After week 23 the numbers look like this…
| 5 year comparison | ||||||||
| WK 23 | 164 GP | YTD | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | GP | Avg | +/- | Avg | +/- | GP | |
| 2005 | 15,133 | 7 | 14,807 | 14,857 | 151 | |||
| 2006 | 11,814 | -21.93% | 10 | 15,065 | 1.74% | 15,139 | 1.89% | 153 |
| 2007 | 17,413 | 47.39% | 7 | 16,126 | 7.04% | 16,019 | 5.82% | 151 |
| 2008 | 19,222 | 10.39% | 6 | 16,393 | 1.65% | 16,966 | 5.91% | 154 |
| 2009 | 16,665 | -13.31% | 9 | 15,826 | -3.46% | 15,813 | -6.80% | 164 |
| YTD – 164 Games | ||||
| Average | Median | %<10K | %>20k | |
| 2005 | 14,807 | 12,305 | 29.70% | 15.76% |
| 2006 | 15,065 | 12,979 | 21.34% | 16.46% |
| 2007 | 16,126 | 14,680 | 9.15% | 24.39% |
| 2008 | 16,393 | 15,188 | 11.59% | 24.39% |
| 2009 | 15,826 | 14,573 | 15.24% | 19.51% |
Here are the attendance comparisons to 2008’s equal number of home games(164):
| MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games | |||||||
| 2008 | 2009 | ||||||
| Att | Cap | Att | Att +/- | GP | Cap | Cap | |
| Seattle | 0 | 0.00% | 30,412 | NA | 12 | 95.04% | 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 | 15,557 | 57.62% | 16,107 | 3.53% | 10 | 59.65% | 27,000 |
| Houston | 16,155 | 71.80% | 15,938 | -1.35% | 12 | 70.84% | 22,500 |
| D.C. United | 19,993 | 88.86% | 15,887 | -20.53% | 10 | 70.61% | 22,500 |
| San Jose | 14,917 | 90.48% | 15,137 | 1.48% | 12 | 77.31% | 10,300 |
| NE Revolution | 16,615 | 73.85% | 14,188 | -14.61% | 10 | 63.06% | 22,500 |
| Chicago | 17,288 | 86.44% | 13,912 | -19.53% | 11 | 69.56% | 20,000 |
| Columbus Crew | 13,569 | 67.84% | 13,660 | 0.67% | 11 | 68.30% | 20,000 |
| Colorado Rapids | 13,628 | 75.35% | 12,771 | -6.29% | 11 | 70.61% | 18,086 |
| N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls | 16,376 | 65.01% | 12,229 | -25.32% | 11 | 48.55% | 25,189 |
| KC Wizards | 11,118 | 107.06% | 10,019 | -9.89% | 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
Note I grabbed Sunday’s Fire/Rapids attendance from the good folks at MLS Daily as MLSnet has yet to post. Good job getting Chicago’s gate TJ.
Observations
Week 23 games drew 16,665, despite poor crowds at San Jose, New England and the Meadowlands(rain). Chicago had its first sellout for the Galaxy’s visit. The normal Seattle sellout helps for comparitive purposes as this week last year the Revs drew over 39,000 in New England for Becks. Rain most likely kept the crowd down in DC, where they still pulled in over 22,000 for Goldenball’s appearance, a drop of over 13,800 from last year’s nearly 36,000. San Jose’s poor play is showing at the gate, especially against a weak Kansas City opponent, as they only drew 9,031. Chivas USA’s season keeps percolating along with a decent(not great) crowd of over 15,000. Didn’t expect a big crowd for the Red Bulls and Dallas, rain at kickoff didn’t help: 9,648. Alert! Red Bulls Win! New England drew a tepid 10,552 for its RSL match. Houston pulled in over 17,000 as the Sounders came to town.
Last week I posted the Beckham statistically irrelevant ‘home game’ effect(only 1 home game with Becks). With the Gals on the road for 2 games this week, thought I’d update the ‘away game’ effect table.
| Beckham Road Game Effect | ||||
| With Beckham | ||||
| 2008 | 2009 | +/- | ||
| RBNY | 46,754 | 23,238 | -23,516 | -50.30% |
| KC | 26,113 | 11,906 | -14,207 | -54.41% |
| NE | 39,256 | 26,623 | -12,633 | -32.18% |
| CHI | 20,156 | 20,000 | -156 | -0.77% |
| DCU | 35,979 | 22,134 | -13,845 | -38.48% |
| Total | 168,258 | 103,901 | -64,357 | -38.25% |
| Week 23 Games | ||
| Chicago | 0 | Chicago Fire Confidential |
| Los Angeles | 2 | LA – Official Blog |
| Seattle | 0 | Seattle Times |
| New England | 1 | Revolution Soccer |
| DC United | 0 | DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider |
| Los Angeles | 0 | LA – Official Blog |
| San Jose | 1 | San Jose Center Line Soccer |
| Kansas City | 0 | Kansas City – Hillcrest Road |
| Chivas USA | 2 | Chivas USA – MLSNet |
| Toronto | 0 | TFC Connected |
| RBNY | 2 | Red Bulls Reader |
| FC Dallas | 1 | 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick |
| Chicago | 3 | Chicago Fire Confidential |
| Colorado | 2 | Undercurrent |
| New England | 3 | Revolution Soccer |
| Real Salt Lake | 1 | RSL – Behind the Shield |
| Houston | 1 | Soccer y Fútbol – Barnard Fallas |
| Seattle | 1 | Seattle Times |
So How Are They Doing?
| Points after 164 Games | ||||
| Pts | GP | PPG | GD | |
| Houston | 40 | 24 | 1.67 | 10 |
| Columbus | 39 | 22 | 1.77 | 10 |
| Chicago | 38 | 23 | 1.65 | 6 |
| Los Angeles | 35 | 23 | 1.52 | 4 |
| Seattle | 33 | 23 | 1.43 | 6 |
| Chivas USA | 33 | 20 | 1.65 | 4 |
| Colorado | 30 | 21 | 1.43 | 7 |
| New England | 30 | 20 | 1.50 | -1 |
| Toronto FC | 30 | 22 | 1.36 | -3 |
| DC United | 29 | 22 | 1.32 | 0 |
| Real Salt Lake | 27 | 22 | 1.23 | 3 |
| Dallas | 23 | 22 | 1.05 | -4 |
| Kansas City | 21 | 20 | 1.05 | -8 |
| San Jose | 20 | 21 | 0.95 | -12 |
| NY Red Bull | 13 | 23 | 0.57 | -22 |
Notice that the last 3 teams in playoff positions have games in hand over the teams chasing them. Seattle might be the most vulnerable to being overtaken.
Streaking
- LA is unbeaten in 6 road games.
- Columbus is unbeaten in 8.
- FC Dallas has won 4 straight at home.
- DCU has not won on the road since April 26(9 matches).
- Columbus(11matches) and DCU(10 matches) have not lost at home.
- KC has no wins in its last 6(4 losses).
- RBNY has won 1 in a row.
- RBNY is winless on the road.Just Some Stuff
The CONCACAF Champions League group phase began last week. DC United, Houston and Columbus are representing MLS in the regional club championship. RBNY and Toronto FC were eliminated in the preliminaries.
Houston defeated Isidro Metápan and Columbus beat Puerto Rico in their opening matches, played at home, while DC United lost on the road to Marathón.
CONCACAF Champions League Aug 26 Sep 15-16 Group Game 2 Group Game 3 Houston plays Aug 26, Sep 15 DCU and Columbus play Aug 26, Sep 16 I believe Houston’s participation in recent SuperLiga and CONCACAF Champions Cup/League tourneys was a contributing factor in signing their first Designated Player, Luis Landín, a 24 yr old striker, on a 16 month loan from Mexican club Cruz Azul.
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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.
