Best opening since 1996

Yesterday I posted about the success of Houston specifically and the MLS in general at the ticket office on opening weekend. I decided to look back and see how 2006 compares to MLS history and guess what? This past weekend was the best-attended opening weekend for MLS since the inaugural season of 1996. It was also the first time since 2001 (and only the third time ever) that the average number of goals scored per game was 4 or greater.

Like I said about Houston, one game is not a season. MLS had a great rollout for 2006, but now the trick will be to keep those fans coming back. This will only be made that much harder once the World Cup begins and soccer fans attentions turn elsewhere. But for now, one must congratulate all those at MLS and in the individual team offices that put together such a great first kick.

Here are the attendance and goal numbers from MLS history (average per game numbers are in parenthesizes). By the way, I did not include shootout goals in the totals.

Year	Attendance	Goals
2006	133,749 (22,292)	24 (4)
2005	78,226 (13,038)	17 (2.8)
2004	97,699 (19,540)	14 (2.8)
2003*	83,246 (16,649)	13 (2.6)
2002	79,296 (15,854)	13 (2.6)
2001	113,837 (18,973)	24 (4)
2000**	58,283 (14,570)	17 (4.25)
1999	80,213 (16,043)	21 (3.5)
1998*	96,267 (19,253)	18 (3.6)
1997	104,132 (20,826)	11 (2.2)
1996*	169,914 (33,983)	15 (3)

* Season started with only one game on opening weekend. The next weekend, all (or most) teams played including those who played in the opening match. I have used the attendance numbers for the first full weekend of play.

** Only 8 of the 10 teams played on opening weekend

Number of games played on opening weekend
6 - 2006,2005, 2001
5 - 2004, 2003, 2002, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996
4 - 2000