2007 MLS Attendance Numbers - Full Season

The 2007 regular season is over and the attendance numbers look good. The league average for the year is 16,485 per game, which is a significant jump from 2006's 15,518 and 2005's 15,108. Actually, 2007 represents the best average since the inaugural run in 1996.

Home Attendance

Team	HG	Total	Avg	Best vs	Worst vs	HR
LA	15	363,782	24,252	27,000*	19,225 RSL 6/17	6-6-3
TFC	15	301,906	20,127	20,522 LA 8/05	19,123 HD 5/16	5-7-3
DC	15	293,554	19,570	46,686 LA 8/09	12,908 NE 5/03	10-2-3
NE	15	251,132	16,742	35,402 LA 8/12	9,508 CF 5/06	8-3-4
NY	15	247,948	16,530	66,237 LA 8/18	7,802 CR 5/13	9-3-3
CF	15	247,356	16,490	21,374 LA 10/21	10,115 CC 6/03	6-3-6
RSL	15	239,395	15,960	24,633 LA 9/19	13,003 HD 8/04	4-7-4
HD	15	238,240	15,883	30,588 LA 10/07	11,114 TFC 7/15	8-3-4
FCD	15	227,182	15,145	20,500**	9,165 NE 4/29	7-5-3
CC	15	226,706	15,113	22,555 LA 9/30	10,254 KC 6/20	5-5-5
CV	15	226,227	15,082	27,000***	8,756 FCD 5/26	10-1-4
CR	15	221,229	14,749	18,458 LA 5/26	10,677 NE 8/16	6-4-5
KC	15	173,784	11,586	32,867 LA 9/27	7,101 CR 7/22	5-3-2

HG: Number of Home Games, HR: Home Record
* LA reached 27,000 six times - 4/28 CV, 8/23 CV, 9/01 RSL, 9/23 FCD, 10/13 HD & 10/18 NY
** FC Dallas reached 20,500 twice - 4/22 CR & 10/20 KC
*** Chivas USA reached 27,000 twice - 5/20 LA & 9/29 CF

Nothing overly surprising from these numbers. There is the big 15-16,000 pack with a couple teams sliding under and three jumping nicely over. Also, no surprise that every team had their largest home crowd against LA, except FC Dallas who did not have a MLS game against LA when Beckham was on the team. It is interesting to note that home record does not seem to have a big influence on the numbers. But how do these numbers compare to last season?

Last Season

Team	Avg Attend 06	Avg Attend 07	% Change
NE	11,786	16,742	+ 42.0%
CR	12,056	14,749	+ 22.3%
CF	14,088	16,490	+ 17.0%
LA	20,814	24,252	+ 16.5%
CC	13,294	15,113	+ 13.7%
NY	14,570	16,530	+ 13.5%
DC	18,215	19,570	+ 7.4%
KC	11,083	11,586	+ 4.5%
FCD	14,982	15,145	+ 1.1%
RSL	16,366	15,960	- 2.5%
HD	18,935	15,883	- 16.1%
CV	19,840	15,082	- 24.0%

Way to go New England for getting those numbers up, but will they be able to do it again next year without the benefit of as many international double headers? Colorado did well to get people to their new stadium, the Fire used Blanco to get their seats filled and the Crew, New York and DC should all be happy with their bumps.

Kansas City's numbers are lackluster but they are better then what could have been since the team didn't know where they were going to play till a month or so before the season. With this in mind, this year has got to be seen as a minor success, but also a warning that they need to decide on a 2008 home soon.

Both Real and Houston are in similar boats as the aura of a new team is wearing off. That said, I am a bit surprised to see the Dynamo's numbers down as much as they are since they are league champions.

Dallas grew but I doubt they are very happy with the rate. I wonder if the stadium's location has anything to do with the stagnant number?

Finally, what is up with Chivas? The best year by far and they dropped a quarter of their total attendance. Their numbers picked up after they removed GM Javier Leo, but they still have a great deal of work ahead of them.

Home Capacity

Team	Avg Attend	Capacity	Avg % of Cap	Stadium Type
TFC	20,127	20,522	98.1%	SSS
LA	24,252	27,000	89.8%	SSS
CF	16,490	20,000	82.5%	SSS
CR	14,749	18,086	81.5%	SSS
FCD	15,145	20,500	73.9%	SSS
CC	15,113	22,555	67.0%	SSS
CV	15,082	27,000	55.9%	SSS
HD	15,883	32,000	49.6%	CS
DC	19,570	45,016	43.5%	NFL
RSL	15,960	45,634	35.0%	CS
NE	16,742	68,756	24.3%	NFL
NY	16,530	80,242	20.6%	NFL
KC	11,586	79,451	14.6%	NFL

SSS: Soccer Specific Stadium, CS: College Stadium, NFL: NFL Stadium

It is nice to see every sss above 50%, but again Chivas sticks out as the oddball. Toronto and Colorado have got to be happy with their numbers, although the Rapids obvious have a lot more room to improve.

DC did an amazing job in an American football stadium, while NE's, NY's and KC's percentages show the other side of things. Having a stadium less then a quarter full really hurts any environment.

But how much do these numbers have to do with Beckham?

Home Attendance minus Beckham matches

Team	Avg w/o	Avg w/	% Change
NY	12,979	16,530	- 21.5%
KC	10,066	11,586	- 13.1%
DC	17,633	19,570	- 9.9%
NE	15,409	16,742	- 8.0%
HD	14,832	15,883	- 6.6%
RSL	15,340	15,960	- 3.9%
CV	14,493	15,082	- 3.9%
CC	14,582	15,113	- 3.5%
CF	16,142	16,490	- 2.1%
CR	14,510	14,749	- 1.6%
TFC	20,099	20,127	- .1%

Again, not a lot of surprises here. The teams in the largest stadiums take the biggest hit with out their Beckham match in the equation. Actually, if there is a surprise it is how little of an impact Beckham actually had on the numbers. Yes, 5-10% is a lot but it is not everything. I'm sure there is an argument to be made about a 'Beckham effect', like people buying 5 game packs in order to get a Beckham ticket, but overall, the numbers without Beckham are still pretty respectable.

It is also worth noting that without the Beckham game, only 6 teams do worse then they did last year (NY, KC, DC, HD, CV RSL). Don't get me wrong, that is still over half the list but it also means five teams improved (not counted LA or Toronto) even without the big man.

But what about road shows?
Road Attendance

Team	AG	Total Att.	Avg	AR
LA	15	418,780	27,919	3-8-4
CF	15	261,229	17,415	4-7-4
FCD	15	250,220	16,681	6-7-2
NY	15	245,844	16,390	3-8-4
DC	15	240,674	16,045	6-5-4
CC	15	240,153	16,010	4-6-5
CV	15	239,618	15,975	5-6-4
RSL	15	235,367	15,691	2-8-5
HD	15	234,730	15,649	7-5-3
NE	15	223,544	14,903	6-5-4
TFC	15	221,650	14,777	1-10-4
CR	15	215,154	14,344	3-9-3
KC	15	210,635	14,042	4-7-4

AG: Number of Away Games, AR: Away Record

It should come as no surprise that LA is top or that Chicago is second. If anything, this is proof that the designated player idea has worked out at least in one way for MLS. In fact, the four teams that currently have a designated player hold the top four road averages. It could be a coincidence or it could be fans showing up to see the big paycheck talent.

The bottom five positions are also interesting. Toronto makes sense because they were not very good and Colorado is a team most people seem to forget about, so that explains their numbers, but KC, Houston and New England had quality sides this year (although KC fell to pieces toward the end). I know the difference in the numbers is minimal, but one would think Houston and New England as 2 of the best teams in the league with some well known players would have had better road attendance.

So there are the full attendance numbers for the 2007 regular season. What does it tell us? Maybe that people actually started tuning in a bit more and showing up, but we will need to see if this once a one time 'oh wow, Beckham is here' event or if the league can keep the growth going. With San Jose not really having a home pitch, KC still struggling to get noticed, and NY and NE still not packing them in even with strong play, next year might prove a bit difficult.

By the way, here are the season ending numbers from the USL-First Division (thanks to Lucas over at Nerdword)

Here are the numbers:

Team	HG	Total Att	Avg Att
Montreal Impact	14	154,497	11,036
Rochester Raging Rhinos	14	130,700	9,336
Portland Timbers	14	95,592	6,828
Vancouver Whitecaps	14	72,264	5,162
Carolina RailHawks	14	71,735	5,124
Puerto Rico Islanders	14	66,143	4,725
Charleston Battery	14	55,550	3,968
Seattle Sounders	14	46,545	3,325
Minnesota Thunder	14	44,110	3,151
Atlanta Silverbacks	14	36,003	2,572
California Victory	14	15,619	1,116
Miami FC	14	12,828	916