The Week 26 numbers look like this…

  5 year comparison
  Week 26 Thru Week 26  YTD
   Avg  +/-  GP  Avg  +/-  GP
 2006   15,419     7   15,014     174 
 2007   23,104   49.84%   7   16,475   9.73%   174 
 2008   16,948   -26.64%   6   16,448   -0.16%   174 
 2009   14,973   -11.65%   8   15,748   -4.26%   183 
 2010   16,022   7.01%   10   16,517   4.88%   204 
YTD
   Average  Median  %<10K  %>20k
 2006   15,014   13,196   20.69%   16.67% 
 2007   16,475   15,008   8.62%   26.44% 
 2008   16,448   15,188   11.49%   24.71% 
 2009   15,748   14,516   15.85%   19.13% 
 2010   16,517   14,935   7.84%   22.06% 

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 
 LA Galaxy  19,812   73.38%   20,735   4.66%   13   76.80%   27,000 
 Toronto  20,308   92.40%   20,622   1.55%   14   93.83%   21,978 
 Philadelphia NA NA  19,609  NA  12   90.16%   18,500 
 N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls  12,070   47.92%   17,927   48.52%   12   71.17%   25,189 
 Real Salt Lake  16,211   79.94%   16,870   4.07%   14   87.23%   19,340 
 Houston  16,107   71.59%   16,860   4.67%   13   74.93%   22,500 
 Chicago  14,113   70.56%   15,901   12.67%   12   79.50%   20,000 
 Columbus Crew  14,272   71.36%   14,597   2.28%   13   72.98%   20,000 
 D.C. United  15,452   68.67%   14,237   -7.86%   13   63.28%   22,500 
 ChivasUSA  15,551   57.60%   13,925   -10.46%   12   51.57%   27,000 
 Colorado Rapids  12,614   69.75%   13,046   3.42%   12   72.14%   18,086 
 NE Revolution  13,432   59.70%   12,183   -9.30%   13   54.14%   22,500 
 FC Dallas  9,258   43.69%   10,884   17.56%   13   51.36%   21,193 
 KC Wizards  10,022   96.50%   10,097   0.76%   13   97.23%   10,385 
 San Jose  15,137   91.82%   9,569   -36.78%   12   92.90%   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’s 4th match in 2009 was at Oakland Alameda Coliseum and drew over 15,800. Their 7th match was also at OAC and they drew over 17,100. Their 11th was part of a doubleheader with Barcelona and drew over 61,500.

    Observations

    The week began with Dallas’ return to form, under 7,500 coming out to PHP. Kansas City fell shy of selling out, with just under 9,700 coming out for its midweek tilt. The Galaxy had its 2nd sellout of the season for the battle of the DP’s. Philly drew a good crowd of over 16,400, but I was still expecting closer to sellouts for the Union. Toronto had its normal 20,000+, but with its playoff hopes fading for the 4th year in a row, it will be interesting to see how it draws for its last home game of the season. Over 13,800 came to RFK to see DC United. I guess that’s not too bad considering the team’s performance this year. The Revs had a typical crowd of 13,500+. Chicago had a very decent turnout of just under 17,500. The Wizards sold out. A terrific crowd came to Rio Tinto for the Rocky Mountain Cup match, 18,300+.

    Rookie Watch: Teal Bunbury scored this week. Andy Najar scored for DC United.

    Kei Kamara and Ryan Smith, on my preseason ‘watch list'(bottom of post) scored for KC v Houston. Smith also scored vs Dallas. Joel Lindpere had a fine match for RBNY v the Galaxy. Geoff Cameron, back from injury, scored for Houston.

    Week 26 Games
     
    FC Dallas 2 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick
    New England 2 Revolution Soccer
     
    Kansas City 4 Kansas City – Hillcrest Road
    Houston 3 Soccer y Fútbol – Jose de Jesus Ortiz
     
    Los Angeles 0 LA – Official Blog
    RBNY 2 Red Bulls Reader
     
    Philadelphia 3 Philadelphia Union Talk
    Chivas USA 0 Chicago Fire Confidential
     
    Toronto 2 TFC Connected
    San Jose 3 San Jose Center Line Soccer
     
    DC United 1 DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider
    Houston 3 Soccer y Fútbol – Jose de Jesus Ortiz
     
    New England 2 Revolution Soccer
    Columbus 2 Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra
     
    Chicago 0 Chicago Fire Confidential
    Seattle 1 Seattle Times
     
    Kansas City 1 Kansas City – Hillcrest Road
    FC Dallas 3 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick
     
    Real Salt Lake 1 RSL – Behind the Shield
    Colorado 1 Undercurrent
       GP  W  D  L  GF  GA  GFA  GAA  PPG  PTS  GD
     Los Angeles  26   15   5   6   38   21   1.46   0.81   1.92   50   17 
     Real Salt Lake  26   13   9   4   39   17   1.50   0.65   1.85   48   22 
     Dallas  26   11   13   2   36   22   1.38   0.85   1.77   46   14 
     Columbus  26   13   6   7   35   29   1.35   1.12   1.73   45   6 
     NY Red Bull  26   13   5   8   34   27   1.31   1.04   1.69   44   7 
     San Jose  24   11   6   7   28   25   1.17   1.04   1.63   39   3 
     Seattle  26   11   6   9   31   29   1.19   1.12   1.50   39   2 
     Colorado  25   10   8   7   33   25   1.32   1.00   1.52   38   8 
     Kansas City  25   9   6   10   29   30   1.16   1.20   1.32   33   -1 
     Toronto FC  26   8   7   11   26   31   1.00   1.19   1.19   31   -5 
     Philadelphia  25   7   6   12   30   39   1.20   1.56   1.08   27   -9 
     Chicago  24   6   8   10   28   32   1.17   1.33   1.08   26   -4 
     Houston  26   7   5   14   35   45   1.35   1.73   1.00   26   -10 
     New England  26   7   5   14   28   45   1.08   1.73   1.00   26   -17 
     Chivas USA  25   7   4   14   25   34   1.00   1.36   1.00   25   -9 
     DC United  26   5   3   18   18   42   0.69   1.62   0.69   18   -24 

    Do we now have a 5 team race for the Supporters’ Shield? The top five teams, all with 4 games remaining, are separated by 6 points. Los Angeles and Dallas play on the last weekend of the season. And if San Jose were to win its 2 games in hand, they would join the party. KC lost an opportunity to draw closer to the playoffs with their home loss to Dallas. DC United appears to have all but locked up the 3rd pick in next year’s SuperDraft.

    Streaking

    • RSL are unbeaten in their last 24 regular season home games, an MLS record.
    • Dallas are unbeaten in their last 17 games.
    • Dallas are also unbeaten in their last 11 road games, an MLS record.
    • Colorado are unbeaten in their last 9 home games.
    • New England are winless in their last 11 road games.

    MLS Throw Ins

    • There have been 51 draws compared to 63 in ’09 thru the first 204 matches.
    • There have been 127 clean sheets in the first 204 matches, counting scoreless draws as 2.
    • Through 204 games: goal scoring is down around 5.0% from 2009, 2.42 vs 2.54.
    • RSL has lost only twice in its last 44 home league matches. They lost only once in ’08 and ’09, a feat matched by Houston.
    • DC United have yielded 17 goals in the last 15 minutes of games.
    • 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).

    CONCACAF Champions League

    Toronto came away with a draw at Cruz Azul, while Seattle gave up a surprising 2 goal lead after 70 minutes, giving up 3 goals in 4 minutes to Monterrey. Too bad, because despite their previous 3 losses, with Saprissa’s loss, the Sounders actually had a chance to advance had they held on to the lead. RSL and Columbus lead their respective groups.

    • 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–>
    • Sep 14 — Columbus 3 Joe Public 0
    • Sep 14 — Saprissa 2 Seattle 0
    • Sep 15 — Real Salt Lake 4 Toronto 1
    • Sep 21 — Columbus 1 Santos Laguna 0
    • Sep 21 — Cruz Azul 0 Toronto 0
    • Sep 22 — Arabe Unido 2 Real Salt Lake 3
    • Sep 22 — Monterrey 3 Seattle 2
    • Sep 28 — Toronto v RSL
    • Sep 29 — Municipal v Columbus
    • Sep 29 — Seattle v Marathón
    CONCACAF Champions League Group Phase
     Group A Arabe Unido RSL Cruz Azul Toronto Home
     Arabe Unido(PAN) X 500 2,975 501 1,325
     RSL(USA) 10,626 X NP 11,579 11,103
     Cruz Azul(MEX) NP 6,156 X 5,280 5,718
     Toronto(CAN) NP NP 16,862 X 16,862
     Away 10,626 3,328 9,919 5,787  
     Group B Columbus Municipal Santos Laguna Joe Public Home
     Columbus(USA) X 5,745 6,298 5,445 5,829
     Municipal(GUA) NP X 10,414 2,498 6,456
     Santos Laguna(MEX) 4,700 NP X NP 4,700
     Joe Public(T&T) 900 500 NP X 700
     Away 2,800 3,123 8,356 3,972  
     Group C Monterrey Saprissa Seattle Marathon Home
     Monterrey(MEX) X 12,042 19,697 9,628 13,789
     Saprissa(CRC) NP X 3,000 2,899 2,950
     Seattle(USA) 22,513 NP X NP 22,513
     Marathon(HON) NP 1,820 1,990 X 1,905
     Away 22,513 6,931 8,229 6,264  
     Group D Toluca Olimpia Puerto Rico FAS Home
     Toluca(MEX) X NA 5,165 NP 5,165
     Olimpia(HON) 4,654 X NP 9,200 6,927
     Puerto Rico(CFU) NP 2,632 X 2,050 2,341
     FAS(SLV) 3,500 NP 3,500 X 3,500
     Away 4,077 2,632 4,333 5,625  
      No Report on the Toluca/Olimpia match

    Lamar Hunt US Open Cup

    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

    Some Euro League Teams with Less Than 21,000 Attendance(in response to a reader’s request)

    Total number of league teams in parenthesis.

    2009-10
    Under 21,000 Attendance
    Bundesliga(18)
     FSV Mainz 05  20,085 
    EPL(20)
     Burnley  20,653 
     Portsmouth  18,249 
     Wigan Athletic  18,006 
    La Liga(20)
     Deportivo La Coruña  20,337 
     CD Tenerife  19,148 
     Villarreal CF  17,572 
     Real Valladolid  17,187 
     CA Osasuna  16,615 
     Racing Santander  16,351 
     Xerez CD  16,201 
     RCD Mallorca  13,452 
     UD Almería  11,661 
     Getafe CF  11,658 
    Serie A(20)
     Bologna FC  20,145 
     Parma FC  17,790 
     Udinese  17,014 
     Catania  15,669 
     Atalanta  14,021 
     Cagliari  13,592 
     Chievo Verona  11,944 
     AC Siena  11,053 
     AS Livorno  10,369 
    Ligue 1(20)
     Toulouse FC  19,176 
     Montpellier  17,981 
     AS Nancy Lorraine  16,312 
     LOSC Lille  14,933 
     Grenoble  13,909 
     FC Sochaux  13,309 
     AJ Auxerre  12,337 
     FC Lorient  12,208 
     Boulogne  12,133 
     Valenciennes FC  12,122 
     Le Mans  9,214 
     Nice  8,714 
     AS Monaco FC  7,893 
    SPL(12)
     Hearts  14,484 
     Hibernian  12,164 
     Aberdeen  11,012 
     Dundee Utd  7,864 
     Kilmarnock  5,919 
     Falkirk  5,635 
     Motherwell  5,028 
     St Johnstone  4,717 
     St Mirren  4,414 
     Hamilton  3,005