The Week 29 numbers look like this…

  5 year comparison
  Week 29 Thru Week 29  YTD
   Avg  +/-  GP  Avg  +/-  GP
 2006   20,277     6   15,502     192 
 2007   20,575   1.47%   7   16,767   8.16%   195 
 2008   17,338   -15.73%   7   16,460   -1.83%   210 
 2009   22,165   27.84%   7   15,878   -3.53%   205 
 2010   20,048   -9.55%   9   16,651   4.87%   231 
Thru Week 29
   Average  Median  %<10K  %>20k
 2006   15,502   14,175   18.75%   18.75% 
 2007   16,767   14,655   8.21%   29.74% 
 2008   16,460   15,188   10.95%   24.76% 
 2009   15,878   14,534   15.61%   19.51% 
 2010   16,651   15,124   7.36%   22.51% 

Here are the attendance comparisons to 2009:

MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games
  2009 2010  
  Att Cap % Att Att +/- GP Cap % Cap
 Seattle  30,897   95.36%   36,173   17.08%   15   101.90%   35,500 
 LA Galaxy  19,946   73.87%   21,183   6.20%   14   78.45%   27,000 
 Toronto  20,344   92.57%   20,453   0.53%   15   93.06%   21,978 
 Philadelphia NA NA  19,252  NA  15   91.24%   18,500 
 N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls  11,861   47.09%   18,625   57.03%   14   73.94%   25,189 
 Real Salt Lake  16,375   81.00%   17,095   4.39%   15   88.39%   19,340 
 Houston  16,160   71.82%   16,833   4.16%   14   74.81%   22,500 
 Chicago  14,689   73.44%   15,814   7.66%   15   79.07%   20,000 
 ChivasUSA  15,132   56.05%   14,557   -3.80%   14   53.92%   27,000 
 Columbus Crew  14,279   71.39%   14,330   0.36%   14   71.65%   20,000 
 D.C. United  16,075   71.44%   14,279   -11.17%   14   63.46%   22,500 
 Colorado Rapids  12,031   66.52%   13,014   8.18%   14   71.96%   18,086 
 NE Revolution  13,732   61.03%   12,987   -5.43%   15   57.72%   22,500 
 FC Dallas  12,441   58.70%   10,815   -13.07%   15   51.03%   21,193 
 KC Wizards  10,030   96.58%   10,199   1.69%   14   98.21%   10,385 
 San Jose  14,478   92.80%   9,661   -33.27%   14   93.80%   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.
  • FC Dallas’ 14th home match in 2009 was part of a doubleheader(Mexico v Colombia), played at the Cotton Bowl, drawing over 51,000.

    Observations

    Chicago had 12,200+ for a Tuesday matchup that ran at the same time as a USMNT match. Seattle, for the 2nd season in a row, set the home attendance record, after 36,000+ show up for the regular season home finale. Minority owner Drew Carey mentioned how the Sounders will be looking at ways to expand the capacity again for next year. Terrific weekend crowds. Over 19,000 in Chicago for Brian McBride’s last home game. More than 18,000 in Toronto, Philadelphia and New England. Salt Lake set a home game attendance record with a SRO turnout of 20,236. San Jose also had a SRO crowd. And finally, the Galaxy reported a sellout for the 2nd home game in a row.

    Rookie Watch: Teal Bunbury had a goal and assist for Kansas City.

    Kei Kamara, on my preseason ‘watch list'(bottom of post) had an assist for Kansas City.

    Week 29 Games
     
    Chicago 0 Chicago Fire Confidential 12,230
    Kansas City 2 Kansas City – Hillcrest Road
     
    Seattle 2 Seattle Times 36,356
    Chivas USA 1 Chicago Fire Confidential
     
    Toronto 2 TFC Connected 18,084
    Columbus 2 Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra
     
    Chicago 0 Chicago Fire Confidential 19,056
    DC United 0 DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider
     
    Philadelphia 2 Philadelphia Union Talk 18,578
    RBNY 1 Red Bulls Reader
     
    New England 1 Revolution Soccer 18,298
    Kansas City 0 Kansas City – Hillcrest Road
     
    Real Salt Lake 2 RSL – Behind the Shield 20,236
    FC Dallas 0 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick
     
    San Jose 0 San Jose Center Line Soccer 10,597
    Houston 1 Soccer y Fútbol – Jose de Jesus Ortiz
     
    Los Angeles 1 LA – Official Blog 27,000
    Colorado 3 Undercurrent
       GP  W  D  L  GF  GA  GFA  GAA  PPG  PTS  GD
     Los Angeles  29   17   5   7   42   25   1.45   0.86   1.93   56   17 
     Real Salt Lake  29   15   10   4   43   18   1.48   0.62   1.90   55   25 
     Dallas  29   12   14   3   41   26   1.41   0.90   1.72   50   15 
     Seattle  29   14   6   9   38   33   1.31   1.14   1.66   48   5 
     NY Red Bull  29   14   6   9   36   29   1.24   1.00   1.66   48   7 
     Columbus  29   13   8   8   37   33   1.28   1.14   1.62   47   4 
     Colorado  29   12   9   8   42   30   1.45   1.03   1.55   45   12 
     San Jose  28   12   7   9   30   29   1.07   1.04   1.54   43   1 
     Kansas City  29   10   6   13   32   34   1.10   1.17   1.24   36   -2 
     Chicago  29   8   9   12   33   37   1.14   1.28   1.14   33   -4 
     Toronto FC  29   8   8   13   30   39   1.03   1.34   1.10   32   -9 
     New England  29   9   5   15   32   48   1.10   1.66   1.10   32   -16 
     Philadelphia  29   8   7   14   34   46   1.17   1.59   1.07   31   -12 
     Houston  29   8   6   15   38   48   1.31   1.66   1.03   30   -10 
     Chivas USA  28   8   4   16   30   38   1.07   1.36   1.00   28   -8 
     DC United  29   6   4   19   19   44   0.66   1.52   0.76   22   -25 

    It was a weekend of failure. First Kansas City lost the early game on Saturday, eliminating themselves from their slim playoff hopes. Then Philadelphia denied RBNY the Eastern Conference clinching win, and finally the Galaxy failed to clinch the West, losing to the Rapids at home.

    Seattle sits above RBNY because of its head to head advantage, whereas New England and Toronto split their two games, overall goal differential determines the standings after head to head.

    Streaking

    • RSL are unbeaten in their last 25 regular season home games, an MLS record.
    • RSL are unbeaten in their last 13 MLS games.
    • Dallas’ unbeaten run ended at 19 games, losing to RSL.

    MLS Throw Ins

    • There have been 57 draws thru the first 231 matches compared to 69 in all of ’09.
    • There have been 145 clean sheets in the first 231 matches, counting scoreless draws as 2.
    • Through 231 games: goal scoring is down around 4.7% from 2009, 2.41 vs 2.53.
    • RSL has lost only twice in its last 45 home league matches(3 seasons).
    • Houston lost only one home game in ’08 and in ’09. They’ve lost 6 at home this year.
    • DC United have yielded 17 goals in the last 15 minutes of games.
    • DC United set a MLS record, being shut out 17 times in one season.
    • The Philadelphia Union are the best in not allowing late goals(as a percentage of total goals allowed). Interestingly, the are also the best at scoring late goals.

    CONCACAF Champions League

    RSL are thru to the quarterfinals. Columbus controls its own destiny and a win at Joe Public will send them thru. Toronto and Seattle are eliminated. Seattle assured its place in next year’s CCL by winning the US Open Cup.

    • 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 1 RSL 1
    • Sep 29 — Municipal 2 Columbus 1
    • Sep 29 — Seattle 2 Marathón 0
    • Oct 19 — Toronto v Arabe Unido
    • Oct 19 — RSL v Cruz Azul
    • Oct 19 — Seattle v Saprissa
    • Oct 21 — Joe Public v Columbus
    CONCACAF Champions League
     A w d l pts gd
     Cruz Azul(MEX)  3   1   1   10   8 
     RSL(USA)  3   1   1   10   5 
     Toronto(CAN)  1   2   2   5   -4 
     Arabe Unido(PAN)  1   0   4   3   -9 
               
     B          
     Santos Laguna(MEX)  3   1   1   10   7 
     Columbus(USA)  3   0   2   9   3 
     Municipal(GUA)  2   2   1   8   1 
     Joe Public(T&T)  0   1   4   1   -11 
               
     C          
     Monterrey(MEX)  4   1   0   13   6 
     Saprissa(CRC)  2   1   2   7   3 
     Marathon(HON)  2   0   3   6   -5 
     Seattle(USA)  1   0   4   3   -4 
               
     D          
     Olimpia(HON)  3   1   1   10   2 
     Puerto Rico(CFU)  2   2   1   8   1 
     Toluca(MEX)  2   1   2   7   5 
     FAS(SLV)  0   2   3   2   -8 
    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) 5,015 6,156 X 5,280 5,484
     Toronto(CAN) NP 10,581 16,862 X 13,722
     Away 7,821 5,746 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) 3,534 X 10,414 2,498 5,482
     Santos Laguna(MEX) 4,700 NP X 7,000 5,850
     Joe Public(T&T) 900 500 NP X 700
     Away 3,045 3,123 8,356 4,981
     Group C Monterrey Saprissa Seattle Marathon Home
     Monterrey(MEX) X 12,042 19,697 9,628 13,789
     Saprissa(CRC) 1,635 X 3,000 2,899 2,511
     Seattle(USA) 22,513 NP X 11,768 17,141
     Marathon(HON) NP 1,820 1,990 X 1,905
     Away 12,074 6,931 8,229 8,098
     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) 4,122 2,632 X 2,050 2,935
     FAS(SLV) 3,500 1,000 3,500 X 2,667
     Away 4,092 1,816 4,333 5,625
      No Report on the Toluca/Olimpia match

    MLS Playoff Attendance – 2005-2009

    Just a taste to remind you that Take Me Out to the Ballgame will morph into Take Me Out to the Playoffs, as we did last season.

    5 year comparison
    Quarterfinals Totals(both legs)
      Avg +/- Teams
     2005   13,273   NA  CHI, COL, DAL, DCU, LA, NE, RBNY, SJ
     2006   12,736   -4.05%   CHI, COL, CHV, DAL, DCU, HOU, NE, RBNY
     2007   17,041   33.81%   CHI, CHV, DAL, DCU, HOU, KC, NE, RBNY
     2008   14,960   -12.22%   CHI, CHV, CLB, HOU, KC, NE, RBNY, RSL
     2009   20,755   38.74%   CHI, CHV, CLB, HOU, LA, NE, RSL, SEA
    Semifinals Totals
      Avg +/- Teams
     2005   15,454   NA  NE v CHI – COL v LA
     2006   21,330   38.02%   DCU v NE – HOU v COL
     2007   20,645   -3.21%   NE v CHI – HOU v KC
     2008   17,348   -15.97%   CLB v CHI – RSL v RBNY
     2009   23,548   35.74%   LA v HOU – CHI v RSL
    Finals Totals
      Avg +/- Teams Venue
     2005   21,193   NA NE v LA Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, TX
     2006   22,427   5.82%  NE v HOU Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, TX
     2007   39,859   77.73%  NE v HOU RFK Stadium, Wash DC
     2008   27,000   -32.26%  RBNY v CLB Home Depot Center, LA, CA
     2009   46,011   70.41%  RSL v LA Qwest Field, Seattle, WA
    Playoff Totals        
      Avg +/-  
     2005   14,390   NA  
     2006   15,179   5.49%   
     2007   19,771   30.25%   
     2008   16,488   -16.60%   
     2009   23,559   42.88%