Leagues: MLS

MLS attendance report: May 31, 2010

The Week 10 numbers look like this…

  5 year comparison
  Week 10 79 GP YTD
  Avg +/- GP Avg +/- Avg +/- GP
 2006   12,000     8   15,139     15,615     60 
 2007   16,317   35.97%   6   15,212   0.48%   15,248   -2.35%   65 
 2008   13,498   -17.28%   7   15,990   5.12%   16,893   10.79%   70 
 2009   13,779   2.09%   7   14,708   -8.01%   15,005   -11.17%   75 
 2010   14,068   2.09%   8   16,162   9.88%   16,162   7.71%   79 
YTD – 79 Games
  Average Median %<10K %>20k
 2006    15,139     13,612    19.23%   14.10% 
 2007    15,212     14,351    11.39%   21.52% 
 2008    15,990     14,919    13.92%   26.58% 
 2009    14,708     14,225    17.72%   16.46% 
 2010    16,162     13,611    12.66%   22.78% 

Here are the attendance comparisons to 2009:

MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games
  2009 2010  
  Att Cap % Att Att +/- GP Cap % Cap
 Seattle  29,468   90.95%   36,113   22.55%   6   101.73%   35,500 
 Philadelphia NA NA  29,954  NA  2   78.83%   18,500 
 Toronto  20,225   92.02%   20,276   0.25%   4   92.26%   21,978 
 LA Galaxy  19,139   70.88%   19,397   1.35%   5   71.84%   27,000 
 N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls  10,792   42.85%   16,740   55.11%   5   66.46%   25,189 
 Houston  15,480   68.80%   16,685   7.79%   7   74.16%   22,500 
 Real Salt Lake  14,629   66.58%   15,077   3.06%   5   77.96%   19,340 
 D.C. United  14,816   65.85%   14,635   -1.22%   6   65.05%   22,500 
 ChivasUSA  14,555   53.91%   14,501   -0.37%   5   53.71%   27,000 
 Chicago  10,998   54.99%   14,334   30.33%   4   71.67%   20,000 
 Columbus Crew  12,369   61.84%   14,244   15.16%   5   71.22%   20,000 
 Colorado Rapids  12,410   68.61%   12,404   -0.04%   4   68.58%   18,086 
 NE Revolution  13,616   60.51%   10,319   -24.21%   6   45.86%   22,500 
 KC Wizards  9,431   90.81%   9,840   4.33%   5   94.75%   10,385 
 FC Dallas  9,417   44.43%   9,671   2.70%   5   45.63%   21,193 
 San Jose  11,028   43.86%   9,654   -12.46%   5   93.73%   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 4th match in 2009 was at Oakland Alameda Coliseum and drew over 15,800.

    Observations

    Chicago drew a so-so crowd, just over 12,500 for its midweek tilt vs Dallas. Columbus had a great turnout for the battle of the unbeatens, over 18,000. DC United saw just an average crowd of just over 13,000. The Revs crowd was a soft 11,316. Houston had over 13,500 show up in near 100 degree heat. Colorado sold out(18,166). Salt Lake had a decent showing of over 15,500 and San Jose came within 100 of selling out.

    Rookie Watch: Tony Tchani made a terrific run to set up a goal in RBNY’s Open Cup play-in match. Irving Garcia of RBNY followed up his strong performance v Juventus with another good match v the Rapids in their Open Cup play-in. Michael Seamon scored for Seattle v Boca Jrs.
    In league play: Michael Stephens got the game winner for the Galaxy. Zach Schilawski’s(Revs) goal in the RBNY/Revs match was also a game winner. Danny Mwanga scored the winning goal for the Union, his 2nd score in two games. Andy Najar scored for DCU. Then of course there was Tim Ream’s own goal.

    Week 10 Games
     
    Chicago 1 Chicago Fire Confidential
    FC Dallas 1 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick
     
    Columbus 0 Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra
    Los Angeles 2 LA – Official Blog
     
    DC United 3 DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider
    Chivas USA 2 Chicago Fire Confidential
     
    New England 3 Revolution Soccer
    RBNY 2 Red Bulls Reader
     
    Houston 2 Soccer y Fútbol – Jose de Jesus Ortiz
    Philadelphia 3 Philadelphia Union Talk
     
    Colorado 1 Undercurrent
    Seattle 0 Seattle Times
     
    Real Salt Lake 4 RSL – Behind the Shield
    Kansas City 1 Kansas City – Hillcrest Road
     
    San Jose 1 San Jose Center Line Soccer
    Toronto 3 TFC Connected
       GP  W  D  L  GF  GA  GFA  GAA  PPG  PTS  GD
     Los Angeles  11   9   2   0   18   2   1.64   0.18   2.64   29   16 
     Columbus  9   6   2   1   14   8   1.56   0.89   2.22   20   6 
     Real Salt Lake  10   6   1   3   21   11   2.10   1.10   1.90   19   10 
     San Jose  9   5   1   3   13   10   1.44   1.11   1.78   16   3 
     Houston  11   5   1   5   16   13   1.45   1.18   1.45   16   3 
     Colorado  9   5   1   3   10   7   1.11   0.78   1.78   16   3 
     Toronto FC  10   5   1   4   15   14   1.50   1.40   1.60   16   1 
     NY Red Bull  10   5   0   5   11   15   1.10   1.50   1.50   15   -4 
     Dallas  10   2   6   2   11   11   1.10   1.10   1.20   12   0 
     Seattle  11   3   3   5   9   14   0.82   1.27   1.09   12   -5 
     New England  11   3   2   6   13   17   1.18   1.55   1.00   11   -4 
     Chicago  9   2   4   3   12   13   1.33   1.44   1.11   10   -1 
     Chivas USA  11   3   1   7   13   17   1.18   1.55   0.91   10   -4 
     Kansas City  9   2   2   5   9   13   1.00   1.44   0.89   8   -4 
     Philadelphia  8   2   1   5   10   17   1.25   2.13   0.88   7   -7 
     DC United  10   2   0   8   7   20   0.70   2.00   0.60   6   -13 

    Streaking

    • TFC has not lost at home in 10 straight.
    • TFC ended its 13 game road winless streak.
    • RSL are unbeaten in their last 15 regular season home games.
    • Los Angeles have yet to yield a goal on the road(6 games).
    • Los Angeles has racked up 5 consecutive clean sheets.

    MLS Throw Ins

    • Los Angeles remains unbeaten, defeating Columbus this week.
    • There have been 14 draws compared to 31 in ’09 thru the first 79 matches.
    • There have been 48 clean sheets in the first 79 matches, counting scoreless draws as 2
    • Through 79 games: goal scoring is slightly down from 2009, 2.56 vs 2.63.
    • RSL has lost only twice in its last 34 home matches. They lost only once in ’08 and ’09, a feat matched by Houston.

    Going to World Cup Camp

    These are the MLS players that are heading to the World Cup. The last column represent the minimum number of games that will be played by their MLS teams during their absences. As of Friday May 28(15 days before the start of the tournament), each of the clubs receives $1600 per day per player from FIFA until one day after the last game played by their respective teams at the World Cup.

    On Provisional WC Rosters
     Players  Team 6/25
     Buddle, Donovan  LA 4
     Bornstein  CHV 3
     Findley  RSL 4
     Espinoza  KC 4
     Boyens  RBNY 4
    Final Roster
    6/25 – End of WC Group Phase

    Getting Friendly

    This Week’s Friendlies
    Opponents Venue Date Friendlies Att
     AC Milan v Chicago Fire  Toyota Park, Bridgeview, IL Sun, May 30  Club  20,356 
     Boca Jrs v Portland  PGE Park, Portland, OR Sat, May 29  Club  14,106 
     Turkey v USMNT  Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA Sat, May 29  Int’l  55,407 
     Boca Jrs v SEA  Qwest Field, Seattle, WA Wed, May 26  Club  40,122 
     AC Milan v DCU  RFK Stadium, Washington, DC Wed, May 26  Club  30,367 
     Czech Republic v USMNT  Rentschler Field, Hartford, CT Tue, May 25  Int’l  36,218 
     Juventus v Fiorentina  Rogers Centre, Toronto, CA Tue, May 25  Club  21,122 
     Turkey v N Ireland  Veterans Stadium, New Britain CT Tue, May 25  Int’l  3,021 
           total  220,719 
           average  27,590 

    Lamar Hunt US Open Cup

    The MLS play-in matches for the Open are down to the final matches that will determine the teams that will join the top 6 league finishers in 2009. Seattle are the defending cup holders, and as such will compete in the 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League. RBNY grabbed one place with its win over the Rapids. DC United host RSL on June 2 for the other berth.

    • Colorado Rapids defeated the Kansas City Wizards 2-1.
    • Real Salt Lake beat the San Jose Earthquakes on PK’s 5-3 after playing to a 3-3 score.
    • New York Red Bulls downed Philadelphia 2-1.
    • DC United beat FC Dallas 4-2, the 2nd year in a row that DCU eliminates FCD.
    • New York Red Bulls downed New England 3-0.
    • New York Red Bulls beat Colorado 3-0 to claim one of the two play in spots. .
    • DC United v RSL – June 2

    The structure for the tourney has been finalized. Round 1 begins June 15, Round 2 June 22, Round 3(when the 8 MLS teams join in) June 29.

    In case you were wondering, here is the World Cup schedule(June 11-July 11). Note that the latest start time(ET) is 2pm.

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