The Week 15 numbers look like this…

  5 year comparison
  Week 15 117 GP YTD
  Avg +/- GP Avg +/- Avg +/- GP
 2006   15,853     12   14,761     14,721     100 
 2007   14,650   -7.59%   6   14,948   1.26%   15,143   2.87%   103 
 2008   18,529   26.48%   6   16,629   11.25%   17,375   14.74%   106 
 2009   19,285   4.08%   6   15,192   -8.64%   15,531   -10.61%   112 
 2010   19,138   -0.77%   8   16,627   9.45%   16,627   7.06%   117 
YTD – 117 Games
  Average Median %<10K %>20k
 2006    14,761     13,056    22.22%   17.09% 
 2007    14,948     14,087    11.11%   21.37% 
 2008    16,629     15,276    11.11%   25.64% 
 2009    15,192     14,370    14.53%   16.24% 
 2010    16,627     14,389    9.40%   23.08% 

Here are the attendance comparisons to 2009:

MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games
  2009 2010  
  Att Cap % Att Att +/- GP Cap % Cap
 Seattle  29,715   91.71%   36,140   21.62%   9   101.80%   35,500 
 Philadelphia NA NA  23,955  NA  4   84.80%   18,500 
 LA Galaxy  19,298   71.47%   20,687   7.20%   7   76.62%   27,000 
 Toronto  20,198   91.90%   20,588   1.93%   8   93.68%   21,978 
 Real Salt Lake  16,045   76.46%   16,277   1.45%   8   84.16%   19,340 
 N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls  11,385   45.20%   16,277   42.97%   8   64.62%   25,189 
 Houston  15,632   69.48%   16,003   2.37%   9   71.12%   22,500 
 Chicago  12,640   63.20%   14,778   16.91%   7   73.89%   20,000 
 D.C. United  14,303   63.57%   14,734   3.01%   7   65.49%   22,500 
 ChivasUSA  15,625   57.87%   14,451   -7.52%   7   53.52%   27,000 
 Columbus Crew  12,868   64.34%   14,368   11.65%   7   71.84%   20,000 
 Colorado Rapids  11,940   66.02%   13,716   14.88%   6   75.84%   18,086 
 NE Revolution  13,088   58.17%   11,797   -9.87%   8   52.43%   22,500 
 FC Dallas  8,770   41.38%   11,240   28.17%   7   53.04%   21,193 
 KC Wizards  9,789   94.26%   10,006   2.22%   8   96.35%   10,385 
 San Jose  11,774   56.32%   9,515   -19.19%   7   92.38%   10,300 

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 were played at Lincoln Financial Field. The announced capacity for the Union was published as 38,000 and will be calculated as such.
  • San Jose 4th match in 2009 was at Oakland Alameda Coliseum and drew over 15,800.

    Observations

    The week began in Chicago on Thursday with a good crowd of over 17,800. Toronto had over 21,800 as their home winning ways continued. Philadelphia did not sell out for its 2nd match at PPL Park. Neither did the Red Bulls with over 16,200. Perhaps the arrival of Thierry Henry will put more butts in the seats in Harrison. New England pulled in its largest crowd by far, over 20,000, and rewarded their fans with an unexpected win over the Galaxy. Houston had an ordinary gate of just under 13,500, while KC nearly sold out. Seattle closed out the weekend with its usual full house.

    With almost half the season over, 5 of last year’s 8 playoff teams are not in playoff position.

    RSL has played 4 weekday(M-F) home games, 2 more than any other team. They played 6 home weekday matches in ’09 and 5 in ’08.

    Rookie Watch: Didn’t watch enough of the MLS matches to make a judgement this week, but your observations are welcome in the comment section.

    Week 15 Games
     
    Real Salt Lake 1 RSL – Behind the Shield
    Chicago 0 Chicago Fire Confidential
     
    Toronto 1 TFC Connected
    Colorado 0 Undercurrent
     
    Philadelphia 1 Philadelphia Union Talk
    San Jose 2 San Jose Center Line Soccer
     
    RBNY 0 Red Bulls Reader
    DC United 0 DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider
     
    New England 2 Revolution Soccer
    Los Angeles 0 LA – Official Blog
     
    Columbus 0 Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra
    Houston 0 Soccer y Fútbol – Jose de Jesus Ortiz
     
    Kansas City 0 Kansas City – Hillcrest Road
    Chivas USA 2 Chicago Fire Confidential
     
    Seattle 1 Seattle Times
    FC Dallas 1 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick
       GP  W  D  L  GF  GA  GFA  GAA  PPG  PTS  GD
     Los Angeles  16   11   3   2   25   7   1.56   0.44   2.25   36   18 
     Real Salt Lake  15   9   3   3   28   11   1.87   0.73   2.00   30   17 
     Columbus  14   8   4   2   20   12   1.43   0.86   2.00   28   8 
     NY Red Bull  15   8   2   5   18   17   1.20   1.13   1.73   26   1 
     Dallas  14   5   7   2   17   13   1.21   0.93   1.57   22   4 
     Colorado  14   6   4   4   16   13   1.14   0.93   1.57   22   3 
     Toronto FC  14   6   4   4   17   15   1.21   1.07   1.57   22   2 
     San Jose  14   6   4   4   18   16   1.29   1.14   1.57   22   2 
     Houston  16   5   4   7   21   22   1.31   1.38   1.19   19   -1 
     Chicago  14   4   5   5   18   19   1.29   1.36   1.21   17   -1 
     Seattle  16   4   4   8   17   24   1.06   1.50   1.00   16   -7 
     Chivas USA  15   4   2   9   17   21   1.13   1.40   0.93   14   -4 
     New England  15   4   2   9   15   26   1.00   1.73   0.93   14   -11 
     Kansas City  14   3   3   8   11   19   0.79   1.36   0.86   12   -8 
     DC United  15   3   3   9   11   25   0.73   1.67   0.80   12   -14 
     Philadelphia  13   3   2   8   16   25   1.23   1.92   0.85   11   -9 

    Streaking

    • RSL are unbeaten in their last 10 regular season games.
    • RSL are unbeaten in their last 18 regular season home games.
    • Dallas are unbeaten in their last 6 road games.
    • Toronto are unbeaten in their last 15 regular season home games(7 in ’09).
    • Kansas City are winless in their last 8 road games(2 in ’09).
    • Los Angeles are unbeaten in their last 10 regular season home games(3 in ’09).

    MLS Throw Ins

    • There have been 25 draws compared to 39 in ’09 thru the first 117 matches.
    • There have been 75 clean sheets in the first 117 matches, counting scoreless draws as 2.
    • Through 109 games: goal scoring is down around 6% from 2009, 2.51 vs 2.63.
    • RSL has lost only twice in its last 37 home matches. They lost only once in ’08 and ’09, a feat matched by Houston.

    N.A. SuperLiga

    N.A. SuperLiga
     Chicago v Monarchas Morelia  Toyota Park, Bridgeview, IL  Wed, Jul 14
     New England v Pumas UNAM  Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA  Wed, Jul 14
     Houston v Pachuca  Robertson Stadium, Houston, TX  Thu, Jul 15
     ChivasUSA v Puebla  Home Depot Center, LA, CA  Thu, Jul 15
     Chicago v New England
     Morelia v Pumas
     Toyota Park, Bridgeview, IL  Sat, Jul 17
     Houston v Chivas USA
     Pachuca v Puebla
     Robertson Stadium, Houston, TX  Sun, Jul 18
     Chicago v Pumas  Toyota Park, Bridgeview, IL  Tue, Jul 20
     New England v Morelia  Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA  Tue, Jul 20
     Houston v Puebla  Robertson Stadium, Houston, TX  Wed, July 21
     ChivasUSA v Pachuca  Home Depot Center, LA, CA  Wed, July 21

    Congestion Time

    The time stretches below start and end with a full week(minimum) between games at the front and back end.

    • In a 29 day stretch, Houston and ChivasUSA will play 9 games, between MLS, US Open Cup and SuperLiga.
    • In a 24 day stretch, Chicago will play 7 games, between MLS, US Open Cup and SuperLiga.
    • In a 24 day stretch, New England will play 6 games, between MLS, US Open Cup and SuperLiga.

    Lamar Hunt US Open Cup

    In 4th round action, Columbus(MLS) defeated Charleston(USL-2), ChivasUSA(MLS) defeated Houston(MLS) and Seattle(MLS) defeated Los Angeles(MLS).

    The winner will compete in the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League.

    The last 4th round match (ET)
    July 21

    • 7:30pm Harrisburg City Islanders (USL-2) at D.C. United (MLS) Maryland SoccerPlex – Boyds, MD

    In the semifinals, Columbus will play the winner of the DC United/Harrisburg match and Seattle will play ChivasUSA on Sept 1, 10 p.m. ET @ Starfire Sports Complex, Tukwila, WA.

    The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup structure

    Getting Friendly

    Friendlies
    Opponents Venue Date Friendlies Att
     Atlas v Portland  PGE Park, Portland OR Sun, July 11  Friendly  7,113 
     Cruz Azul v Club America  Rose Bowl, Pasadena CA Sat, July 10  Friendly  22,395 
              Total  29,508 
              Average  14,754