MLS attendances down 6.5% after first 21 games of 2017 season

Cold weather ruined attendances at most venues for gameweek 2 of the 2017 MLS season. So much so, in fact, that reported attendances are down 6.5% for the first 21 games of the 2017 MLS season compared to last season.

It was cold enough last weekend that New England rescheduled its match with Orlando to September. Minnesota had the added bonus of snow. I don’t know how many of the reported 35,000+ showed up, but there were many people there. Houston had rain, which I suspect kept the actual attendance lower. Montreal played indoors due to the extreme cold and had a good showing. There were decent turnouts at the rest of the matches, but you can see from the table below that the early reported gates are down for most clubs.

While the cold might be the cause of soft attendances, that’s no excuse for the LA Galaxy. With major changes in the roster, specifically the loss of Robbie Keane (arguably the best ever designated player signing to date) as well as Steven Gerrard and Landon Donovan, the LA fans may be waiting to see what they have. Losing the first two matches at home won’t help.

MLS gameweek 2 reported attendances:

MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games

HT Overlapping Run