Through 04/23 the league-wide attendance average is 18,455... with the exception of the inaugural season, this is shaping up to be the best April in the history of MLS... and not by a small margin, either. Given the New team in Houston, the new Stadium in Chicago, and the World-Cup hype what do y'all think of the chances that '06 will be far and away the highest attended season to date?
I'd say there's a possibility that some fans will stay home during the WC and watch games on the tv. All the games in HD?! Still, it's been promising so far........
Pretty good, Esepcially if Houston keeps playing the absolutely hugely entertaining style of soccer they play at home. Man if MLS had this type of quality on the field in the first few years, all those people that used to come to games would probably never have left. Houston and DC and Dallas and KC are playing some fantastically hi paced good looking soccer. I love Houstons Style especially
All IMO.... 0% chance of being "by far and away", the highest attendance season to date. 35% chance of making a run at the all time median number of 15,093. 10% chance of matching the all time average number of 17,406. The average will be dependent on how many and how well the double headers do. The median will likely be affected by how many games Chicago can stay above 15k even though they have so many games in a row at home. Andy
I'm really hoping that the Houston-Dallas rivalry pays off in high ticket sales for the four game series they'll be playing. Out of curiosity, who was San Jose's main rival last year, LAG? What was the attendance at their 4 game season series?
Agreed.... and the '02 WC didn't keep the fans away overall: I'm looking at the attendance and June '02 was kinda weak, maybe due to tired WC fans... but overall '02 was the best attended season (again, excepting the inaugural year). Possibly due to W-C hype bringing in the marginal fan? Then again, '98 was the weakest season... hmmmmmm.. Thanks Kenn.com!!
Well, given the fact that three of those attendances exceed the capacity of one of the stadiums, I'd say that you're probably right.
When I see those LA #s (22,207 & 27,000) and I think of the average being over 20K for both LA teams, it kinda makes me a little dissappointed that they made Bridgeview Stadium with a capacity of only 20,000. I kinda think 25k would've been more appropriate.. anyway, that's a post for a different thread. And NOT that I'm in anyway overall dissappointed with Bridgeview stadium. I'm not a total ingrate!
I am sure that the Fire have contingency plans to up the seating capacity at Bridgeview if warrented by consistant sellouts. Lets get the Fire consistently up to 18 to 20k each week and then look at adding capacity.
Thanks Andy. So 22309 average. How do you calculate median when there's an even number of games? PHP holds 21,193 according to the FCD website, and I'm not sure about Houston because I keep hearing different numbers for Robertson. Capacity is 32K but I heard that for MLS games it's closer to 27K.
If PHP were sold out (21,193) for both of its games, Robertson Stadium would need 23,425 for each of its two games to match last year's total attendance at the LA-SJ games. So there's a chance. But I don't expect for both of the Dallas legs to be sold out or for each of the Houston legs to draw 23,425 apiece.
Maybe. I might even change it next week if someone does something spectacular against DC United -- like Ruiz's bike against them last year.
I think we have an awesome fan base cosidering it's only the first year. A lot of my Latino brethren didn't even know Houston was gettin a team! I've already brought 3 to my first two games. I believe that the WC will attract more fans to the sport. There's a new generation of younger kids out there. Werd!
I don't think they will break teh attendance record because of 1 reason: MLSLive.tv ..... although i think it is a great idea, it will severely impact the attendance because people would rather pay 20 dollars to watch every game rather than going to the game. i think it is a bad business decision, but a great idea for lazy fans
I dunno mayne... it seems to me every sport has a similar cable package and it doesn't seem to hurt MLB, NFL, or NBA attendance.. A fan hardcore enough to pay for MLSLive isn't going to stop going to games.
well when a league like MLS is struggling to keep an average attendance over 13000 peoplethat might be a little different than the other major leagues in the US.