The Week 7 numbers look like this…

  5 year comparison
  Week 7 56 GP YTD
  Avg +/- GP Avg +/- Avg +/- GP
 2006   12,580     7   16,296     16,069     41 
 2007   16,932   34.59%   8   14,999   -7.96%   15,348   -4.48%   46 
 2008   16,707   -1.33%   6   15,767   5.12%   17,232   12.28%   48 
 2009   13,389   -19.86%   7   14,588   -7.48%   14,796   -14.14%   52 
 2010   13,864   3.55%   11   16,238   11.31%   16,238   9.75%   56 
YTD – 56 Games
  Average Median %<10K %>20k
 2006    16,296     15,742    18.18%   20.00% 
 2007    14,999     14,130    14.29%   17.86% 
 2008    15,767     15,148    12.50%   28.57% 
 2009    14,588     13,439    19.64%   16.07% 
 2010    16,238     13,602    16.07%   23.21% 

Here are the attendance comparisons to 2009:

MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games
  2009 2010  
  Att Cap % Att Att +/- GP Cap % Cap
 Seattle  29,536   91.16%   36,145   22.37%   5   101.82%   35,500 
 Philadelphia NA NA  34,870  NA  1   91.76%   18,500 
 Toronto  20,282   92.28%   20,144   -0.68%   3   91.66%   21,978 
 LA Galaxy  19,761   73.19%   19,245   -2.61%   4   71.28%   27,000 
 N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls  10,424   41.38%   17,953   72.22%   3   71.27%   25,189 
 Houston  15,561   69.16%   15,754   1.24%   5   70.02%   22,500 
 Real Salt Lake  12,550   52.89%   15,618   24.44%   3   80.75%   19,340 
 D.C. United  14,289   63.51%   15,300   7.07%   4   68.00%   22,500 
 Chicago  10,901   54.51%   14,937   37.03%   3   74.69%   20,000 
 ChivasUSA  14,839   54.96%   14,554   -1.92%   4   53.90%   27,000 
 Columbus Crew  12,926   64.63%   12,685   -1.87%   3   63.43%   20,000 
 Colorado Rapids  11,037   61.02%   10,484   -5.01%   3   57.97%   18,086 
 KC Wizards  9,231   88.88%   10,219   10.71%   3   98.40%   10,385 
 San Jose  11,273   39.06%   9,514   -15.60%   4   92.37%   10,300 
 FC Dallas  9,372   44.22%   9,352   -0.22%   4   44.13%   21,193 
 NE Revolution  11,594   51.53%   9,247   -20.24%   4   41.10%   22,500 

My disclaimer about the capacity calculations

For my calculations, I’ve taken the 3 teams playing in Amercan football stadiums, DCU in RFK, Houston in Robertson and New England in Foxboro and assigned maximum capacities at 22,500. I took the 22,500 number from an approximate average of the soccer specific stadiums in use.

  • Philly’s first two home games will be at Lincoln Financial Field. The announced capacity for the Union was published as 38,000 and will be calculated as such.

    Observations

    Four midweek games this week. Eleven total as the league starts to fill in the schedule in anticipation of the 2 week hiatus that will accompany the group phase of the World Cup. Starting off in DC, a bit over 10K saw United earn its first points of the year with academy product Bill Hamid in goal. The Revs had what promises to be a candidate for low gate of the year for its drubbing by ChivasUSA(5,990). A bit over 13,200 came to see the return leg of the Texas Derby in Houston. The Rapids again drew under 10K. All of the midweek matches had decent weather. Saturday began with the usual monster crowd in Seattle. And no, despite any tweets you may have seen, it was not the largest crowd to see an MLS game. Toronto had a great crowd despite chilly temperatures and windy conditions. RSL had a fair crowd of just over 14,200 in a match that was moved to the afternoon because the NBA Jazz were in a playoff game at night. Columbus had a less than stellar turnout in cool weather, just under 10,200. Dallas drew just a bit over 10,300. Despite their recent success, San Jose did not sell out. ChivasUSA still had trouble drawing a big crowd even though they were on a 3 game unbeaten string.

    San Jose note: The Quakes large decline is attributed to the fact that they played their 4th home game(vs LA) away from Buck Shaw in ’09, drawing over 15,800. They also played their 7th(vs LA) and 11th(doubleheader Barcelona v Chivas) home games(17,000+, 61,500+) at Oakland Alameda Coliseum.

    Rookies are still doing their thing. Blair Gavin got his first MLS goal vs New England. Zak Boggs scored his first two MLS goals for New England.

    A mixed result from the players on my preseason ‘watch list'(bottom of post). Ryan Smith had a pretty bad game while Kei Kamara, who inexplicably hasn’t started lately for the Wizards came in and scored KC’s only goal on Wednesday.

    Week 7 Games
     
    DC United 2 DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider
    Kansas City 1 Kansas City – Hillcrest Road
     
    New England 0 Revolution Soccer
    Chivas USA 4 Chicago Fire Confidential
     
    Colorado 0 Undercurrent
    Los Angeles 1 LA – Official Blog
     
    Houston 0 Soccer y Fútbol – Jose de Jesus Ortiz
    FC Dallas 1 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick
     
    Seattle 0 Seattle Times
    Los Angeles 4 LA – Official Blog
     
    Toronto 4 TFC Connected
    Chicago 1 Chicago Fire Confidential
     
    Real Salt Lake 3 RSL – Behind the Shield
    Philadelphia 0 Philadelphia Union Soccer
     
    Columbus 3 Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra
    New England 2 Revolution Soccer
     
    FC Dallas 1 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick
    DC United 0 DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider
     
    San Jose 4 San Jose Center Line Soccer
    RBNY 0 Red Bulls Reader
     
    Chivas USA 0 Chicago Fire Confidential
    Houston 2 Soccer y Fútbol – Jose de Jesus Ortiz
       GP  W  D  L  GF  GA  GFA  GAA  PPG  PTS  GD
     Los Angeles  8   7   1   0   15   2   1.88   0.25   2.75   22   13 
     NY Red Bull  7   5   0   2   8   8   1.14   1.14   2.14   15   0 
     Houston  8   4   1   3   11   7   1.38   0.88   1.63   13   4 
     San Jose  6   4   0   2   11   7   1.83   1.17   2.00   12   4 
     Columbus  5   3   2   0   9   5   1.80   1.00   2.20   11   4 
     Real Salt Lake  7   3   1   3   12   8   1.71   1.14   1.43   10   4 
     Colorado  7   3   1   3   8   7   1.14   1.00   1.43   10   1 
     Dallas  7   2   4   1   9   8   1.29   1.14   1.43   10   1 
     Chivas USA  8   3   1   4   10   11   1.25   1.38   1.25   10   -1 
     Toronto FC  7   3   0   4   11   13   1.57   1.86   1.29   9   -2 
     Seattle  8   2   3   3   8   12   1.00   1.50   1.13   9   -4 
     Chicago  7   2   2   3   9   10   1.29   1.43   1.14   8   -1 
     Kansas City  6   2   1   3   6   6   1.00   1.00   1.17   7   0 
     New England  8   2   1   5   10   14   1.25   1.75   0.88   7   -4 
     Philadelphia  6   1   0   5   6   14   1.00   2.33   0.50   3   -8 
     DC United  7   1   0   6   4   15   0.57   2.14   0.43   3   -11 

    Seattle management was so embarassed by the club’s sound thrashing at home by the Galaxy, that they will be issuing credit to season ticket holders.

    Streaking

    • FC Dallas have not lost at home in its last 12(8 wins).
    • TFC has not lost at home in 9 straight.
    • TFC is winless in 12 straight road games(3 draws).
    • RSL are unbeaten in their last 13 regular season home games.
    • Los Angeles have yet to yield a goal on the road(4 games).

    MLS Throw Ins

    • Amazing. Eleven games this week, no draws.
    • Two teams remain unbeaten, Columbus and Los Angeles.
    • There have been 9 draws compared to 15 in ’09 thru the first 45 matches.
    • There have been 32 clean sheets in the first 56 matches
    • Through 45 games: goal scoring is slightly down from 2009, 2.53 vs 2.62.
    • RSL has lost only twice in its last 32 home matches. They lost only once in ’08 and ’09, a feat matched by Houston.
    • This year however, Houston has lost 2 of 5 at home.

    Lamar Hunt US Open Cup

    The MLS play-in matches for the Open have begun for the teams that did not finish in the top 6 in 2009. The next match will be played on May 12. Seattle are the defending cup holders, and as such will compete in the 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League. Two teams will emerge from the group of Colorado, RSL, DCU, the Revs and RBNY to join the 6 that automatically qualified.

    • Colorado Rapids defeated the Kansas City Wizards 2-1.
    • Real Salt Lake beat the San Jose Earthquakes on PK’s 5-3 after playing to a 3-3 score.
    • New York Red Bulls downed Philadelphia 2-1.
    • DC United beat FC Dallas 4-2, the 2nd year in a row that DCU eliminates FCD.
    • New England Revolution at New York on Wednesday, May 12

    The structure for the tourney has been finalized. Round 1 begins June 15, Round 2 June 22, Round 3(when the 8 MLS teams join in) June 29.

    In case you were wondering, here is the World Cup schedule(June 11-July 11). Note that the latest start time(ET) is 2pm.