MLS average attendance during the 2018 regular season dropped 1.09% compared to last year.

Despite LAFC selling out many of their games during their debut season, the addition of the new team to MLS didn’t have an impact on the league’s attendance because the stadium’s capacity is much smaller (22,000) compared to previous new teams such as Atlanta United and Orlando City (when they were at the Camping World Stadium).

Atlanta set a new season attendance record, beating its own gate from last season. Minnesota has the largest percentage increase, while unsurprisingly Columbus had the biggest decrease. It’s not a shock that Chicago had a large decrease, given their performance. But the average attendance for Supporters Shield winner Red Bulls downturn is disturbing.

Overall, the total reported attendance in 2018 surpassed 8.5 million with an average reported attendance of 21,873.

In 2019, we can expect a nominal increase. Portland’s expanded capacity of around 4,000 will be offset as Minnesota moves into Allianz Field with an approximate cap of 19,400, around 4,000 less than they drew this season. The increase will come from FC Cincinnati playing in Nippert Stadium.

Photo credit: Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

Soccer fans in the US typically follow European soccer alongside MLS and international tournaments, which means having new sites for betting to bet on soccer is a great asset to have if you’re unable to attend most games. And with average attendances going down this year, there is some cause for concern.

After six gameweeks played in the 2018 season, attendances are down for 66% of the MLS clubs who have played home games this season.

The only MLS clubs who haven’t seen a drop in attendance compared to last season are Atlanta United (up 10%), LA Galaxy (up 23%), Vancouver (up 26%), NYCFC (up 4%), Sporting KC (up 1%) and San Jose (who have seen no increase or decrease).

The MLS franchises who have seen the biggest drop in attendances compared to last season are:

1) DC United — down 71% (due to playing in a temporary stadium),
2) Columbus — down 25% (due to fans protesting that owner is trying to move the club to Austin),
3) Montreal — down 24%
4) Minnesota — down 21%
5) Chicago — down 13%
6) FC Dallas — down 11%
7) Seattle — down 7%
8) New York Red Bulls — down 6%
9) Real Salt Lake — down 6%
10) Orlando — down 6%
11) Colorado — down 6%
12) Philadelphia — down 4%
13) Houston — down 2%
14) New England — down 0.5%
15) Toronto — down 0.1%

LAFC and Portland Timbers have yet to play a home game this season.

In gameweek 6, Atlanta, LA Galaxy and Orlando had impressive attendances. But there were poor turnouts everywhere else. Real Salt Lake has had less than 17,000 two home matches in a row, the first time that has happened since July, 2011. The mitigating factor to both was poor weather, including cold, snow and rain. As a consequence, the numbers for the first 53 matches this season are down 1.75% to 2017 as you can see in the table below.

Photo credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to a new season of MLS attendance reports.

In 2017, Orlando had a decrease due to the fact of the reduced capacity of their new stadium, 20.1% lower than their 2016 average. Four more teams lost more than 6%. NYCFC was down 17.9%, Los Angeles was down 11.5%, Columbus was down 9.4% and Houston was down 8.0%. Chicago’s great season led to their 11.4% increase. Only five other teams had increases albeit small, while Portland continued its perfect record of sellouts.

This season, I don’t expect a bump from LAFC joining the league with a capacity of 22,000 in their new home. Remember, tickets distributed — not butts in the seats — is the method that MLS uses to announce attendances.

I wrote this in my week 1 post last year and my opinion hasn’t changed: That being said, as I wrote on this site back in 2009, it’s the TV revenue that will kick MLS into the big leagues. Ticket sales, food and merchandise sales, corporate sponsorships are all well and good but the big bucks are in TV and that’s a problem as MLS TV ratings are, well, awful. It doesn’t inspire networks to lay out huge money for programming that doesn’t draw large numbers. Hopefully that will improve with the better play on the field, but that will take time. Unlike the NFL, NBA, MLB and the NHL, MLS has stiff competition for ‘soccer eyes’ on TV. They are the best leagues of their sport in the world and US viewers are accustomed to watching the best. So with so much quality soccer available to US viewers, that’s a big hill to climb. And it certainly doesn’t help that the major sports TV outlets, yes ESPN, I’m talking to you, barely give lip service to MLS.

Okay, on to how week 1 played out. The attendances were pretty much to form. There were sellouts reported in Orlando, San Jose, Kansas City, Vancouver and strong showings throughout the rest of the league.

Week 1 Attendances

Dallas — 16,116
Houston — 20,377
Kansas City — 20,831
LA Galaxy — 25,462
Orlando — 25,527
Philadelphia — 16,452
San Jose — 18,000
Seattle — 40,070
Toronto — 26,633
Vancouver — 27,837

Photo credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Attendances at MLS games for the 2017 regular season grew by 1.95% compared to last year, according to reported (not actual) numbers.

The final average attendance for MLS 2017 regular season was 22,112.

In the final week of the 2017 MLS season on Sunday, Atlanta set the all time standalone match attendance, 71,874, beating its own record set earlier this season. Atlanta also set the record for the highest average attendance during a season with 48,200.

As expected, most teams on Sunday had strong final match turnouts. Only Houston and Dallas had disappointing showings, while DC United opened up RFK Stadium for the final match at the stadium.

Latest attendance numbers for MLS teams:

Photo credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Colorado Rapids drew its smallest crowd of the season in its final home match, a Rocky Mountain Cup game against Real Salt Lake, with just a reported attendance of 13,102.

On the flip side, the Revs had its largest turnout in its final home match versus New York City FC. Orlando City’s decrease, meanwhile, is due to its new stadium with a smaller capacity than last season’s home.

The average attendance (21,925) is up 1.08% vs 2016. The final numbers might tick up a little with Atlanta and Seattle having home matches in the last week of the season.

Latest attendance numbers for MLS teams:

Chicago 17,616
Colorado 13,102
Houston 15,724
Kansas City 19,083
Los Angeles 23,377
New England 33,767
NY Red Bull 25,219
Orlando 25,166
Portland 21,144
Seattle 48,478
Toronto 27,866
Vancouver 22,120

Photo credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

In the latest reported attendance numbers for MLS, the league is averaging 21,781 this season, which is up 1.26% compared to 2016.

For Columbus Crew, who have concluded their home schedule of fixtures, the club’s average attendance dropped 9.84% compared to last season.

Meanwhile, Atlanta United and Seattle both have two home matches remaining in the season, which should help give MLS a minor bump in the overall attendance number.

Last but not least, Houston’s poor season of attendance continued this past week with both matches failing to reach 17,000.

Latest attendance numbers for MLS teams:

MLS reported attendances had another good week courtesy of Atlanta playing two more home matches at the Mercedes Benz Stadium.

The only downer was New York City FC’s match that was played in Hartford’s Pratt and Whitney Stadium due to a scheduling conflict at Yankee Stadium. The 10,165 was the lowest reported attendance of the season. And even then, the 10,165 number seemed to be wildly exaggerated.

After 328 matches, the average attendance (21,801) is up 1.37% vs 2016.

Latest attendance numbers for MLS teams:

Photo credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Atlanta United broke the MLS attendance record with a massive crowd of 70,425 this past Saturday in the draw against Orlando City SC.

Aided by Atlanta’s large attendances for their two recent home matches, MLS had a strong week of reported attendances for most teams across the league.

However, there were poor turnouts for Chicago Fire, Colorado Rapids and FC Dallas games.

After 315 matches, the average attendance (21,709) is up 0.96% vs 2016.

Latest attendance numbers for MLS teams:

After 302 matches, the average MLS attendance (21,604) is up 0.47% compared to 2016.

This past week in MLS, it was another normal week of reported attendances. There were strong showings in most venues, including Atlanta’s new Mercedes Benz Stadium. A relatively weak turnout for NYCFC’s midweek match. There should be a small uptick with 7 matches remaining in Atlanta.

Latest attendance numbers for MLS teams:

During the past week, Seattle Sounders and Toronto had the two greatest attendances in MLS.

Elsewhere there were strong attendance numbers across MLS except for poor turnouts for DC United and Columbus’ midweek game. LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake had so-so numbers.

After 286 matches, the average attendance(21,528) is up 0.32% vs 2016.

Latest attendance numbers for MLS teams:

Photo credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

For gameweek 24 of the 2017 season, it was a strong week for MLS attendance numbers. Seattle had more than 40,000 in attendance while Orlando had over 25,000 fans for their home game.

Meanwhile, Colorado had the weakest showing of all, which is no great surprise.The Rapids have finished 10th in attendance or worse every year since 2006.

After 269 matches, the average attendance (21,572) is up 0.54% compared to 2016. There will probably be a slight uptick by the end of the season because Atlanta, the league leader, still has eight home matches remaining.

Latest MLS attendances:

Photo credit: Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports

MLS had a mixed bag of reported attendances last week. LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls had good attendance numbers as well as the usual strong reports from Seattle Sounders and Toronto FC.

But then there was FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo and Philadelphia Union.

DC United’s poor attendance can be excused due to the monsoon-like weather that caused the match to be postponed Saturday night before the match was completed on Sunday.

So far this season, after 258 matches, MLS is averaging 21,538 fans per game, which is up 0.22% compared with 2016.

Latest MLS attendances:

Photo credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

This past week saw solid reported attendance numbers with the exception of Philadelphia’s midweek match and the FC Dallas home game. The numbers should remain reasonably strong for the rest of the season with Atlanta having eight home matches, while Seattle has seven home games remaining.

After 237 matches, the average attendance is up 0.20% vs 2016. It’s currently averaging 21,562.

Attendances for MLS gameweek 21:

Photo credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

Last week was very busy as MLS comes out of the Gold Cup group play break. In a nice change, there were no terrible reported attendances for the seven midweek matches. DC United had a disappointing showing over the weekend given they had rain. Meanwhile, New England Revolution opened up some extra seats for the LA Galaxy’s visit as did Vancouver for its Cascadia Cup game versus Portland.

After 225 matches, the average attendance is up 0.23% compared to 2016.

Attendances for MLS gameweek 20:

If you’ve been following MLS attendance for a while, it should come as no surprise at the poor attendance numbers in Colorado and Dallas. I was also surprised by the relatively weak number in Philadelphia.

New York City FC’s number was also weak, but it’s possible that they are reaching their true level after 2½ seasons. As I mentioned last week, San Jose’s year-to-date deficit was reduced to on-par with 2016 as their match versus the Galaxy was held in Stanford Stadium with a turnout of over 50,000.

After the first 196 matches, the average attendance is down 0.76% vs 2016.

Seattle and Minnesota had strong weekday turnouts last week, while DC United and Colorado had soft showings. The rest of the week had good reported attendances with sellout crowds in Houston, New Jersey, Chicago, San Jose and Portland. Seattle and Atlanta continue to lead the way with 42,000+. We can expect San Jose’s YTD deficit to be reduced next week as their match against LA Galaxy with be held in Stanford Stadium, as it was last season.

After the first 186 matches, the average attendance is down 1.17% vs 2016.

With no weekday matches in MLS last week, the reported attendances were decent considering the games were played across the weekend.

Colorado was the only outlier with a reasonable soft 15,400+. The year-to-year decrease in Orlando is due to the move from the Citrus Bowl to their new stadium. I suspect ownership is wishing they had built a larger capacity facility.

San Jose’s decrease is because it has yet to play in a larger venue as they did last year by this time. I believe they are scheduled to play in Stanford Stadium later this season.

As for the other double digit down numbers, NYCFC, Houston and Columbus have their marketing departments work cut out for them.

After the first 171 matches, the average attendance is down 1.34% vs 2016.

Photo credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

The attendance numbers for last week’s MLS games were a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly.

Midweek numbers were typically poor in Columbus and Houston. New York City FC’s was okay while Orlando City SC had over 24,000. The weekend games drew well with the exception of FC Dallas who drew its smallest crowd of the season. In better news, New England’s match against Toronto had the Rev’s highest reported gate in 2017.

After the first 157 matches, the average attendance is down 1.50% vs 2016.

Photo credit: Jennifer Buchanan-USA TODAY Sports

Thursday’s match in Chicago had a poor turnout of 12,584 in attendance. That’s too bad because Chicago’s revival took a boost with a win over FC Dallas. And Dallas’ showing for the Texas Derby of 15,055 was also soft too.

The rest of the league had good reported attendances. The Cascadia Cup matchup between Seattle and Portland outdrew Atlanta, but overall Atlanta continues to lead the pack.

After the first 142 matches, the average attendance is down 1.11% vs 2016.

Here are the reported attendances for MLS gameweek 13:

Here is the 2017 MLS attendance report through gameweek 13:

HT Overlapping Run

There were weak midweek match turnouts in Chicago and Dallas. Philly and Salt Lake had middling reported attendance midweek. Fairly strong showings for the rest of the midweek matches, as well as on the weekend. Orlando and San Jose continue to report sellouts in their new homes..

After the first 131 matches, the average attendance is down 1.95% vs 2016.

Here are the reported attendances for MLS gameweek 12:

Here is the 2017 MLS attendance report through gameweek 12:

HT Overlapping Run

Photo credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

Reported attendances were less than stellar this past week. Columbus’ midweek match had the lowest reported gate in the league this season (10,318). Colorado, Dallas, DC United and Houston all had relatively poor turnouts. New York Red Bulls’ match against LA had the lowest showing (against the Galaxy) since 2006, the year before Beckham arrived.

On the other hand, Chicago had its biggest number since September of 2015 with 20,153 fans.

After the first 115 matches, the average attendance is down 1.66% compared to 2016.

Here are the reported attendances for MLS gameweek 11:

Here is the 2017 MLS attendance report through gameweek 10:

HT Overlapping Run

Photo credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

Minnesota United attendances continue to disappoint for an expansion team.

After an inaugural match with 35,043 fans in attendance, their subsequent four home games have all drawn in the 17,000’s. For the 2017 season, after five home games, Minnesota is averaging 21,115 fans per game. But with attendances such as the 17,709 number for the game against Sporting KC this past weekend, the average will continue to decline unless the club can get a boost through the gates.

For this past weekend, despite strong reported attendances in Seattle, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and other cities, the reported turnouts in Colorado, Columbus and DC brought the average for the week down to approximately 20,500.

After the first 103 matches, the average attendance is virtually equal to 2016.

Here are the reported attendances for MLS gameweek 10:

Here is the 2017 MLS attendance report through gameweek 10:

HT Overlapping Run

Photo credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

Atlanta United has surpassed Seattle Sounders for the best average attendance in MLS this season.

The 2017 debutant is averaging 49,077 fans per game at the Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta. Meanwhile, Seattle Sounders is averaging 43,004 per game in 2017, which is a 8% increase from last season.

Altogether, MLS reported pretty good numbers across the league for attendances this past weekend. Having said that, Minnesota United is underperforming for a new expansion team since its inaugural match (the team is averaging 21,967 at home). Meanwhile, FC Dallas must not have made a lot on game day food and merchandise sales with the wide swaths of empty seats at Toyota Park.

After the first 90 matches, the average attendance is down 0.48% compared to 2016.

Here are the reported attendances for MLS gameweek 9:

Here is the 2017 MLS attendance report through gameweek 9:

HT Overlapping Run

In MLS last weekend, the teams reported pretty average attendances for gameweek 8.

There was an expected low turnout of 10,487 for New England Revolution’s midweek game (see above photo). A few days later, New England played at home in front of a reported attendance of 16,591. So far this season, the Revolution is averaging 13,344 fans per game.

Meanwhile, there were usual strong numbers in Portland, Salt Lake and Toronto. It’s hard to know if Philadelphia’s low reported attendance was due to rain or the fact that the team is the only winless club in the league.

Overall, the numbers should pick up soon as the two league leaders, Atlanta United and Seattle Sounders, have each only played twice at home.

After the first 79 matches, the average attendance in MLS is down 2.35% compared to 2016.

Here are the reported attendances for MLS gameweek 8:

Here is the 2017 MLS attendance report through gameweek 8:

HT Overlapping Run

Photo credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports

After four home matches each in the 2017 MLS season, Columbus Crew SC and Houston Dynamo are both drawing their lowest average attendances since 2011.

The Crew attendance is down 22.7% compared to last season, and is currently averaging 12,659 fans per game this season. In Houston, meanwhile, average attendance is down 15% (the Dynamo is averaging 17,821 per match).

DC United, on the other hand, is drawing the highest since 2011 after four home matches. Philadelphia is at its lowest three game home average since it entered the league eight years ago. Conversely Portland, had sold-out attendances for every home match in its seven year history in Major League Soccer.

After the first 67 matches in 2017, the average reported attendance is down 2.74% compared to 2016.

Here are the reported attendances for MLS gameweek 7:

Here is the 2017 MLS attendance report through gameweek 7:

HT Overlapping Run

Photo credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

After the first 56 matches of the 2017 MLS season, the average reported attendance is nearly even with 2016. It’s currently down just 0.82%.

In MLS gameweek 6, New England and Philadelphia had disappointing reported attendances. But LA Galaxy continues to slide at the gate. The southern California team’s reported average attendance is down 17 percent this season. It appears that Gio Dos Santos doesn’t offer enough glitz for the LA crowd.

Meanwhile, the reported attendance for the Real Salt Lake game was impressive given the snow that descended on the stadium. It’s doubtful that other cities would have drawn as well as the Rio Tinto crowd given the weather conditions.

Last but not least, there were good showings elsewhere in the league with reported sellout crowds in Kansas City, Orlando and San Jose.

Here are the reported attendances for MLS gameweek 6:

Here is the 2017 MLS attendance report through gameweek 6:

HT Overlapping Run

Photo credit: Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports

For the first 45 games of the 2017 MLS season, the average attendance is virtually even with 2016 despite lots of empty seats at many MLS stadiums, particularly from this past weekend.

For gameweek 5, Chicago, Columbus, DC United, Houston and Minnesota reported disappointing attendances. New York City FC’s number could also be seen as soft as the club, for the second game in a row, reported a relative mediocre attendance considering they’re based in a city with a population of 8.4 million.

The biggest surprise for gameweek 5 was the attendance of 17,728 for Minnesota United’s game after their inaugural game drew over 35,000.

For gameweek 4 during the World Cup qualifiers, there were three MLS games played (three too many for my taste). Those attendances that weekend had the two lowest reported attendances of the season to date.

Here are the reported attendances for MLS gameweek 5:

Here is the 2017 MLS attendance report through gameweek 5:

HT Overlapping Run

Now that the Seattle Sounders have been the MLS club with the highest average attendance by far for each of its eight MLS seasons, it’s quite possible that Atlanta United may knock the Sounders off their perch by the end of the season. So far this year, Atlanta is averaging 50,610 after two home games. The Sounders, meanwhile, played their first home game of the season on Sunday, and drew 45,600 fans.

Elsewhere in the league for MLS gameweek 3, Colorado Rapids (14,013) and DC United (14,031) were the only two teams to report low attendances. New York City FC’s attendance could be seen as a low number too, although their attendance of 18,515 might be considered okay elsewhere in the league. However, the 18,515 number was the lowest turnout of NYCFC’s short existence thus far.

Speaking of attendances, Los Angeles has led the league in away attendance every year since 2007. Any coincidence that’s the year Beckham came to La La land? Not likely.

After the first 32 matches, the average attendance is up 1.26%.

MLS gameweek 3 reported attendances:

HT Overlapping Run

Photo credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Cold weather ruined attendances at most venues for gameweek 2 of the 2017 MLS season. So much so, in fact, that reported attendances are down 6.5% for the first 21 games of the 2017 MLS season compared to last season.

It was cold enough last weekend that New England rescheduled its match with Orlando to September. Minnesota had the added bonus of snow. I don’t know how many of the reported 35,000+ showed up, but there were many people there. Houston had rain, which I suspect kept the actual attendance lower. Montreal played indoors due to the extreme cold and had a good showing. There were decent turnouts at the rest of the matches, but you can see from the table below that the early reported gates are down for most clubs.

While the cold might be the cause of soft attendances, that’s no excuse for the LA Galaxy. With major changes in the roster, specifically the loss of Robbie Keane (arguably the best ever designated player signing to date) as well as Steven Gerrard and Landon Donovan, the LA fans may be waiting to see what they have. Losing the first two matches at home won’t help.

MLS gameweek 2 reported attendances:

MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games

HT Overlapping Run

Photo credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

The average attendance from the opening weekend of the 2017 MLS season was 25,156, which represented a 3.8% decline compared to the 2016 MLS opening weekend average of 26,152.

The difference can be attributed to Seattle Sounders being on the road this season while they were at home for week 1 in 2016.

Despite the small decline, here’s how week 1 played out. Atlanta sold out Bobby Dodd Stadium with a huge crowd of over 55,000, not unlike what Orlando did in its opening match last year. Good crowds were prevalent around the league except for the usual soft showing in Columbus. A little surprising, however, was that Vancouver Whitecaps didn’t do better. Perhaps it was due to being a Sunday night match.

In 2017, we can expect to see an increase overall due to Atlanta and Minnesota joining the league with above average capacity facilities. Atlanta’s season tickets sales, announced at 30,000, exceeds last season’s final average number. Remember, tickets sold (not people in the seats) is the main component of announced MLS attendances. The only downward push on average will be from Orlando, who finished with an average over 31,000 but have moved into a new building with a capacity of 25,500.

That being said, as I wrote on this site in 2009, it’s the TV revenue that will kick MLS into the big leagues. Ticket sales, food and merchandise sales and corporate sponsorships are all well and good but the big bucks are in TV and that’s a problem as MLS TV ratings are, well, awful. It doesn’t inspire networks to lay out huge money for programming that doesn’t draw large numbers. Hopefully that will improve with the better play on the field, but that will take time. Unlike the NFL, NBA, MLB and the NHL, MLS has stiff competition for ‘soccer eyes’ on TV. They are the best leagues of their sport in the world and US viewers are accustomed to watching the best. So with so much quality soccer available to US viewers, that’s a big hill to climb. And it certainly doesn’t help that the major sports TV outlets, yes ESPN, I’m talking to you, barely give lip service to MLS.

SEE MORE: 10 things we learned from MLS gameweek 1 of the 2017 season

Week 1 Attendances

MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games

HT Overlapping Run

Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Major League Soccer has set a 5-year attendance record for their playoff games and Conference semi-finals and finals, increasing attendances by 19% compared to last season from the wildcard games through to the Conference Finals.

The top flight US/Canadian league benefitted from well-supported teams such as Montreal Impact, Toronto FC and Seattle Sounders being featured in the latter stages of the MLS playoffs and Conference games.

In total, for the 2016 MLS wildcard games through last night’s Conference games, MLS averaged 27,276 fans per game. Last season, it was 22,909. The 27,276 number this season broke the 5-year record of 23,390 from 2014.

With their 40,000+ attendance numbers, the Seattle Sounders have been an outlier since its entrance into the league. Although this season the showing of 60,000+ for Montreal in their home match of the Eastern Conference finals was quite impressive.

Of course, the numbers do mean a lot to the franchises that are showing strong playoff numbers as it adds revenue via ticket sales, food, merchandise and increased exposure.

For the 2016 MLS regular season, the average attendance was 21,690, which is an 0.66% increase compared to last season.

The 21,690 number is the third year in a row that Major League Soccer has broken its own attendance record. And it means that the league now has a greater average attendance than Argentina’s Primera Division, France’s Ligue Un and the Netherlands’ Eredivisie.

Here are the MLS attendance numbers:

PLAYOFF TOTALS (NOT INCL. MLS CUP)

WILD CARD GAMES

QUARTERFINALS (CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS – BOTH LEGS)

SEMIFINALS (CONFERENCE FINALS)

For the 2016 MLS regular season, the average attendance was 21,690, which is an 0.66% increase compared to last season.

The 21,690 number is the third year in a row that Major League Soccer has broken its own attendance record. And it means that the league now has a greater average attendance than Argentina’s Primera Division, France’s Ligue Un and the Netherlands’ Eredivisie.

Nine of the clubs reported decreases, with Kansas City and Salt Lake at less than 2%. Seattle dropped a little, which is not surprising given that for most of the season they played mediocre soccer and weren’t a playoff team until the end. New York City FC and Orlando City SC suffered decreases in their attendances, which is not unusual for the second year of expansion teams.

However, Houston Dynamo and FC Dallas suffered the largest decreases. Houston can blame terrible performances all year for their drop, but Dallas is, well, Dallas. You can’t blame the average attendance decrease at Dallas on the reduced capacity at the stadium. After all, the club didn’t hit the 2016 capacity of their stadium in 2015, so the disappointing attendances wasn’t for lack of available seats.

The 0.66% increase in average attendance is unsurprising. That’s not an indictment of the league, but rather it’s the reality that many of the clubs are reporting a high percentage of capacities at their various venues. The one true outlier is FC Dallas, which reduced the capacity at Toyota Stadium from 20,500 to 16,500 to accommodate the new Hall of Fame being built at one end of the park.

Looking ahead to next season, we can expect a larger attendance increase with Atlanta United and Minnesota United joining the league with above average capacity facilities.

Here are the attendance numbers for the 2016 MLS regular season:

HT Overlapping Run

MLS attendances for 2016 thus far are 2.5% greater than the same number of games played last season.

This past weekend, the average reported attendance was 20,800 with general strong reports from around the league. The one poorly attended game was New England’s midweek match and Chicago in the rain. New England, however, had a great turnout over the weekend due to Kaka’s star power. I suspect there were many pre-sales but unfortunately Kaka was unable to play because of injury.

After 87 matches this season, the average is slightly over 21,000 people per game.

The reported attendances for gameweek of the 2016 MLS season are in, with an average of 19,400+ this past weekend.

The attendance numbers were generally strong this week. It’s good to see Colorado’s strong number, which is hopefully due to the team’s surprising start. The same can be said for Philadelphia. I suspect this will be the trend for the season, with both clubs doing well so long as they are in the playoff hunt.

After 74 matches this season, the average is a tad over 21,100, which is 1.54% over the 74 match count in 2015.

HT Overlapping Run

After 65 matches, the average attendance for the 2016 MLS season is just over 21,300, which represents a 3.15% increase over the first 65 games of the 2015 season.

Of course, you have to take the numbers with a grain of salt.

For gameweek 7 of the 2016 MLS season, the average reported attendance was 20,750. The FC Dallas-Sporting KC game, where there were lightning storms in the area, reported an attendance that was 98.3% of capacity. The expectation was a sellout crowd, but the bad weather resulted in a ton of empty seats (see video for evidence). Despite the hordes of empty seats, FC Dallas and MLS reported a 16,215 attendance.

Meanwhile in Colorado, weather disrupted the attendance at that game. Still, the team and league reported an attendance number of 10,670, which equated to 61.2% of the capacity despite the fact that the teams played in practically an empty stadium (see video for evidence).

Here are the latest MLS attendances for this week and the season thus far:

HT Overlapping Run

So far this season compared to last year, reported attendances in MLS have increased by 1.39%. The marginal increase is based on the reported (not actual) attendances for the first 52 games of the season compared to the first 52 of the 2015 MLS season.

The reason ‘reported attendances’ are mentioned is because attendances in Major League Soccer always have to be taken with a grain of salt. While teams such as Seattle Sounders and Orlando City generate impressive numbers that can’t be denied, there are always some teams that report home attendances that are considerably more than what we can see in the stadiums and on television.

Having said that, the average attendance in MLS for gameweek 6 of the 2016 season was 19,150, with disappointing attendances reported in the usual places (FC Dallas, DC United and — surprisingly — Philadelphia). New England Revolution improved with an attendance of almost 17,000.

Here are the reported attendances for gameweek 6 of the MLS season:

Last but not least, here are the attendance numbers for this season (compared to last year):

HT Overlapping Run

Attendances in Major League Soccer always have to be taken with a grain of salt. While teams such as Seattle Sounders and Orlando City generate impressive numbers that can’t be denied, there are always some teams that report home attendances that are considerably more than what we can see in the stadiums and on television.

Having said that, last weekend’s reported match attendances averaged over 20,400 with Chicago (12,073), Colorado (10,772), Dallas (13,174) and New England (11,849) reporting relatively underwhelming numbers.

While last season’s average attendances increased 12.8%, we certainly can’t expect anything close to the same increase this year, with the same teams in place. There is a jump in capacity in Vancouver from 21,000 to 22,120, but otherwise all things being equal, a 5% increase would be a positive outcome.

On the attendances so far this season, the bright spots are:

• Vancouver (+15% in average attendance over last year),
• DC United (+13%), and
• New England Revolution (+12%).

Meanwhile, the disappointments so far are:

• New York City FC (-14%),
• FC Dallas (-12%), and
• Philadelphia (-5%).

Here’s the latest attendance data for MLS: