One of the myriad of issues US Soccer has faced in recent times is the perception by the fan base that the federation only plays USMNT home games in a select few cities. USMNT attendance in 2022 seems to suggest a level of frustration and burnout of the same venues. But does the perception match the reality? Where has the US actually been playing all their games?

Top 10 cities visited by the USMNT since 2010

Note: Each city listed is the greater metropolitan area of each city rather than just the city itself. For example, MetLife Stadium is in East Rutherford, NJ. Then, Dignity Health Sports Park is in Carson, CA, just outside of Los Angeles.

1. Los Angeles (12 games)

Date	Competition	Match-Up	Stadium	Attendance
1/23/10	Friendly	USA vs. Honduras	Dignity Health Sports Park	18,626
1/22/11	Friendly	USA vs. Chile	Dignity Health Sports Park	18,580
6/25/11	Gold Cup	USA vs. Mexico	Rose Bowl	93,420
9/2/11	Friendly	USA vs. Costa Rica	Dignity Health Sports Park	15,798
2/1/14	Friendly	USA vs. South Korea	Dignity Health Sports Park	27,000
2/8/15	Friendly	USA vs. Panama	Dignity Health Sports Park	20,271
10/10/15	CONCACAF Cup	USA vs. Mexico	Rose Bowl	93,723
1/31/16	Friendly	USA vs. Iceland	Dignity Health Sports Park	8,803
2/5/16	Friendly	USA vs. Canada	Dignity Health Sports Park	9,274
1/28/18	Friendly	USA vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina	Dignity Health Sports Park	11,161
2/1/20	Friendly	USA vs. Costa Rica	Dignity Health Sports Park	9,172
12/18/21	Friendly	USA vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina	Dignity Health Sports Park	11,044

The greater Los Angeles area leads the way on the list of top 10 cities visited by the USMNT. But fans in LA might have a justifiable complaint that ten of the twelve games played in their area have been friendlies (and January Camp friendlies to boot). It’s understandable but US Soccer has proven time and time again they are unwilling to put competitive games in locations with large Spanish speaking populations.

They’ve scheduled two more upcoming January Camp games for the area: January 25 against Serbia at the shiny, new BMO Stadium in downtown LA and then against Colombia back at Dignity Health Sports Park on January 28.

2. Kansas City (10 games)

Date	Competition	Match-Up	Stadium	Attendance
6/14/11	Gold Cup	USA vs. Guadeloupe	Children’s Mercy Park	20,109
10/16/12	World Cup Qualifying	USA vs. Guatemala	Children’s Mercy Park	16,947
10/11/13	World Cup Qualifying	USA vs. Jamaica	Children’s Mercy Park	18,467
7/13/15	Gold Cup	USA vs. Panama	Children’s Mercy Park	18,467
5/28/16	Friendly	USA vs. Bolivia	Children’s Mercy Park	8,894
6/26/19	Gold Cup	USA vs. Panama	Children’s Mercy Park	17,037
7/11/21	Gold Cup	USA vs. Haiti	Children’s Mercy Park	12,664
7/15/21	Gold Cup	USA vs. Martinique	Children’s Mercy Park	7,511
7/18/21	Gold Cup	USA vs. Canada	Children’s Mercy Park	18,467
6/5/22	Friendly	USA vs. Uruguay	Children’s Mercy Park	19,569

While it may not be a surprise to hear that Kansas City gets national team games, given they have one of the better fan-bases in MLS, it might be surprising to some for them to come in 2nd on this list. KC has been fortunate to see the full spectrum of national team games: friendlies against South American opposition, numerous Gold Cup games, and a pair of World Cup Qualifiers.

The consistent support of both their club and the national team has paid off and been rewarded with World Cup hosting duties in 2026 (though games will be played at the much larger Arrowhead Stadium)

T-3. New York City area (8 games)

Date	Competition	Match-Up	Stadium	Attendance
8/10/10	Friendly	USA vs. Brazil	MetLife Stadium	77,223
3/26/11	Friendly	USA vs. Argentina	MetLife Stadium	78,936
10/11/11	Friendly	USA vs. Ecuador	Red Bull Arena	20,707
6/1/14	Friendly	USA vs. Turkey	Red Bull Arena	26,762
10/13/15	Friendly	USA vs. Costa Rica	Red Bull Arena	9,214
9/1/17	World Cup Qualifying	USA vs. Costa Rica	Red Bull Arena	26,500
9/7/18	Friendly	USA vs. Brazil	MetLife Stadium	32,489
9/6/19	Friendly	USA vs. Mexico	MetLife Stadium	47,960

America’s largest metropolis being the third most popular destination for it’s national team typically wouldn’t raise any eyebrows. But much like Los Angeles the vast majority of the games here are friendlies. In fact, the lone competitive game in New York since 2010 was a disastrous 2-0 loss to Costa Rica, in part because of the number of Ticos fans in the building. US Soccer probably won’t put themselves in that situation again any time soon.

T-3. Philadelphia (8 games)

Date	Competition	Match-Up	Stadium	Attendance
5/29/10	Friendly	USA vs. Turkey	Lincoln Financial Field	55,407
10/12/10	Friendly	USA vs. Colombia	Subaru Park	8,823
8/10/11	Friendly	USA vs. Jamaica	Lincoln Financial Field	30,138
7/25/15	Gold Cup	USA vs. Panama	Subaru Park	12,598
6/11/16	Copa America Centenario	USA vs. Paraguay	Lincoln Financial Field	51,041
7/19/17	Gold Cup	USA vs. El Salvador	Lincoln Financial Field	31,615
5/28/18	Friendly	USA vs. Bolivia	Subaru Park	11,882
6/30/19	Gold Cup	USA vs. Curacao	Lincoln Financial Field	26,233

Looking at Philly’s appearance on this list there seems to be a bit of an oddity. It’s worth noting that the USMNT games played at the MLS home venue tend to draw far worse than the games played at the NFL venue. On the surface this makes sense (NFL stadiums are obviously bigger than MLS stadiums). But the none of the games at Subaru Park have come close to selling out while all but one of the games at Lincoln Financial Field has cracked the 30,000 mark.

5. Washington DC (7 games)

Date	Competition	Match-Up	Stadium	Attendance
6/19/11	Gold Cup	USA vs. Jamaica	RFK Stadium	45,423
5/30/12	Friendly	USA vs. Brazil	FedEx Field	67,619
6/2/13	Friendly	USA vs. Germany	RFK Stadium	47,359
9/4/15	Friendly	USA vs. Peru	RFK Stadium	28,896
10/11/16	Friendly	USA vs. New Zealand	RFK Stadium	9,012
6/5/19	Friendly	USA vs. Jamaica	Audi Field	17,719
10/11/19	Nations League	USA vs. Cuba	Audi Field	13,784

National teams playing a lot of their home games in their nation’s capital makes all the sense in the world but for some reason it feels just a little bit weird for the US playing in Washington DC. Perhaps because the country is so geographically large, perhaps it’s because the match-ups in DC haven’t been all that important, or perhaps it’s because RFK Stadium was in such bad shape for so long. But hosting the 5th most MNT games since 2010 feels about right.

T-6. Columbus (6 games)

Date	Competition	Match-Up	Stadium	Attendance
9/11/12	World Cup Qualifying	USA vs. Jamaica	Historic Crew Stadium	23,881
9/10/13	World Cup Qualifying	USA vs. Mexico	Historic Crew Stadium	24,584
3/29/16	World Cup Qualifying	USA vs. Guatemala	Historic Crew Stadium	20,624
11/11/16	World Cup Qualifying	USA vs. Mexico	Historic Crew Stadium	24,650
10/13/21	World Cup Qualifying	USA vs. Costa Rica	Lower.com Field	20,165
1/27/22	World Cup Qualifying	USA vs. El Salvador	Lower.com Field	20,000

At one end of the spectrum there’s Los Angeles and New York with all the games but none that matter. And at the other end of the spectrum is Columbus, OH with far fewer games but only ones that matter. Columbus (and Ohio in general) is a favorite of US Soccer’s as they’ve hosted two World Cup Qualifiers in each of the last three cycles. They’ve been putting games in Columbus for so long that the Columbus Crew is on their second soccer-specific stadium.

T-6. Nashville (6 games)

Date	Competition	Match-Up	Stadium	Attendance
3/29/11	Friendly	USA vs. Paraguay	Nissan Stadium	29,059
7/3/15	Friendly	USA vs. Guatemala	Nissan Stadium	44,835
7/8/17	Gold Cup	USA vs. Panama	Nissan Stadium	47,622
9/11/18	Friendly	USA vs. Mexico	Nissan Stadium	40,194
7/3/19	Gold Cup	USA vs. Jamaica	Nissan Stadium	28,473
9/5/21	World Cup Qualifying	USA vs. Canada	Nissan Stadium	43,028

Nashville cracking the top 10 cities visited by the USMNT is probably the biggest surprise on the list. But the crowds they have drawn justify their continued appearances in the Music City. Unfortunately, FIFA did not feel that those crowds were enough to deserve World Cup hosting duties (opting instead to give the last spot to Gianni Infantino’s buddy Robert Kraft in Foxborough, Massachusetts).

But with the opening of Geodis Park last year, Nashville is home to the largest soccer-specific stadium in the country. Because of this, Nashville figures to stay in the rotation with US Soccer for quite some time. However, a new soccer-specific stadium possibly opening down I-40 in Memphis by 2026 could draw events away.

T-8. Dallas (5 games)

Date	Competition	Match-Up	Stadium	Attendance
7/24/13	Gold Cup	USA vs. Honduras	AT&T Stadium	81,410
7/7/15	Gold Cup	USA vs. Honduras	Toyota Stadium	22,357
5/25/16	Friendly	USA vs. Ecuador	Toyota Stadium	9,893
7/22/17	Gold Cup	USA vs. Costa Rica	AT&T Stadium	45,516
7/25/21	Gold Cup	USA vs. Jamaica	AT&T Stadium	41,318

The US having only played in the Dallas area five times in the last 13 years is a bit strange considering US Soccer spent gobs and gobs of money to put the National Soccer Hall of Fame in the same stadium as FC Dallas. Even more bizarre that of the five trips to Dallas only two of those games were played in the aforementioned MLS stadium.

T-8. Hartford (5 games)

Date	Competition	Match-Up	Stadium	Attendance
5/25/10	Friendly	USA vs. Czech Republic	Pratt & Whitney Stadium	36,218
7/16/13	Gold Cup	USA vs. Costa Rica	Pratt & Whitney Stadium	25,432
10/10/14	Friendly	USA vs. Ecuador	Pratt & Whitney Stadium	36,265
7/1/17	Friendly	USA vs. Ghana	Pratt & Whitney Stadium	28,754
10/16/18	Friendly	USA vs. Peru	Pratt & Whitney Stadium	24,959

There is a case, albeit a somewhat uncompelling one, that Pratt & Whitney Stadium is a better home to the USMNT and USWNT that it is to it’s main tenant, the UConn Huskies college football team. The crowds aren’t ever going to shatter any records (it’s only a 40,000 seat stadium) but in the last five appearances, none of them have stunk either.

T-8. Orlando (5 games)

Date	Competition	Match-Up	Stadium	Attendance
10/6/17	World Cup Qualifying	USA vs. Panama	Exploria Stadium	25,303
3/21/19	Friendly	USA vs. Ecuador	Exploria Stadium	17,422
11/15/19	Nations League	USA vs. Canada	Exploria Stadium	13,103
1/31/21	Friendly	USA vs. Trinidad & Tobago	Exploria Stadium	3,503
3/27/22	World Cup Qualifying	USA vs. Panama	Exploria Stadium	25,022

Orlando is one of the venues continually chosen by US Soccer that has started to irritate US fans around the rest of the country lately. Considering that in the stretch of four and a half years, Exploria Stadium has already hosted five USMNT games (two of which were do or die World Cup Qualifiers) it’s not an unreasonable gripe.

T-8. San Francisco (5 games)

Date	Competition	Match-Up	Stadium	Attendance
5/27/14	Friendly	USA vs. Azerbaijan	Candlestick Park	24,688
6/3/16	Copa America Centenario	USA vs. Colombia	Levi’s Stadium	67,439
3/24/17	World Cup Qualifying	USA vs. Honduras	PayPal Park	17,729
7/26/17	Gold Cup	USA vs. Jamaica	Levi’s Stadium	63,032
2/2/19	Friendly	USA vs. Costa Rica	PayPal Park	13,656

The Bay Area is massive and as such it’s fitting that the US has played at three different venues in town. They played one of the very last events ever at the famed Candlestick Park, they’ve played two big tournament games at the 49ers new home and made two appearances at the soccer-specific home of the San Jose Earthquakes.

T-8. Tampa (5 games)

Date	Competition	Match-Up	Stadium	Attendance
2/24/10	Friendly	USA vs. El Salvador	Raymond James Stadium	21,737
6/11/11	Gold Cup	USA vs. Panama	Raymond James Stadium	27,731
6/8/12	World Cup Qualifying	USA vs. Antigua & Barbuda	Raymond James Stadium	23,971
7/12/17	Gold Cup	USA vs. Martinique	Raymond James Stadium	23,368
10/11/18	Friendly	USA vs. Colombia	Raymond James Stadium	38,631

It seems just a bit odd that Tampa got to host US games three straight years despite not having an MLS team (though the Tampa Bay Rowdies do very well in the USL Championship). They were then gone for five years before coming back in consecutive years. And it’s no surprise that the largest crowd at Raymond James Stadium in that time, by a wide margin, was against a Colombia team coming off their second straight World Cup knockout round appearance.

Takeaways

Since 2010, the USMNT has played a total of 137 home games. Of those 137 games, 82 of them have been played in the cities on this list. That means that, in the last 13 years, the USMNT has played 60% of its games in just 13 metropolitan areas. For a country the size of the United States, that’s not acceptable.

It has already been proven that playing in the same few locations over and over and over again hurts attendance. US Soccer isn’t off to a great start at varying the venues for the current cycle, with the two upcoming January Camp games against Serbia and Colombia both in LA. The next home game for them to decide on is a Nations League game on March 27 against El Salvador.

With the hosting duties for the 2026 World Cup growing ever closer, it bears repeating that the best thing US Soccer can do (both to boost the profile of the national team and to build excitement for the World Cup) is to take the team to as many new and different places as possible. Play in places like Albuquerque, Atlanta, Birmingham, Boise, Honolulu, Little Rock, Louisville, Memphis or Milwaukee. This boosts the profile of the national team and builds excitement for the World Cup.

If they do that, there’s no reason the profile of soccer in the US doesn’t explode.

PHOTO: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire

Lawrence Dockery

STORIES BY Lawrence Dockery