After week 22 the numbers look like this…

5 year comparison
WK 22 155 GP YTD
Avg +/- GP Avg +/- Avg +/- GP
 2005  15,573  4  14,897  14,844  144
 2006  13,932  -10.54%  6  15,263  2.46%  15,361  3.48%  143
 2007  16,209  16.34%  6  16,022  4.97%  16,005  4.19%  144
 2008  15,294  -5.64%  9  16,423  2.50%  16,875  5.44%  148
 2009  16,236  6.16%  6  15,764  -4.02%  15,764  -6.58%  155

Here are the attendance comparisons to 2008’s equal number of home games(155):

MLS Attendance – 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  20,147  91.67%  20,308  0.80%  12  92.40%  21,978
 LA Galaxy  25,513  94.49%  19,379  -24.04%   10  71.78%  27,000
 Real Salt Lake  14,855  72.34%  16,213  9.14%  11  74.80%  19,340
 ChivasUSA  14,286  52.91%  16,211  13.48%  9  60.04%  27,000
 Houston  16,324  72.55%  15,836  -2.99%   11  70.38%  22,500
 San Jose  14,917  87.50%  15,692  5.20%  11  76.84%  10,300
 D.C. United  20,133  89.48%  15,193  -24.53%   9  67.53%  22,500
 NE Revolution  16,799  74.66%  14,592  -13.14%   9  64.85%  22,500
 Columbus Crew  13,569  67.84%  13,660  0.67%  11  68.30%  20,000
 Chicago  17,092  85.46%  13,027  -23.78%   9  65.13%  20,000
 Colorado Rapids  13,628  75.35%  12,771  -6.29%   11  70.61%  18,086
 N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls  16,759  66.53%  12,487  -25.49%   10  49.57%  25,189
 KC Wizards  9,619  92.62%  10,019  4.16%  10  96.47%  10,385
 FC Dallas  14,072  68.64%  9,229  -34.42%   11  45.02%  20,500

My disclaimer about the capacity calculations

Observations

Week 22 games drew a very respectable 16,236, over 6% higher than the corresponding period last year. Columbus’ top crowd of the year were treated to the Crew remaining undefeated at home. RBNY, not unexpectedly, drew under 10,600 as they lost again to visiting Chivas USA. The surprise to me was the 20,162 at the Home Depot Center. With Becks, Donovan and Ljungberg on the pregame menu, I would have expected a near sellout.

This weekend marked the first MLS home game for the Galaxy with Beckham in the squad. Becks proceeded to get red carded in the 17th minute. 5 minutes later Seattle ended their scoring drought of over 330 minutes. Good thing this wasn’t the national TV game with Ljungberg and Donovan on the bench(until the 2nd half) and Becks carded so early.

Last week I posted the Beckham ‘away game’ effect. With one game played at home in 2009, here is the statistically irrelevant ‘home game’ effect table.

Beckham Home Game Effect
With Without(9) With(1)
2008 2009 +/- +/-
 Att  228,132  173,632  -54,500 -23.89%  20,162 N/A -20.46%
 Avg  25,348  19,292  -6,056  20,162  -5,186
YTD – 155 Games
Average Median %<10K %>20k
 2005    14,897   12,311  30.13%  16.03%
 2006    15,263   13,056  21.29%  16.77%
 2007    16,022   14,640  9.68%  23.23%
 2008    16,423   15,118  11.61%  25.16%
 2009    15,764   14,516  14.84%  19.35%
Week 22 Games
 
Toronto 2 TFC Connected
DC United 0 DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider
 
RBNY 0 Red Bulls Reader
Chivas USA 2 Chivas USA – MLSNet
 
Columbus 2 Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra
FC Dallas 0 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick
 
Real Salt Lake 0 RSL – Behind the Shield
Houston 0 Soccer y Fútbol – Barnard Fallas
 
Los Angeles 0 LA – Official Blog
Seattle 2 Seattle Times
 
Kansas City 0 Kansas City – Hillcrest Road
Chicago 2 Chicago – En Fuego Official Blog

Week 22 Weird Factoid

Every game ended with a clean sheet. One game, RSL/Houston, was a double clean sheet match.

Streaking

  • Columbus is unbeaten in 8.
  • FC Dallas has won 4 straight at home.
  • DCU has not won on the road(9 matches).
  • KC has no wins in its last 5.
  • RBNY hasn’t won in 13.
  • San Jose and RBNY are winless on the road.Just Some Stuff

    The CONCACAF Champions League group phase begins this week. DC United, Houston and Columbus will be representing MLS in the regional club championship. RBNY and Toronto FC were eliminated in the preliminaries.

    CONCACAF Champions League
    Aug 18-19 Aug 26
    Group Game 1 Group Game 2
    DCU and Columbus play Aug 18, 26
    Houston plays Aug 19, 26

    =====

    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. The final is on September 2 at RFK stadium in DC.

    Just because I liked it… an article about a fan experience at an MLS match.