MLS Attendance

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MLS Attendance Moves Past NBA, NHL

Fueled by rapid growth in soccer-crazed cities such as Toronto, Seattle and Philadelphia, Major League Soccer has now moved past the NBA and NHL in terms of average attendance, based on figures from each sport's most recent full season. Have a look at the #'s below.

1. NFL - 67,508.69 (2009 season)
2. MLB - 30,213.37 (2009 season)
3. MLS - 18,452.14 (2010 season, as of 04/11/2010)
4. NBA - 17,110.64 (2009/10 season)
5. NHL - 17,004.53 (2009/10 season)

Think the league can stay ahead of basketball and hockey for a full season? How many years do you think it will take for MLS to catch up to MLB? Will there be a post-World Cup bounce this summer to push the #'s even higher?

[Unregistered]

MLS Attendance Moves Past NBA, NHL

Fueled by rapid growth in soccer-crazed cities such as Toronto, Seattle and Philadelphia, Major League Soccer has now moved past the NBA and NHL in terms of average attendance, based on figures from each sport's most recent full season. Have a look at the #'s below.

1. NFL - 67,508.69 (2009 season)
2. MLB - 30,213.37 (2009 season)
3. MLS - 18,452.14 (2010 season, as of 04/11/2010)
4. NBA - 17,110.64 (2009/10 season)
5. NHL - 17,004.53 (2009/10 season)

Think the league can stay ahead of basketball and hockey for a full season? How many years do you think it will take for MLS to catch up to MLB? Will there be a post-World Cup bounce this summer to push the #'s even higher?

Depends on the market you are referring to. If talking Boston, MLS will never come close to the NFL or MLB sports teams in putting fans in the stands. Those venues have been selling out for years (even with those ridiculous high priced seats) and would continue to sell out if more seats were made available. I think the closest MLS will come to one of the top 4 would be hockey.

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Opening day MLS #s are inflated.

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Opening day MLS #s are inflated.

True, rampant use of helium and other noble gases are all too commonplace at soccer festivities.

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You have to realize what we are talking about here. MLS attendance has definitely improved and in some cities it is more popular than others but it is not thought by 99% of the population to be more popular than the nba or nhl. Remember that most of the stadiums they have played in for many years are nfl stadiums. It is a great family take for families with children who love soccer. That is one reason for an increase in attendance. I think the bigger reason that numbers are higher is quite simple. Most NBA and NHL arenas cant hold more than 19,000 people anyway. Do you really think the Lakers, Celtics, Cavs, Magic wouldnt be able to sell more tickets if they played in larger venues? Every sport has a ceiling for attendance. The MLS is bulding all soccer only facilities because they dont want to look foolish in those nfl stadiums with 45,000 empty seats. You cant argue against a league with 32 teams when you only have 16 either.

MLS Attendance Moves Past NBA, NHL

Fueled by rapid growth in soccer-crazed cities such as Toronto, Seattle and Philadelphia, Major League Soccer has now moved past the NBA and NHL in terms of average attendance, based on figures from each sport's most recent full season. Have a look at the #'s below.

1. NFL - 67,508.69 (2009 season)
2. MLB - 30,213.37 (2009 season)
3. MLS - 18,452.14 (2010 season, as of 04/11/2010)
4. NBA - 17,110.64 (2009/10 season)
5. NHL - 17,004.53 (2009/10 season)

Think the league can stay ahead of basketball and hockey for a full season? How many years do you think it will take for MLS to catch up to MLB? Will there be a post-World Cup bounce this summer to push the #'s even higher?

[Unregistered]

Depends on the market you are referring to. If talking Boston, MLS will never come close to the NFL or MLB sports teams in putting fans in the stands. Those venues have been selling out for years (even with those ridiculous high priced seats) and would continue to sell out if more seats were made available. I think the closest MLS will come to one of the top 4 would be hockey.

The article specifically mentions "average" so the market doesnt matter

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The article specifically mentions "average" so the market doesnt matter

Actually, the market does matter. Are you going to open a business in any particular market based on an average and not use the actual demographics? It's akin to the fact that college sports in other regions of the country are more popular than here due to the popularity of the major 4 sports franchises locally. How many people are making a big deal about BC winning another hockey title? It's just a blip on the screen. Go to Fox Sports online. Soccer is listed in the "More" category behind the top 4 and after NCAA.

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Let's be realistic here - MLS has come a long way in terms of quality and fan support. New England is another story. The Revs used to average way more fans at Foxboro stadium than they do at Gillette - some of that was inflating announced crowds, but the atmosphere at the old stadium was better because people were actually on both sides of the stadium, and the organization pissed a lot of people off early in the days at Gillette by forcing people to sit on the sunny side of the stadium and banning drums and flags initially. They've reversed some of those stupid decisions, but they still got less than 13K at the home opener last weekend, and their playoff game numbers have been atrocious the last 2 years. The atmosphere last weekend was actually great, they're doing this new thing where they tarp part of the Fort sections to force people down and it actually made for a very intimate and loud supporters group.

All four of the big four teams in Boston have much bigger fan bases than the Revs. Too many soccer fans in the area still look at the Revs as second class soccer, and a lot of the youth soccer crowd doesn't really take the sport seriously as a spectator event. If you look at the Pats, Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins and really study the history, you'll see that they haven't been selling out games since the dawn of time. It took men named Kraft, Bledsoe, and Parcells to legitimize the Pats as a spectator event (home games used to be blacked out all the time), the Sox sellout streak dates back to 2003 and in the 90s tickets were easy to get, and the Celtics and Bruins had tons of empty seats as recent as a few years ago. But when the teams are all considered contenders, they sell out - the Revs don't, and they've been MLS contenders since 2002. It will take time, continued improvement in the quality of the league, and probably a smaller stadium for the Revs to get anywhere near 18-20K a game.

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The key to the article is "Fueled by rapid growth in soccer-crazed cities such as Toronto, Seattle and Philadelphia". Totonto and Seattle have been great success stories. We'll have to see if Philadelphia proves to be the same.

Anyone see the Revs home opener? The season could prove to be a pretty good one and you might want to get yourself to some games.

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Actually, the market does matter. Are you going to open a business in any particular market based on an average and not use the actual demographics? It's akin to the fact that college sports in other regions of the country are more popular than here due to the popularity of the major 4 sports franchises locally. How many people are making a big deal about BC winning another hockey title? It's just a blip on the screen. Go to Fox Sports online. Soccer is listed in the "More" category behind the top 4 and after NCAA.

Is the article talking about or giving business advise? No, its simply saying that the the average attendance as of the day the article was written surpassed the other sports in question....thats it! Dont take it for any more than what it is!

IF there was another article written about specific markets then you would probably be correct but thats not the point of this particular article.

ESPN has it listed on the front page so your point about where FoxSports lists Soccer really doesnt matter.

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Go to Fox Sports online. Soccer is listed in the "More" category behind the top 4 and after NCAA.

Well then if Foxsports thinks it should be listed in the 'more' category then it must be true.

Jeez

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Well then if Foxsports thinks it should be listed in the 'more' category then it must be true.

Jeez

This is the second time I'm posting this. Why would you go to Fox Sports for soccer information when Fox has an entire web site dedicated to soccer alone? FoxSoccer.com.

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I think one reason for the attendance numbers being up is the cost of going to soccer vs NFL or MLB.

I can go to several soccer games for the same price it cost me to go to a Pats game. (i.e. count me 4 times for soccer, but only once for NFL).