list. TFC is spinning in disarray after Saturday and all is quiet from the front office. Watch this space.
I'm gonna go ahead and throw this out there before someone else brings it up, but the average without Seattle would have been 14,975. So the average would still have been 8th out of 14, in a recession year, that started off miserably because of Beckham's absence and absolutely abysmal weather (which is definitely the main reason for the slow start). Great days are ahead. The best sign was the incredibly strong attendance down the stretch to get the average above 16,000.
It would be interesting to see a 2008 vs. 2009 comparison by team. I get the feeling the majority of teams were down pretty good this year from last year.
Oh. Oh, well. So much for my memory. Well, fingers crossed for TFC. Here's hoping they aren't repeating the New England Revolution's first few years.
What would the average be if Seattle is taken out of the mix? Edit. Nevermind. Looks like it's been answered above. Thank you.
Here's my team by team commentary / opinion... Seattle - Really can't go up much - perhaps 31,000 average (they're not likely to sell out all games) LA Galaxy - finally having a good year after so many poor teams, perhaps half the gate reduction will return - call it 24,000 next year. Toronto - sooner or later, TFC's on field problems are going to affect the butts in the seats - at best they hold even, but an earlier post stated that renewals MAY not be as much as expected. Call it a slight drop to 20,000. Houston - Holding steady the last 2 years - more of the same - 17,100 Real Salt Lake - ditto - 16,400 DC United - who know's here - BIG drop this year - do they get their problems resolved, do they continue to flounder on the stadium front - I figure best case, they stay even at 16,100 Chivas - been consistant last 2 years - more of the same - 15,100 Chicago - If management doesn't get its head out of its collective a$$es, don't expect an increase there. They have been doing things to piss off fans for the last 18 months or so and a lot of season ticket holders are not happy. Very dissappointing there. Chicago dropped almost 14% this year. I wouldn't expect a rebound and there MAY even be a bit further decline. Call it 13,500 Columbus - Holding steady at 14,500 San Jose - No change here (still planning on new stadium in 2012?) - 14,100 New England Revolution - Similar issues between management and fans as in Chicago - holding stead at 13,500 FC Dallas - No idea here - will the late year push mean there's a turnaround on the horizon - let's say there is and they get a slight increase to 13,500 Rapids - Very poor finish to the season - Assume not much changes - 12,500 Kansas City - No change here (still planning on new stadium in 2011?) - 10,100 Phily Union - Assume they sell out most (not all) of their games and average 18,000 in their SSS, but that they pop 30,000 in a season opener at Lincoln. That gives them an overall average of 18,800. NY/NJ Red Bull - This is the big question - does the new stadium generate a big jump or just a modest gain? If a modest gain to say 17,000, then based upon the numbers above the overall average for 2010 would be 16,700. Based upon the numbers above, it would take a huge 75% jump in attendance to 21,800 for NYRB for the league wide average to be 17,000. Bottom line is that while there are positives (Phily, NY & LA), but there are lingering negatives too (Chicago, DC, New England) and two clubs still in temporary situations (KC and SJ). I don't see us beating the Year 1 numbers until SJ & KC are out of those small stadia (assuming they get better attendance in larger stadia) and/or Chicago & New England resolve some of their current fan / management issues and/or DC United resolves it's stadium issue.
Depends what you mean by "much". Seattle is opening up the Hawk's Nest (where the XBOX Live tarp is in the north end) next year, which adds another 3k seats. This means Seattle should be averaging 35k-36k per game next year, assuming they are opening up all of the Hawk's Nest.
Tickets for RBA in 2010: Midfield: $585 season ticket, $45/game Sideline: $425, $35 Corner: $335, $25 Endline: $299, $22 Supporters' Section: $272, $20 Club seating: $3,000, n/a Lower bowl midfield are sold out. As of Oct 8, I counted 3748 season tickets sold (see here). This included 1334 out of 1697 lower bowl midfield seats, which are now indicated as sold out, and was a week before they went on sale to the general public. I feel comfortable saying that they've cracked through 4,000 full-season tickets thus far. I have no idea if this is an increase or decrease from 2009. At the seat relocation event, the sales staff said they were aiming for 10,000 full season ticket equivalents this year--probably an ambitious goal. 7k-8k seems more likely to me, but that's a blind guess. I do think that they should be able to top this year's attendance average without much problem though. The big problem in the pricing is clearly the club seats. Some of the finest seats in the house, and only about 14% sold. If they don't find a way to address this, they will look like the seats behind home plate at Yankee Stadium did in April and May. (At least the cameras will be facing the other way--to the sold out sections! )