An abbreviated post due to my being on the road.

After week 19 the numbers look like this…

5 year comparison
WK 15 137 GP YTD
Avg +/- GP Avg +/- Avg +/- GP
 2005  13,291  6  14,799  14,506  124
 2006  92,650  597.11%  1  15,564  5.17%  15,194  4.74%  121
 2007  25,407  -72.58%  5  15,966  2.58%  15,449  1.68%  122
 2008  18,584  -26.85%  6  16,524  3.50%  17,147  10.99%  128
 2009  16,846  -9.35%  7  15,559  -5.84%  15,559  -9.26%  137

Here are the attendance comparisons to 2008’s equal number of home games(137):

MLS Attendance Averages – Equal # of Home Games
2008 2009
Att Cap Att Att +/- GP Cap Cap
 Seattle  0  0.00%  30,204  NA  11  94.39%  32,000
 Toronto  20,173  91.79%  20,278  0.52%  11  92.26%  21,978
 LA Galaxy  25,348  93.88%  19,292  -23.89%   9  71.45%  27,000
 Real Salt Lake  15,412  74.09%  16,353  6.11%  9  73.69%  19,340
 ChivasUSA  14,286  52.91%  16,211  13.48%  9  60.04%  27,000
 Houston  16,234  72.15%  15,632  -3.71%   9  69.48%  22,500
 D.C. United  20,133  89.48%  15,193  -24.53%   9  67.53%  22,500
 NE Revolution  16,584  73.71%  13,242  -20.15%   7  58.85%  22,500
 Columbus Crew  13,681  68.40%  13,114  -4.14%   10  65.57%  20,000
 Colorado Rapids  14,171  78.36%  12,918  -8.85%   9  71.42%  18,086
 Chicago  16,667  83.34%  12,839  -22.97%   8  64.19%  20,000
 N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls  17,385  69.02%  12,702  -26.94%   9  50.43%  25,189
 San Jose  15,986  86.19%  11,236  -29.71%   9  49.56%  10,300
 KC Wizards  9,596  92.40%  10,024  4.46%  9  96.52%  10,385
 FC Dallas  13,687  66.76%  9,306  -32.01%   9  45.40%  20,500

My disclaimer about the capacity calculations

Observations

Week 19 opened on Friday with RSL moving up to 4th in average attendance on the strength of a big crowd for FCD’s visit. The other six matches were on Saturday. Seattle filled the house again as they played the league’s best road team, Chicago to a draw. Columbus claimed the Trillium Cup against TFC. Houston drew a soft crowd as they lost their first home match this season against ’06 and ’07 MLS Cup opponents New England. KC played to capacity for Beck’s visit, although unlike the previous 2 seasons, the match was at Community America Ballpark as opposed to Arrowhead stadium. The Rockies has a nice turnout of over 16,800. Finally San Jose did not sell out for its match vs DC United. All told, a decent week averaging over 16,800.

Seattle filled the house, over 65,000, to see its friendly vs Chelsea FC.

YTD – 137 Games
Average Median %<10K %>20k
 2005    14,799   12,101  30.66%  15.33%
 2006    15,564   13,056  21.17%  18.25%
 2007    15,966   14,351  10.22%  23.36%
 2008    16,524   15,276  11.68%  25.55%
 2009    15,559   14,516  14.60%  18.98%
Week 19 Games
 
Real Salt Lake 4 RSL – Behind the Shield
FC Dallas 2 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick
 
Seattle 0 Seattle Times
Chicago 0 Chicago – En Fuego Official Blog
 
Columbus 3 Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra
Toronto 2 TFC Connected
 
Kansas City 1 Kansas City – Hillcrest Road
Los Angeles 1 LA – Official Blog
 
Houston 0 Soccer y Fútbol – Barnard Fallas
New England 1 Revolution Soccer
 
RBNY 0 Red Bulls Reader
Colorado 4 Colorado – Undercurrent
 
San Jose 2 San Jose Center Line Soccer
DC United 2 DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider

Gold Cup and MLS

Players, League Games Missed Due to Gold Cup Semifinal and Final Matches
Players Opponent
 16-Jul  18-Jul  25-Jul
 Chicago Fire   Busch, Pause. Segares(CRC)  SJ  SEA
 Chivas USA   Bornstein*, Kljestan*
Harmse(CAN)**
 NE
 Colorado Rapids   Clark, Perkins, Casey*
Ceus(HAI)**
 DCU  RBNY
 Columbus Crew   Rogers, Marshall  RSL  TFC
 DC United   Quaranta, Jakovic(CAN)**  Colorado  SJ
 FC Dallas   Cooper  RSL
 Houston Dynamo   Ching, Holden, Hainault(CAN)**  TFC  NE
 Kansas City Wizards   Arnaud, Conrad  LA
 Los Angeles Galaxy   NONE  RBNY  KC
 New England Revolution   Heaps  Chivas USA  HOU
 RBNY   NONE  LA  NE
 Real Salt Lake   Beckerman, Johnson(CAN)**
Alexandre(HAI)**
 Columbus  FCD
 San Jose Earthquakes   NONE  Chicago  DCU
 Seattle Sounders FC   Evans  Chicago
 Toronto FC   Cronin, Gerba(CAN)**  HOU  CLB

* – Added when CONCACAF allowed the US to add 7 to the roster due to its participation in the Confederations Cup. With Adu, Davies, Cherundolo, Feilhaber and Parkhurst returning to their clubs in Europe, more MLS’ers will be on the field for the USMNT.

** – xxx eliminated before final.

If I’ve missed anyone, hopefully our readers will let me know in the comment section.

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Just Some Stuff

The finalists for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup are DC United and Seattle. DCU looks to defend its crown while the Sounders are looking for their first hardware as an MLS club.