After week 23 the numbers look like this…

5 year comparison
WK 23 164 GP YTD
Avg +/- GP Avg +/- Avg +/- GP
 2005  15,133  7  14,807  14,857  151
 2006  11,814  -21.93%  10  15,065  1.74%  15,139  1.89%  153
 2007  17,413  47.39%  7  16,126  7.04%  16,019  5.82%  151
 2008  19,222  10.39%  6  16,393  1.65%  16,966  5.91%  154
 2009  16,665  -13.31%  9  15,826  -3.46%  15,813  -6.80%  164
YTD – 164 Games
Average Median %<10K %>20k
 2005    14,807   12,305  29.70%  15.76%
 2006    15,065   12,979  21.34%  16.46%
 2007    16,126   14,680  9.15%  24.39%
 2008    16,393   15,188  11.59%  24.39%
 2009    15,826   14,573  15.24%  19.51%

Here are the attendance comparisons to 2008’s equal number of home games(164):

MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games
2008 2009
Att Cap Att Att +/- GP Cap Cap
 Seattle  0  0.00%  30,412  NA  12  95.04%  32,000
 Toronto  20,147  91.67%  20,308  0.80%  12  92.40%  21,978
 LA Galaxy  25,513  94.49%  19,379  -24.04%   10  71.78%  27,000
 Real Salt Lake  14,855  72.34%  16,213  9.14%  11  74.80%  19,340
 ChivasUSA  15,557  57.62%  16,107  3.53%  10  59.65%  27,000
 Houston  16,155  71.80%  15,938  -1.35%   12  70.84%  22,500
 D.C. United  19,993  88.86%  15,887  -20.53%   10  70.61%  22,500
 San Jose  14,917  90.48%  15,137  1.48%  12  77.31%  10,300
 NE Revolution  16,615  73.85%  14,188  -14.61%   10  63.06%  22,500
 Chicago  17,288  86.44%  13,912  -19.53%   11  69.56%  20,000
 Columbus Crew  13,569  67.84%  13,660  0.67%  11  68.30%  20,000
 Colorado Rapids  13,628  75.35%  12,771  -6.29%   11  70.61%  18,086
 N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls  16,376  65.01%  12,229  -25.32%   11  48.55%  25,189
 KC Wizards  11,118  107.06%  10,019  -9.89%   10  96.47%  10,385
 FC Dallas  14,072  68.64%  9,229  -34.42%   11  45.02%  20,500

My disclaimer about the capacity calculations

Note I grabbed Sunday’s Fire/Rapids attendance from the good folks at MLS Daily as MLSnet has yet to post. Good job getting Chicago’s gate TJ.

Observations

Week 23 games drew 16,665, despite poor crowds at San Jose, New England and the Meadowlands(rain). Chicago had its first sellout for the Galaxy’s visit. The normal Seattle sellout helps for comparitive purposes as this week last year the Revs drew over 39,000 in New England for Becks. Rain most likely kept the crowd down in DC, where they still pulled in over 22,000 for Goldenball’s appearance, a drop of over 13,800 from last year’s nearly 36,000. San Jose’s poor play is showing at the gate, especially against a weak Kansas City opponent, as they only drew 9,031. Chivas USA’s season keeps percolating along with a decent(not great) crowd of over 15,000. Didn’t expect a big crowd for the Red Bulls and Dallas, rain at kickoff didn’t help: 9,648. Alert! Red Bulls Win! New England drew a tepid 10,552 for its RSL match. Houston pulled in over 17,000 as the Sounders came to town.

Last week I posted the Beckham statistically irrelevant ‘home game’ effect(only 1 home game with Becks). With the Gals on the road for 2 games this week, thought I’d update the ‘away game’ effect table.

Beckham Road Game Effect
With Beckham
2008 2009 +/-
 RBNY  46,754  23,238  -23,516  -50.30%
 KC  26,113  11,906  -14,207  -54.41%
 NE  39,256  26,623  -12,633  -32.18%
 CHI  20,156  20,000  -156  -0.77%
 DCU  35,979  22,134  -13,845  -38.48%
 Total  168,258  103,901  -64,357  -38.25%
Week 23 Games
 
Chicago 0 Chicago Fire Confidential
Los Angeles 2 LA – Official Blog
 
Seattle 0 Seattle Times
New England 1 Revolution Soccer
 
DC United 0 DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider
Los Angeles 0 LA – Official Blog
 
San Jose 1 San Jose Center Line Soccer
Kansas City 0 Kansas City – Hillcrest Road
 
Chivas USA 2 Chivas USA – MLSNet
Toronto 0 TFC Connected
 
RBNY 2 Red Bulls Reader
FC Dallas 1 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick
 
Chicago 3 Chicago Fire Confidential
Colorado 2 Undercurrent
 
New England 3 Revolution Soccer
Real Salt Lake 1 RSL – Behind the Shield
 
Houston 1 Soccer y Fútbol – Barnard Fallas
Seattle 1 Seattle Times

So How Are They Doing?

Points after 164 Games
Pts GP  PPG GD
 Houston  40  24  1.67  10
 Columbus  39  22  1.77  10
 Chicago  38  23  1.65  6
 Los Angeles  35  23  1.52  4
 Seattle  33  23  1.43  6
 Chivas USA  33  20  1.65  4
 Colorado  30  21  1.43  7
 New England  30  20  1.50  -1
 Toronto FC  30  22  1.36  -3
 DC United  29  22  1.32  0
 Real Salt Lake  27  22  1.23  3
 Dallas  23  22  1.05  -4
 Kansas City  21  20  1.05  -8
 San Jose  20  21  0.95  -12
 NY Red Bull  13  23  0.57  -22

Notice that the last 3 teams in playoff positions have games in hand over the teams chasing them. Seattle might be the most vulnerable to being overtaken.

Streaking

  • LA is unbeaten in 6 road games.
  • Columbus is unbeaten in 8.
  • FC Dallas has won 4 straight at home.
  • DCU has not won on the road since April 26(9 matches).
  • Columbus(11matches) and DCU(10 matches) have not lost at home.
  • KC has no wins in its last 6(4 losses).
  • RBNY has won 1 in a row.
  • RBNY is winless on the road.Just Some Stuff

    The CONCACAF Champions League group phase began last week. DC United, Houston and Columbus are representing MLS in the regional club championship. RBNY and Toronto FC were eliminated in the preliminaries.

    Houston defeated Isidro Metápan and Columbus beat Puerto Rico in their opening matches, played at home, while DC United lost on the road to Marathón.

    CONCACAF Champions League
    Aug 26 Sep 15-16
    Group Game 2 Group Game 3
    Houston plays Aug 26, Sep 15
    DCU and Columbus play Aug 26, Sep 16

    I believe Houston’s participation in recent SuperLiga and CONCACAF Champions Cup/League tourneys was a contributing factor in signing their first Designated Player, Luis Landín, a 24 yr old striker, on a 16 month loan from Mexican club Cruz Azul.

    =====

    The finalists for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup are DC United and Seattle. DCU looks to defend its crown while the Sounders are looking for their first hardware as an MLS club. The final is on September 2 at RFK stadium in DC.