Take Me Out to the Ballgame – Week 24
The Week 24 numbers look like this…
| 5 year comparison | ||||||||
| Week 24 | 186 GP | YTD | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | GP | Avg | +/- | Avg | +/- | GP | |
| 2006 | 14,880 | 6 | 15,348 | 15,129 | 159 | |||
| 2007 | 17,987 | 20.88% | 8 | 16,659 | 8.54% | 16,118 | 6.54% | 159 |
| 2008 | 16,016 | -10.95% | 7 | 16,450 | -1.26% | 17,073 | 5.92% | 161 |
| 2009 | 16,148 | 0.82% | 8 | 15,748 | -4.26% | 16,709 | -2.13% | 172 |
| 2010 | 18,444 | 14.22% | 8 | 16,625 | 5.57% | 16,625 | -0.50% | 186 |
| YTD – 186 Games | ||||
| Average | Median | %<10K | %>20k | |
| 2006 | 15,348 | 13,866 | 19.35% | 18.82% |
| 2007 | 16,659 | 15,174 | 8.60% | 28.49% |
| 2008 | 16,450 | 15,078 | 11.29% | 25.27% |
| 2009 | 15,748 | 14,479 | 15.59% | 19.35% |
| 2010 | 16,625 | 14,569 | 6.99% | 22.58% |
Here are the attendance comparisons to 2009:
| MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games | |||||||
| 2009 | 2010 | ||||||
| Att | Cap % | Att | Att +/- | GP | Cap % | Cap | |
| Seattle | 30,587 | 94.40% | 36,167 | 18.24% | 13 | 101.88% | 35,500 |
| Toronto | 20,278 | 92.26% | 20,665 | 1.91% | 13 | 94.03% | 21,978 |
| LA Galaxy | 20,072 | 74.34% | 20,224 | 0.76% | 11 | 74.90% | 27,000 |
| Philadelphia | NA | NA | 19,894 | NA | 11 | 90.24% | 18,500 |
| N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls | 12,070 | 47.92% | 17,927 | 48.52% | 12 | 71.17% | 25,189 |
| Real Salt Lake | 16,091 | 78.74% | 16,952 | 5.35% | 12 | 87.65% | 19,340 |
| Houston | 15,938 | 70.84% | 16,895 | 6.01% | 12 | 75.09% | 22,500 |
| Chicago | 13,912 | 69.56% | 15,757 | 13.26% | 11 | 78.79% | 20,000 |
| Columbus Crew | 13,714 | 68.57% | 14,384 | 4.89% | 12 | 71.92% | 20,000 |
| D.C. United | 15,542 | 69.07% | 14,271 | -8.17% | 12 | 63.43% | 22,500 |
| ChivasUSA | 15,673 | 58.05% | 13,792 | -12.00% | 11 | 51.08% | 27,000 |
| Colorado Rapids | 12,771 | 70.61% | 12,749 | -0.17% | 11 | 70.49% | 18,086 |
| NE Revolution | 13,221 | 58.76% | 12,070 | -8.71% | 12 | 53.64% | 22,500 |
| FC Dallas | 9,229 | 43.55% | 10,811 | 17.15% | 11 | 51.01% | 21,193 |
| KC Wizards | 10,010 | 96.39% | 10,109 | 0.99% | 11 | 97.34% | 10,385 |
| San Jose | 15,692 | 92.04% | 9,702 | -38.17% | 11 | 94.19% | 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.
Observations
Chicago drew 12,800+ on Wednesday. Big surprise, Seattle filled the house on Thursday. Another big surprise, only 10,700+ for Chivas USA on Friday. Toronto was just under 20,400. 19,000+ were in Harrison for the Red Bulls. A full house at PPL Park for the Union. The Quakes were also at capacity. Nearly 19,500 were at the HDC for the Galaxy.
Rookie Watch: Tim Ream got his first for RBNY. Can’t speak to performances as I have company visiting and couldn’t watch any of the matches.
Joel Lindpere, on my preseason ‘watch list’(bottom of post) assisted on Henry’s goal for RBNY v TFC.
| Week 24 Games | ||
| Chicago | 0 | Chicago Fire Confidential |
| Toronto | 0 | TFC Connected |
| Seattle | 0 | Seattle Times |
| Real Salt Lake | 0 | RSL – Behind the Shield |
| Chivas USA | 2 | Chicago Fire Confidential |
| New England | 0 | Revolution Soccer |
| Toronto | 0 | TFC Connected |
| DC United | 1 | DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider |
| RBNY | 3 | Red Bulls Reader |
| Colorado | 1 | Undercurrent |
| Philadelphia | 1 | Philadelphia Union Talk |
| Chicago | 0 | Chicago Fire Confidential |
| San Jose | 0 | San Jose Center Line Soccer |
| FC Dallas | 0 | 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick |
| Los Angeles | 3 | LA – Official Blog |
| Columbus | 1 | Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra |
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GFA | GAA | PPG | PTS | GD | |
| Los Angeles | 24 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 36 | 18 | 1.50 | 0.75 | 1.96 | 47 | 18 |
| Real Salt Lake | 24 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 37 | 16 | 1.54 | 0.67 | 1.83 | 44 | 21 |
| Columbus | 24 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 33 | 23 | 1.38 | 0.96 | 1.83 | 44 | 10 |
| Dallas | 23 | 10 | 11 | 2 | 29 | 17 | 1.26 | 0.74 | 1.78 | 41 | 12 |
| NY Red Bull | 24 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 30 | 25 | 1.25 | 1.04 | 1.67 | 40 | 5 |
| Colorado | 23 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 29 | 24 | 1.26 | 1.04 | 1.48 | 34 | 5 |
| San Jose | 22 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 24 | 23 | 1.09 | 1.05 | 1.50 | 33 | 1 |
| Seattle | 24 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 26 | 29 | 1.08 | 1.21 | 1.38 | 33 | -3 |
| Toronto FC | 24 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 22 | 27 | 0.92 | 1.13 | 1.17 | 28 | -5 |
| Kansas City | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 22 | 24 | 1.00 | 1.09 | 1.23 | 27 | -2 |
| Chicago | 22 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 28 | 30 | 1.27 | 1.36 | 1.18 | 26 | -2 |
| Chivas USA | 23 | 7 | 4 | 12 | 25 | 29 | 1.09 | 1.26 | 1.09 | 25 | -4 |
| Philadelphia | 23 | 6 | 6 | 11 | 27 | 38 | 1.17 | 1.65 | 1.04 | 24 | -11 |
| New England | 23 | 7 | 3 | 13 | 24 | 38 | 1.04 | 1.65 | 1.04 | 24 | -14 |
| Houston | 23 | 6 | 5 | 12 | 28 | 38 | 1.22 | 1.65 | 1.00 | 23 | -10 |
| DC United | 24 | 5 | 3 | 16 | 16 | 37 | 0.67 | 1.54 | 0.75 | 18 | -21 |
Columbus, RSL and Dallas lost points to LA in the 4 team race for the Supporters’ Shield. Some tasty matches next week. Seattle visits Columbus and the Red Bulls visit Dallas. Chicago missed out taking advantage of its game-in-hand situation by taking only 1 point from 6, but got lucky as Seattle drew. Toronto also did themselves no good by taking only 1 point from 6, including a home loss to league bottom feeders DC United and failing to score in both matches. Three scoreless draws this week. Think playoff pressure is taking hold?
Streaking
- RSL are unbeaten in their last 22 regular season home games.
- Dallas are unbeaten in their last 14 games.
- Dallas are also unbeaten in their last 11 road games, an MLS record.
- Colorado are unbeaten in their last 8 home games.
- Houston are winless in their last 8 road games. And they’ve been scoreless in their last 4 road games.
- New England are winless in their last 9 road games.
MLS Throw Ins
- LA is the only club to have earned more than 50% of its points on the road.
- There have been 47 draws compared to 57 in ’09 thru the first 186 matches.
- There have been 119 clean sheets in the first 186 matches, counting scoreless draws as 2.
- Through 186 games: goal scoring is down around 8.4% from 2009, 2.34 vs 2.56.
- RSL has lost only twice in its last 41 home matches. They lost only once in ’08 and ’09, a feat matched by Houston.
- DC United have yielded 14 goals in the last 15 minutes.
- Dallas have not given up more than 1 goal since April 22.
- San Jose has gone from one the worst allowing late goals in ’09 to the 3rd stingiest in ’10(as a percentage of total goals allowed).
After a good showing for MLS in the first group phase matches, they pulled an oh-for four in the 2nd round.
- Aug 17 — Toronto 2 Cruz Azul 1
- Aug 18 — Columbus 1 Municipal 0
- Aug 18 — Real Salt Lake 2 Arabe Unido 1
- Aug 19 — Marathón 2 Seattle 1
- Aug 24 – Arabe Unido 1 Toronto 0
- Aug 24 – Santos Laguna 1 Columbus 0
- Aug 25 – Cruz Azul 5 Real Salt Lake 4
- Aug 25 – Seattle 0 Monterrey 2
<!– - Aug 19 – Marathón v Seattle–>
Group play continues this week. The matches with MLS teams are(home team listed first) …
- Sep 14 — Columbus v Joe Public
- Sep 14 — Saprissa v Seattle
- Sep 15 — Real Salt Lake v Toronto
- Sep 21 — Columbus v Santos Laguna
- Sep 21 — Cruz Azul v Toronto
- Sep 22 — Arabe Unido v Real Salt Lake
- Sep 22 — Monterrey v Seattle
| CONCACAF Champions League Group Phase | |||||
| Group A | Arabe Unido | RSL | Cruz Azul | Toronto | Home |
| Arabe Unido(PAN) | X | 0 | 0 | 501 | 501 |
| RSL(USA) | 10,626 | X | 0 | 0 | 10,626 |
| Cruz Azul(MEX) | 0 | 6,156 | X | 0 | 6,156 |
| Toronto(CAN) | 0 | 0 | 16,862 | X | 16,862 |
| Away | 10,626 | 6,156 | 16,862 | 501 | |
| Group B | Columbus | Municipal | Santos Laguna | Joe Public | Home |
| Columbus(USA) | X | 5,745 | 0 | 0 | 5,745 |
| Municipal(GUA) | 0 | X | 0 | 2,498 | 2,498 |
| Santos Laguna(MEX) | 4,700 | 0 | X | 0 | 4,700 |
| Joe Public(T&T) | 900 | 0 | 0 | X | 900 |
| Away | 2,800 | 5,745 | 0 | 2,498 | |
| Group C | Monterrey | Saprissa | Seattle | Marathón | Home |
| Monterrey(MEX) | X | 12,042 | 0 | 0 | 12,042 |
| Saprissa(CRC) | 0 | X | 0 | 2,899 | 2,899 |
| Seattle(USA) | 22,513 | 0 | X | 0 | 22,513 |
| Marathón(HON) | 0 | 0 | 1,990 | X | 1,990 |
| Away | 22,513 | 12,042 | 1,990 | 2,899 | |
| Group D | Toluca | Olimpia | Puerto Rico | FAS | Home |
| Toluca(MEX) | X | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Olimpia(HON) | 0 | X | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Puerto Rico(CFU) | 0 | 2,632 | X | 2,050 | 2,341 |
| FAS(SLV) | 3,500 | 0 | 0 | X | 3,500 |
| Away | 3,500 | 2,632 | 0 | 2,050 | |
| No Report on the Toluca/Olimpia match | |||||
The winner will compete in the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League.
In the semifinals, Columbus defeated DC United and Seattle beat ChivasUSA. Seattle, the defending champion, will host the final at Qwest Field on Tuesday, October 5.
The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup structure
Fixture Congestion
A rough go for Seattle as their next four matches, 2 MLS and 2 CCL are on the road.
| Fixture Congestion for MLS Teams | ||||
| TFC | SEA | CLB | RSL | |
| 8/24/10 | CCL | CCL | ||
| 8/25/10 | CCL | CCL | ||
| 8/28/10 | MLS | MLS | MLS | MLS |
| 8/29/10 | ||||
| 9/1/10 | USOC | USOC | ||
| 9/4/10 | MLS | MLS | MLS | MLS |
| 9/8/10 | MLS | |||
| 9/9/10 | MLS | MLS | ||
| 9/11/10 | MLS | |||
| 9/14/10 | CCL | CCL | ||
| 9/15/10 | CCL | CCL | ||
| 9/18/10 | MLS | MLS | MLS | MLS |
| 9/21/10 | CCL | CCL | ||
| 9/22/10 | CCL | CCL | ||
| 9/25/10 | MLS | MLS | MLS | MLS |
| Days | 33 | 32 | 33 | 32 |
| Games | 8 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| Games/Day | 4.1 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
| CCL=CONCACAF Champions League – USOC=US Open Cup | ||||
19 Responses to Take Me Out to the Ballgame – Week 24
Reminds me of the 1980 Mariner teams. Tonights attendance is 10,142….with 5,000 disguised as empty seats.
Sounders had at least 2k, probably 3k empty seat disguises. That being said I am sure it was a sellout, just not an attend out due to the game starting at 8:00 on a school night.
I will defend MLS’s attendance stats no matter what, but your first line is hilarious. I’m a little tired of Red Bull Arena selling out but mysteriously on television there are several sections of 10-50 seats that appear to be empty on TV. Don’t even get me started on New England, where on TV they only show one half of the bottom bowl, because the other half is empty.
Seattle might be the “pro-playoff vs. pro-regular season only” arguement defined. Just like Salt Lake last year.
A .500 team with negative goal differential. Only averaging 1.38 points per game. The way Toronto and Chicago are playing they could back their way into the playoffs.
BUT, since Ljungberg left, they are a fairly good team. They just tied Salt Lake, a bunch of games against trying to get in the playoffs teams left could give them some wins. They win out in the playoffs and they have as many wins as the favorites they would have to beat to win it all.
I can see both sides, but for me the playoffs are WAAAAAY more exciting than looking back to the game in June and saying that was the game that won it for Team X, or the fact that 3/4 of the teams have no shot at all to win it all at the midpoint of the season.
I agree, for now. As long as CCL and US Open Cup are a curious distraction at best – the playoff tourney is useful for keeping more clubs relevant deep into the season. If that were to change, i would argue for eliminating the playoffs due to redundancy and the ability to stretch out the regular season within the current march to november footprint to give more time and space for CCL and the US Open Cup. Something worth thinking about on the 10 – 20 year horizon – but certainly no time before.
Toronto FC is too terrible to make the playoffs. Consider our team done.
Preki is done at least.
Toronto will be done if they lose to SLC next game.
MLS Talk is getting stale and postings getting few and far between.
I have to agree. I know everybody complains over, for example, USA vs England cultural-type posts, but at least the comment section is lively
i dont disagree with you comment, but I still read 1/2 of the posts everyday and will stay loyal.
BUT YOU CANNOT BE COMPLAINING ABOUT TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME !
I can see someone not caring, but it is a great post for those of us that care.
Robert, if you’re interested in contributing articles, please refer to http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com/get-published
Cheers,
The Gaffer
For the Houston, DC, and New England stadiums, why not use their max MLS capacity? Houston’s max capacity is 31 or 32k and they’ve reached that before in regular season games (though not this season). NE is 32.5k I believe and DC is 46k (they always open all seats).
Please place an asterisk next to any mention of the Crew-Santos Laguna result. Taking away a goal after the fact is absolutely absurd, and that game was just a sham and a travesty.
Also, don’t blame MLS fans, and particularly Columbus fans, for turning off the CCL. There is no integrity in that competition, and thus there’s really no reason to follow it.
How can a CL CONCACAF competition be taken seriously when everything is tainted by the corrupts Jack Warner and Chuck Blazer. The same Jack Warner that convinced Mexico to lose that qualifying game in 2005 so his country could make the WC and he could make a lot of money by manipulating tickets sales and other crooked businesses. MLS is all I am concerned and I care less about the CCL.
I would be interested to see side-by-side comparisons between MLS and match attendances from other leagues. Not the big ones (Germany, Italy, Spain, England) but maybe First Division attendances or smaller leagues. It would take some work, matching venue sizes, geography, weather, etc., but it would make an interesting study. I don’t know if 16,625 average is so bad considering the age of the league, poor public education about the league, and the economy. Is it really all that bad? Or are we trying to be the Bundesliga right now?
Here is the other league in this continent that I follow closely.
http://www.cbf.com.br/php/estatisticas.php?ct=1&cc=40&aa=2010
I hope you can read some portuguese. The key number for this season is the average atendance of 14242 per game. Last season’s average attendance was 17807.
Sorry I can’t take the time for proper responses. Have house guests from out of town and am grabbing a moment to write this.
Will be able to respond to capacities, CCL issues, and more in a few days.
Pls accept my apologies.
Peter
The Sounders have already broken the attendance record for the US Open Cup and it is three weeks away. BTW, the record was from 1929 !?!
They have sold 22k seats so far.
It will be at least 22,002……as I have yet to purchase.
Abram:
Until recently, New England didn’t even sell tickets on one side of the field. As for the empty seats we see, in the mysterious world of MLS attendance reporting, the numbers released are for tickets sold or comped, not how many people actually go through the turnstiles.
CACuzcatlan:
I chose the 22,500 capacity for teams playing in football stadiums because that’s roughly the size of a stadium that they will build, if they build. Next season, I’ll adjust the Houston number to reflect their new stadium, but they will be sharing it with a college, so the seating will take American football into account. I doubt they(Houston) would have built a stadium with over 25,000 if there was no accommodation for US college football.
Carl and Bolacuadrada:
I certainly agree that the federation should be ashamed of the referees and it’s President, but it’s what we’re stuck with. I’m a big supporter of the CCL. It’s the vehicle that will help lift MLS and draw more young internationals to the league. The only way I know about Gamba Osaka and Al Ahly, among others, is because of their performance in their respective champions’ leagues and exposure in the FIFA Club World Cup.
Light Bulb:
Within the next couple of weeks, I’ll post the list of teams in the ‘big’ Euro leagues that draw less than 21,000. I’ve not tracked the ‘smaller’ leagues. Maybe I’ll compile that info during the MLS off season.
As someone who has followed MLS for 15 years, I still enjoy tracking attendance. Seattle and Toronot have added a great deal. The new stadiums are helping. Two more teams next year will be great. The key to more media coverage, ads, sponsors, etc. is more people buying tickets. i think this year’s attendance has been super given the economy. All other sports are suffering and MLS continues to grow. Go Fire!