Major League Soccer set a new record for average attendance in the league’s 18-year history last night. With the 2014 regular season now completed, the average attendance was 19,099 — which is a 2.63% increase compared to MLS’s 2013 regular season.
The top 3 teams with the highest average attendance in the 2014 season were:
1. Seattle — 43,734 average attendance
2. Toronto — 22,086
3. LA Galaxy — 21,258
The teams with the lowest average attendances were:
1. Chivas USA — 7,063
2. San Jose — 14,947
3. Colorado Rapids — 15,082
More details regarding the stats for this season as well as 2010-2014 can be seen below.
Note that the 2013 season was played out over 35 weeks, while the 2014 regular season had 33 weeks.
Comparisons of Average MLS Attendances YTD From 2010 to 2014:
Average Attendances for MLS Clubs; 2014 vs 2013 Comparison:
Average MLS Attendances For Week 33 (5-year comparison):
For my 2013 calculations, I took the 1 remaining team playing in a football stadium, New England in Foxboro, and assigned maximum capacity to 22,500. For DC United at RFK Stadium, I set a max at 19,647. I took the 22,500 from an approximate average of the soccer specific stadiums in use. Capacities are adjusted for the few games that are played in larger venues.
Additional note: Over the years, several stadiums’ capacities have been reported with different numbers. If any of you have the accurate soccer capacity for stadiums that differ from mine, please let me know in the comments section below. Also, capacity at CenturyLink in Seattle is a moving target.
Editor’s note: One of the most popular features of one of our previous incarnations of this website was the series of articles about MLS attendances written by Peter C of Overlapping Run. Peter graciously agreed to allow us to publish his research into attendances in this article.
