After week 17 the numbers look like this…
5 year comparison | ||||||||
WK 15 | 124 GP | YTD | ||||||
Avg | +/- | GP | Avg | +/- | Avg | +/- | GP | |
2005 | 13,835 | 9 | 14,547 | 14,675 | 116 | |||
2006 | 16,028 | 15.85% | 7 | 15,716 | 8.03% | 14,698 | 0.16% | 113 |
2007 | 13,974 | -12.82% | 4 | 15,377 | -2.15% | 15,005 | 2.08% | 111 |
2008 | 23,000 | 64.59% | 5 | 16,518 | 7.42% | 17,142 | 14.24% | 116 |
2009 | 19,313 | -16.03% | 6 | 15,435 | -6.56% | 15,435 | -9.96% | 124 |
Here are the attendance comparisons to 2008’s equal number of home games(124):
MLS Attendance Averages – Equal # of Home Games | |||||||
2008 | 2009 | ||||||
Att | Cap | Att | Att +/- | GP | % of Cap | Cap | |
Seattle | 0 | 0.00% | 29,984 | NA | 10 | 93.70% | 32,000 |
Toronto | 20,144 | 91.66% | 20,288 | 0.71% | 10 | 92.31% | 21,978 |
LA Galaxy | 25,348 | 93.88% | 19,292 | -23.89% | 9 | 71.45% | 27,000 |
ChivasUSA | 14,286 | 52.91% | 16,211 | 13.48% | 9 | 60.04% | 27,000 |
Real Salt Lake | 15,101 | 71.96% | 16,045 | 6.25% | 8 | 71.15% | 19,340 |
Houston | 16,566 | 73.63% | 15,689 | -5.29% | 8 | 69.73% | 22,500 |
D.C. United | 20,817 | 92.52% | 14,811 | -28.85% | 8 | 65.83% | 22,500 |
NE Revolution | 17,582 | 78.14% | 13,616 | -22.56% | 6 | 60.51% | 22,500 |
Columbus Crew | 12,881 | 64.40% | 13,056 | 1.36% | 8 | 65.28% | 20,000 |
Chicago | 16,251 | 81.26% | 12,640 | -22.22% | 7 | 63.20% | 20,000 |
Colorado Rapids | 14,612 | 80.79% | 12,431 | -14.93% | 8 | 68.73% | 18,086 |
San Jose | 16,752 | 85.56% | 11,513 | -31.28% | 8 | 47.54% | 10,300 |
N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls | 17,679 | 70.18% | 11,385 | -35.60% | 8 | 45.20% | 25,189 |
KC Wizards | 9,596 | 92.40% | 9,789 | 2.01% | 8 | 94.26% | 10,385 |
FC Dallas | 13,687 | 66.76% | 9,306 | -32.01% | 9 | 45.40% | 20,500 |
My disclaimer about the capacity calculations
Observations
All games were on Saturday. First up was a tasty matchup between Seattle and Houston, and not unexpectedly, over 32,000 were on hand. The other early game was an eastern conference tilt between the Wizards and the Revs in Foxboro that was part of a tripleheader. The USMNT were on hand as the last 2 Gold Cup Group B games followed the Revs match. In the one match that was in direct conflict with the USMNT, Chicago played host to the surging Crew and drew their biggest home crowd of the year. Go figure. A sparse crowd in Denver saw the Rapids and FC Dallas in a western conference matchup. Surprisingly, San Jose did not sell out for TFC’s visit. The Chivas USA/LA SuperClasico closed out league play for the weekend before over 23,400.
New England’s year to year attendance took a hit despite banking over 24,000 this weekend. That’s because last year’s 8th home game was part of a doubleheader with Brasil and Venezuela that drew over 54,000. That 54K is why the very healthy 19,300+ average for this week did not beat last year’s week 17 average. It also flipped the Rev’s numbers from 11% up to 22% down compared to ’08.
I suspect RBNY’s numbers will get whacked next week. The Gossipy Galaxy will be in town. It’s expected that Landycakes and Golden Balls will be on the field together for the first time this season. In 2007 this match drew 66,237(Aug 18), in 2008 46,754(Jul 19). Any guesses on Thursday’s attendance?
YTD – 124 Games | ||||
Average | Median | %<10K | %>20k | |
2005 | 14,547 | 12,134 | 30.08% | 16.26% |
2006 | 15,716 | 13,036 | 22.58% | 18.55% |
2007 | 15,377 | 14,179 | 10.48% | 22.58% |
2008 | 16,518 | 15,274 | 11.29% | 25.81% |
2009 | 15,435 | 14,479 | 15.32% | 18.55% |
Week 17 Games | ||
Seattle | 2 | Seattle Times |
Houston | 1 | Soccer y Fútbol – Barnard Fallas |
New England | 0 | Revolution Soccer |
Kansas City | 0 | Kansas City – Hillcrest Road |
Chicago | 0 | Chicago – En Fuego Official Blog |
Columbus | 0 | Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra |
Colorado | 1 | Undercurrent |
FC Dallas | 0 | 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick |
San Jose | 1 | Center Line Soccer |
Toronto | 3 | TFC Connected |
Chivas USA | 0 | Chivas USA – MLSNet |
Los Angeles | 1 | LA – 100 percent soccer |
Gold Cup and MLS
Gold Cup Rosters at CONCACAF | ||||
Players, League Games Missed Due to Gold Cup Group and Quarterfinal Matches |
||||
Players | Opponent | |||
11-Jul | 16-Jul | 18-Jul | ||
Chicago | Busch, Pause. Segares(CRC) | Columbus | SJ | |
Chivas USA | Bornstein*, Kljestan* Thomas(JAM)**, Harmse(CAN) |
LA | NE | |
Colorado | Clark, Perkins, Casey* Ceus(HAI), Cummings(JAM)** |
FCD | DCU | |
Columbus | Rogers, Marshall | Chicago | RSL | |
DC United | Quaranta, Jakovic(CAN) | Colorado | ||
FC Dallas | Cooper | Colorado | ||
Houston | Ching, Holden, Hainault(CAN) | Seattle | TFC | |
Kansas City | Arnaud, Conrad | NE | ||
Los Angeles | Ricketts(JAM)** | Chivas USA | RBNY | |
New England | Heaps, Joseph(GRE)** | KC | Chivas USA | |
RBNY | Pacheco(SLV)** Richards(JAM)** |
LA | ||
Real Salt Lake | Beckerman, Johnson(CAN) Alexandre(HAI) |
Columbus | ||
San Jose | NONE | TFC | Chicago | |
Seattle | Evans, Marshall(JAM)** | HOU | ||
Toronto FC | Cronin, Gerba(CAN) | SJ | HOU |
* – Added when CONCACAF allowed the US to add 7 to the roster due to its participation in the Confederations Cup. These players will not travel with the team but are expected to join when the matches are geographically proximate. Bornstein, Kljestan and Casey were with their clubs on July 11.
** – El Salvador, Grenada, Jamaica eliminated. Joseph missed all games due to injury.
If I’ve missed anyone, hopefully our readers will let me know in the comment section.
This list encompasses the MLS matches that coincide with Gold Cup group play which ended on July 12. I will update the list as we go through the knock-out rounds.
Toronto’s new signing Gerba has now scored for Canada in its pre Gold Cup tuneup match, and in 2 Gold Cup matches, but TFC will have to wait as Canada are through to the quarterfinals.
Seattle will also have to wait a little longer for its new signing Gonzalez. Costa Rica has advanced to the Gold Cup quarterfinals.
======
End of Week Thoughts
- No way Montero’s first goal completely crossed the line.
- ESPN, FSC, CONCACAF, SUM, USSF – Beyond clueless.
- Coming into the weekend, DCU, LA, and RSL had each scored 9 goals in the last 15 minutes.
- Coming into the weekend, Seattle, RBNY, and San Jose had each scored 1 goal in the last 15 minutes.
- I nearly gagged when I heard J.P. Dellacamara mention that Chicago’s attendance was down ‘a little’.
- TFC rookie Sam Cronin got his first cap for the USMNT vs Haiti, as did fellow MLS’ers Jay Heaps and Colin Clark.
- Blanco looked very ordinary against Columbus.
- The Galaxy have won 3 games in a row, all by a 1-0 score, beating Houson, New England and Chivas USA.Streaking
- Chicago is winless in 5.
- Chivas USA is winless in 3.
- RBNY is winless in 10.
- Seven teams have not lost when scoring the first goal.
- Six teams have not won when allowing the first goal.
- Three teams, Houston, DCU and Columbus, are undefeated at home.
- Two teams, RBNY and San Jose, are winless on the road.======
Just Some Stuff
Chicago has won more road games than any team in the league. They’re also the only team with just one win at home.
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinals are on Tuesday, July 21. The USL-1 Rochester Rhinos meet defending champions D.C. United at the Maryland Soccerplex in Boyds, MD. The other semi features Houston at Seattle at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, WA.
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