The Week 19 numbers look like this…

  5 year comparison
  Week 19 145 GP YTD
  Avg +/- GP Avg +/- Avg +/- GP
 2006   92,650     1   15,378     15,194     121 
 2007   25,407   -72.58%   5   15,897   3.37%   15,449   1.68%   122 
 2008   18,584   -26.85%   6   16,467   3.59%   17,334   12.20%   128 
 2009   16,846   -9.35%   7   15,435   -6.27%   16,459   -5.05%   137 
 2010   17,583   4.37%   8   16,668   7.99%   16,668   1.27%   145 

The 2006 number is not an error. There was one match, Chivas USA v Revs which was paired with a Barcelona v Chivas de Guadalajara match.

YTD – 145 Games
  Average Median %<10K %>20k
 2006    15,378     13,016    22.07%   17.93% 
 2007    15,897     14,351    10.34%   22.76% 
 2008    16,467     15,271    11.72%   25.52% 
 2009    15,435     14,441    15.17%   18.62% 
 2010    16,668     14,389    8.28%   22.76% 

Here are the attendance comparisons to 2009:

MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games
  2009 2010  
  Att Cap % Att Att +/- GP Cap % Cap
 Seattle  30,204   93.22%   36,155   19.70%   11   101.84%   35,500 
 Philadelphia NA NA  21,316  NA  7   88.55%   18,500 
 Toronto  20,267   92.21%   20,510   1.20%   10   93.32%   21,978 
 LA Galaxy  19,292   71.45%   20,319   5.32%   9   75.26%   27,000 
 Houston  15,538   69.06%   16,878   8.62%   10   75.01%   22,500 
 Real Salt Lake  16,137   78.12%   16,740   3.74%   10   86.56%   19,340 
 N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls  11,385   45.20%   16,277   42.97%   8   64.62%   25,189 
 Chicago  12,839   64.19%   15,664   22.01%   8   78.32%   20,000 
 D.C. United  15,193   67.53%   14,949   -1.61%   9   66.44%   22,500 
 ChivasUSA  15,312   56.71%   14,322   -6.47%   8   53.04%   27,000 
 Columbus Crew  13,114   65.57%   13,984   6.63%   10   69.92%   20,000 
 Colorado Rapids  12,918   71.42%   13,158   1.86%   9   72.75%   18,086 
 NE Revolution  14,592   64.85%   11,844   -18.83%   9   52.64%   22,500 
 FC Dallas  9,306   43.91%   10,953   17.70%   9   51.68%   21,193 
 KC Wizards  10,019   96.47%   10,082   0.63%   10   97.08%   10,385 
 San Jose  11,513   58.80%   9,620   -16.44%   8   93.40%   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’s 4th match in 2009 was at Oakland Alameda Coliseum and drew over 15,800.

    Observations

    The week began in Philadelphia who cracked 18,000 for their Thursday match v the Crew. Toronto packed the house as usual. And also as usual, a less than stellar crowd of 12,200+ came out to Gillette for the Revs match. The Wizards sold out for the 2nd consecutive match following their win over Manchester United. The Rapids had another ‘bland’ showing of 12,701. It was a 2009-like turnout at PHP(not like they’ve been setting the world on fire in ’10) as the 5pm kickoff, the hottest time of day on a very hot day kept people at home, 8732. What will 5 DP’s do for you? Well in Chicago it means you fill the park to over capacity, with more than 21,800 on hand for RBNY’s visit. Seattle packed the house as usual with over 36,000 at Quest Field.

    Rookie Watch: Watched a few games and the only rooks I care to mention this week are Chicago’s Sean Johnson and RBNY’s Tim Ream and Tony Tchani.

    Kei Kamara and Ryan Smith, 2 of the players on my preseason ‘watch list'(bottom of post) combined to score for KC v RSL.

    Week 19 Games
     
    Philadelphia 1 Philadelphia Union Talk
    Columbus 2 Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra
     
    Toronto 2 TFC Connected
    Chivas USA 1 Chicago Fire Confidential
     
    New England 1 Revolution Soccer
    DC United 0 DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider
     
    Kansas City 1 Kansas City – Hillcrest Road
    Real Salt Lake 1 RSL – Behind the Shield
     
    Colorado 1 Undercurrent
    San Jose 0 San Jose Center Line Soccer
     
    FC Dallas 3 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick
    Philadelphia 1 Philadelphia Union Talk
     
    Chicago 0 Chicago Fire Confidential
    RBNY 0 Red Bulls Reader
     
    Seattle 2 Seattle Times
    Houston 0 Soccer y Fútbol – Jose de Jesus Ortiz
       GP  W  D  L  GF  GA  GFA  GAA  PPG  PTS  GD
     Los Angeles  19   12   4   3   31   13   1.63   0.68   2.11   40   18 
     Columbus  19   11   4   4   28   17   1.47   0.89   1.95   37   11 
     Real Salt Lake  19   10   5   4   33   15   1.74   0.79   1.84   35   18 
     Dallas  18   7   9   2   24   16   1.33   0.89   1.67   30   8 
     NY Red Bull  18   8   4   6   20   21   1.11   1.17   1.56   28   -1 
     Seattle  20   8   4   8   23   25   1.15   1.25   1.40   28   -2 
     Colorado  18   7   6   5   20   17   1.11   0.94   1.50   27   3 
     Toronto FC  18   7   5   6   21   20   1.17   1.11   1.44   26   1 
     San Jose  17   6   5   6   20   20   1.18   1.18   1.35   23   0 
     Chicago  16   5   6   5   21   21   1.31   1.31   1.31   21   0 
     Houston  19   5   5   9   23   29   1.21   1.53   1.05   20   -6 
     Kansas City  18   5   5   8   15   21   0.83   1.17   1.11   20   -6 
     Chivas USA  18   5   3   10   22   25   1.22   1.39   1.00   18   -3 
     New England  17   5   3   9   17   27   1.00   1.59   1.06   18   -10 
     Philadelphia  17   4   3   10   21   32   1.24   1.88   0.88   15   -11 
     DC United  19   3   3   13   12   32   0.63   1.68   0.63   12   -20 

    Streaking

    • RSL are unbeaten in their last 20 regular season home games.
    • Houston are winless in their last 9 games.
    • Dallas are unbeaten in their last 9 games.
    • Dallas are also unbeaten in their last 8 road games.
    • Colorado are unbeaten in their last 6 home games.
    • Toronto are unbeaten in their last 17 regular season home games(7 in ’09).

    MLS Throw Ins

    • There have been 37 draws compared to 48 in ’09 thru the first 145 matches.
    • There have been 88 clean sheets in the first 145 matches, counting scoreless draws as 2.
    • Through 145 games: goal scoring is down around 7.6% from 2009, 2.42 vs 2.62.
    • RSL has lost only twice in its last 39 home matches. They lost only once in ’08 and ’09, a feat matched by Houston.

    N.A. SuperLiga

    The participants in the 2010 N.A. SuperLiga and their respective finishes in the last completed season are …

    MLS FMF
     Houston  3   UNAM Pumas  4 
     Chicago  5   Monarchas Morelia  7 
     Chivas USA  6   Pachuca  8 
     New England  7   Puebla  13 
    N.A. SuperLiga
    Group A
      W D L Pts GD
     Houston  2   1   0   7   2 
     Puebla  2   0   1   6   2 
     Chivas USA  1   1   1   4   0 
     Pachuca  0   0   3   0   -5 
    Group B
      W D L Pts GD
     New England  3   0   0   9   3 
     Monarchas Morelia  1   1   1   4   3 
     Chicago  1   0   2   3   -4 
     UNAM Pumas  0   1   2   1   -2 
    N.A. SuperLiga Semifinals
     New England(1)(5) v Puebla(1)(3)  Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA  Wed, Aug 4
     Houston(0) v Morelia(1)  Robertson Stadium, Houston, TX  Thu, Aug 5
    SuperLiga after Semifinals
      Total Game Dates Average
    2007  234,751   14   16,768 
    2008  186,148   14   13,296 
    2009  86,948   11   7,904 
    2010  118,298   12   9,858 
           
    3 Doubleheaders in 2009 – 2 in 2010

    New England will attempt to win its 2nd SuperLiga title on Sept 1 at Gillette Stadium.

    CONCACAF Champions League

    Four MLS clubs will play in the group phase of the 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League. RSL and Columbus earned automatic berths as the MLS Cup and Supporters Shield winners. Toronto FC won the Canadien Nutrilite Championship and then won their preliminary contest vs Motagua of Honduras. Seattle also won their preliminary vs Isidro Metapan of El Salvador, while the Galaxy were unable to overcome their thrashing at home by giant killers Puerto Rico, representing the Caribbean Football Union. The group phase begins play on Aug 17.

    Here are the attendance figures for the 16 preliminary matches.

    CCL
     San Francisco(PAN)  725 
     Cruz Azul(MEX)  5,000 
       
     Toronto(CAN)  18,891 
     Motagua(HON)  8,000 
       
     San Juan Jabloteh(T&T)  763 
     Santos Laguna(MEX)  10,000 
       
     Brujas(CRC)  253 
     Joe Public(T&T)  500 
       
     Seattle(USA)  17,228 
     Isidro Metapan(SLV)  1,083 
       
     Tauro(PAN)  1,237 
     Marathon(HON)  2,528 
       
     LA(USA)  6,783 
     Puerto Rico(CFU)  12,993 
       
     FAS(SLV)  4,200 
     Xelaju(GUA)  8,000 
       
     Total  98,184 
     Average  6,137 

    Lamar Hunt US Open Cup

    In 4th round action, Columbus(MLS) defeated Charleston(USL-2), ChivasUSA(MLS) defeated Houston(MLS) and Seattle(MLS) defeated Los Angeles(MLS).

    The winner will compete in the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League.

    DC United(MLS) defeated Harrisburg(USL-2) in the last 4th round match. Harrisburg earned $10,000 for being the USL-2 club that advanced the furthest. Their outright win over RBNY was the tiebreaker over Charleston that required PK’s to down Chicago.

    In the semifinals, Columbus will play DC United on Sept 1, 7:30 p.m. ET @ RFK Stadium, Wash, DC and Seattle will play ChivasUSA on Sept 1, 10 p.m. ET @ Starfire Sports Complex, Tukwila, WA.

    The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup structure

    Congestion

    You can decide if fixture congestion has had an effect so far. Of the clubs that participated in multiple non-league competitions, only Seattle and Toronto have not been bounced out yet. LA crashed out of the CCL and US Open Cup. Chicago and Houston lost in the N.A. SuperLiga and the US Open Cup. Chivas USA lost in SuperLiga but are in the US Open Cup semifinals. New England lost in the US Open Cup but are in the N.A. SuperLiga final. Columbus and RSL have the automatic berths in the group phase of the CCL, but RSL lost in the US Open Cup while Columbus are in the semifinals. It’s a matter of discussion as to whether Seattle had tougher go than Toronto vis-a-vis the Canadien Nutrilite Championship vs the US Open Cup being injected into their schedules.

    Fixture Congestion for MLS Teams
      TFC SEA CLB RSL NE
     7/24/10 MLS        
     7/25/10   MLS      
     7/27/10 CCL        
     7/28/10   CCL      
     7/31/10 MLS MLS     MLS
     8/1/10          
     8/3/10 CCL CCL      
     8/4/10         SL
     8/5/10     MLS    
     8/7/10 MLS     MLS MLS
     8/8/10   MLS      
     8/11/10 MLS     MLS  
     8/14/10   MLS MLS MLS MLS
     8/17-19  CCL CCL CCL CCL MLS
     8/21/10 MLS   MLS   MLS
     8/22/10          
     8/25/10 CCL CCL CCL CCL  
     8/28/10 MLS MLS MLS MLS MLS
     8/29/10          
     9/1/10   USOC USOC   SL
     9/4/10   MLS MLS   MLS
               
     Days  36   42   31   22   36 
     Games 10 11 8 6 9
     Games/Day  3.6   3.8   3.9   3.7   4.0 
    CCL=CONCACAF Champions League – SL=N.A. SuperLiga – USOC=US Open Cup
    Summer of Soccer Attendances
    Opponents Venue Date Event Att
             
     Real Madrid v LA  Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA Sat, August 07  Friendly  89,134 
     AC Milan v Panathanaikos  Silverdome, Pontiac MI Fri, August 06  Friendly  30,514 
     Real Madrid v Club America  Candlestick Park, SF, CA  Thu, August 05  Friendly  47,338 
     Inter v FC Dallas  Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, TX Thu, August 05  Friendly  19,435 
     Inter v Panathanaikos  Rogers Centre, Toronto, CA  Tue, August 03  Friendly  17,169 
             
           total  203,590 
           average  40,718