MLS Attendance Analysis after 100% Games Complete

if i bash Chivas a "little" can i get a free ticket too?

 

Andy, to be fair, you would have to remove the florida teams to do so.

 

Count me in relative to this being MLS' best year ever. Great to see...hope we maintain and grow next year.

Great to hear on the Revs-TFC telecast that 95% of TFC's season ticket holders have re-upped for next year. Not sure if I heard it right, or they knew what they were talking about, but that is a very strong statement. Also interesting to see Nicol's smile/smirk when TFC totally buried the corner in streamers during one of our corner kicks.

 

Actually, our GM has stated publicly that the club will be pursuing a DP in the off season. If you missed El Mellizo this year you really missed out.

 

Most MLS Contracts are not guarenteed multi year deals. They are often a one year deal with one or more one year options.

I believe in Denilson that is the case. As for Reyna I'm not sure if its a one year with one year option or a two year with a one year option. I'm sure someone will have additional insight on these two contracts.

 

Wow. You may be right, but that is not what I'm hearing from a whole bunch of sources. The prevailing opinion seems to be that Reyna was a major bust for the money he is being paid. He has had little impact on the team winning or (and to get back to the point of this thread) the team's attendance.

I am a big Reyna fan, but I have to say I was very disappointed in the impact on games I saw him play.

 

I agree and THANKS for the great stats.

 

Yes, I noticed that as well. It was a great year. I think it is only going to get better. The league has turned a corner and on an upswing.

The product on the field is much better as well.

 

Just playing off this idea: virtually everyone who posts here seems to agree that MLS attendance is fairly accurate this year. That means that the 8% growth rate that we see in Andy's figures actually understates real growth. We didn't truly average 15,504 tickets sold in 2006. If we assumed that the ticket sales figures were inflated by 1,000 tickets, then our real average last year was 14,500, and our real growth rate is about 15%.

What do you all think the true growth rate was from last year to this?

 

oh sorry, I qouted the wrong part last night.

In repsonse to your question of wheather it is MLS' best season. Nominally, yes, but really, you would have to remove the florida teams from your stats and remove TFC and possibly the second half of the galaxy season to really understand how MLS teams have performed.

 

I think we will at least match next year with this year---
1/ SJ is back- yes, many games in a same stadium, but if only the Becks games are played at OAK or Standford, average SJ attendance should be fine.
2/ SLC opens new stadium and could average/sell out similar to TFC
3/ Becks AND Blanco will be playing the full year, and hopefully, unhurt
4/ We don't know what other DP's will be signed
5/ If Chivas makes a good playoff run, hopefully, their attendance goes up some.
6/ Don't know if the expansion choices to be announced this year and if any of the other stadium plans gets off the ground (NY<DC<KC<SJ) will help impact attendance in other cities...
----
Off the field and on field both improved this year... The first year was best with some big crowds and great players... this year better from a SSS standpoint and DP's starting to bring some good players on board. Looking good...

 

Becks helped. So did Toronto. LA increased attendance despite being unwatchable for most of the season. Meanwhile, Chivas attendance slid even as the team improved to one of the best in the league.

They seemed to have more mid-week games, which tend to draw fewer people, while at the same time increasing attendance. That's a good sign.

 

Reyna's contract is 2 years guaranteed. There have been rumours of him retiring in the offseason though.

 

Indeed the best season ever. Any season in which we have so few double headers, and get about 2,000 less than Serie A in avg attendance is awesome. This should be getting investment groups' eyebrows raising.

 

Yeah I hear their tickets are hard to come by *rolls eyes*. I would rather watch comex "the official paint of chivas usa" dry.

 

I think the artificial turf for Reyna was just too much to take. It would be nice for him to win the title and go off a champion. I really doubt his presence had anything to do attendance wise since most NY fans figured he was out or WOULD be out most games.

Full seasons of healthy Becks and Blanco will definately help keep numbers up. Maybe Chicago fans can chime in, but it seems like the Mexican folks really came out in droves late in the season. Too bad Chicago wasn't in the West bracket to face Chivas this time.

The day MLS averages 20,000 fans (even with 18,000 max for places like Colorado and St. Lou) will be a banner day! When you think about it, most baseball teams average that many on a friggin Tuesday night, so in theory it should not be so hard. Baby steps....

 

Probably true, but with the data that is available there is no way to tell. Even so, it looks like four clubs in particular had very strong years: Los Angeles, Toronto, DC United and, at least for the second half of the season, Chicago. Chicago snuck up on people IMO, but since the Houston game in July they have averaged 20,000 per game, and again, visually a high percentage of the seats seem occupied. They have been outstanding since Blaco arrived.

For the remaining teams, save perhaps KC, there seems to be much more variation in the size of the crowds. Many clubs had a couple really good gates and a few clunkers. All in all though, I think it was a strong year for attendance.

 

This is an important point. There's only 1 David Beckham, so when he's gone, that's it.

But is there another Blanco out there? Could Nery Castillo replace him as a marketing tool when Cuauh retires?

 

what we also need to know, is how they 'distribute' tickets.
don't get me wrong, i want to support mls.
but it does bug me a little if half the people there didn't pay, and i did.

 

That is just wonderful to look at. Now imagine if we could add a couple more big names, have them for an entire season and carry numbers like that throughout. 19,508 is real major league numbers. That's about on par with Serie A. I hope MLS owners sees the value of spending money on talent now.

 

And of course, there weren't any of those phony doubleheader numbers either.

 

very true, but i think as beckham is making his exit, we'll see the likes of henry, and maybe ronaldinho making their entrance.