2009 MLS Attendance Analysis: Final Numbers

Discussion in 'MLS: News & Analysis' started by Andy_B, Oct 26, 2009.

  1. Andy_B

    Andy_B Member+

    Feb 2, 1999
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    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%
    
     
    10 people repped this.
  2. Andy_B

    Andy_B Member+

    Feb 2, 1999
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    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
     
  3. Golazo

    Golazo Member+

    Apr 15, 1999
    Decatur, GA USA
    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
     
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  4. Chris '66

    Chris '66 New Member

    Aug 9, 2007
    Brooklyn, NY
    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?
     
  5. GunnerJacket

    GunnerJacket Moderator
    Staff Member

    Sep 18, 2003
    Gainesville, GA
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    *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.
     
  6. Toronto Red

    Toronto Red Member

    Jan 8, 2006
    Toronto
    Club:
    Toronto FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Scotland
    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.
     
  7. cthomer5000

    cthomer5000 Member+

    Apr 23, 2007
    Raleigh NC
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Also, the (at least) one game at Lincoln Financial Field for Philly makes it possible they could exceeed 18.5K for a season average.
     
  8. EL MONO MARIO

    EL MONO MARIO Member

    Apr 9, 2002
    Montevideo, Uruguay
    Club:
    CA River Plate
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    16037 not bad we have been holding steady at 16K for 3 years now..
     
  9. EL MONO MARIO

    EL MONO MARIO Member

    Apr 9, 2002
    Montevideo, Uruguay
    Club:
    CA River Plate
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    can someone post the team attendances...
     
  10. cthomer5000

    cthomer5000 Member+

    Apr 23, 2007
    Raleigh NC
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    +1 for this request. Would help our fanboy math for the 2010 season. :D
     
  11. Andy_B

    Andy_B Member+

    Feb 2, 1999
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  12. VioletCrown

    VioletCrown Member+

    FC Dallas
    United States
    Aug 30, 2000
    Austin, Texas
    Club:
    Austin Aztex
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    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.
     
  13. Toronto Red

    Toronto Red Member

    Jan 8, 2006
    Toronto
    Club:
    Toronto FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Scotland
    ^^ 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.
     
  14. cthomer5000

    cthomer5000 Member+

    Apr 23, 2007
    Raleigh NC
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    What is the current word as to # of seats open for Seattle next year?
     
  15. arkjayback

    arkjayback Member

    Mar 29, 2008
    Le Mars, IA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    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.
     
  16. RedBullSoccer

    RedBullSoccer New Member

    Apr 28, 2008
    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.
     
  17. Easy Morning Rebel

    Feb 12, 2006
    Des Moines, IA
    I'd be really interested in seeing some predictions on their per game average.
     
  18. broder

    broder Member

    Jan 18, 2007
    Mission
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  19. RedBullSoccer

    RedBullSoccer New Member

    Apr 28, 2008
  20. VioletCrown

    VioletCrown Member+

    FC Dallas
    United States
    Aug 30, 2000
    Austin, Texas
    Club:
    Austin Aztex
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    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.
     
  21. BSGuy321

    BSGuy321 Member

    Sep 2, 2008
    What would the average be if Seattle is taken out of the mix?

    Edit. Nevermind. Looks like it's been answered above. Thank you.
     
  22. tomwilhelm

    tomwilhelm Member+

    Dec 14, 2005
    Boston, MA, USA
    Club:
    Fulham FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    How much are season and single game tickets?
     
  23. kevbrunton

    kevbrunton New Member

    Feb 27, 2001
    Edwardsburg, MI
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    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.
     
  24. Yoshou

    Yoshou Fan of the CCL Champ

    May 12, 2009
    Seattle
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    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.
     
  25. Homebrew4U

    Homebrew4U New Member

    Jul 25, 2009
    Eastchester, NY
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    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! :eek:)
     
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