Take Me Out to the Ballgame – Week 16
After week 16 the numbers look like this…
| 5 year comparison | ||||||||
| WK 15 | 118 GP | YTD | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | GP | Avg | +/- | Avg | +/- | GP | |
| 2005 | 23,776 | 6 | 14,568 | 14,807 | 107 | |||
| 2006 | 13,158 | -44.66% | 6 | 14,724 | 1.07% | 14,632 | -1.18% | 106 |
| 2007 | 12,473 | -5.21% | 4 | 15,217 | 3.35% | 15,043 | 2.81% | 107 |
| 2008 | 14,475 | 16.05% | 5 | 16,565 | 8.86% | 16,878 | 12.19% | 111 |
| 2009 | 16,142 | 11.51% | 6 | 15,238 | -8.01% | 15,238 | -9.72% | 118 |
Here are the attendance comparisons to 2008′s equal number of home games(118):
| MLS Attendance Averages – Equal # of Home Games | |||||||
| 2008 | 2009 | ||||||
| Att | Cap | Att | Att +/- | GP | % of Cap | Cap | |
| Seattle | 0 | 0.00% | 29,715 | NA | 9 | 92.86% | 32,000 |
| Toronto | 20,144 | 91.66% | 20,288 | 0.71% | 10 | 92.31% | 21,978 |
| LA Galaxy | 25,348 | 93.88% | 19,292 | -23.89% | 9 | 71.45% | 27,000 |
| Real Salt Lake | 15,101 | 71.96% | 16,045 | 6.25% | 8 | 71.15% | 19,340 |
| Houston | 16,566 | 73.63% | 15,689 | -5.29% | 8 | 69.73% | 22,500 |
| ChivasUSA | 14,376 | 53.25% | 15,312 | 6.51% | 8 | 56.71% | 27,000 |
| D.C. United | 20,817 | 92.52% | 14,811 | -28.85% | 8 | 65.83% | 22,500 |
| Columbus Crew | 12,881 | 64.40% | 13,056 | 1.36% | 8 | 65.28% | 20,000 |
| Colorado Rapids | 14,017 | 77.50% | 13,045 | -6.93% | 7 | 72.13% | 18,086 |
| San Jose | 15,420 | 73.77% | 11,774 | -23.64% | 7 | 44.93% | 10,300 |
| Chicago | 16,440 | 82.20% | 11,726 | -28.67% | 6 | 58.63% | 20,000 |
| NE Revolution | 10,289 | 45.73% | 11,511 | 11.88% | 5 | 51.16% | 22,500 |
| N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls | 17,679 | 70.18% | 11,385 | -35.60% | 8 | 45.20% | 25,189 |
| KC Wizards | 9,596 | 92.40% | 9,789 | 2.01% | 8 | 94.26% | 10,385 |
| FC Dallas | 13,687 | 66.76% | 9,306 | -32.01% | 9 | 45.40% | 20,500 |
My disclaimer about the capacity calculations
For my calculations, I’ve taken the 4 teams playing in football stadiums, DCU in RFK, Houston in Robertson, New England in Foxboro, and RBNY in the Meadowlands and assigned maximum capacities as follows, DCU-22,500, Houston-22,500, New England-22,500 and RBNY-25189(the posted capacity of Red Bull Arena). I took the 22,500 from an approximate average of the soccer specific stadiums in use. Capacities have also been adjusted for the few games that were moved to larger venues, such as San Jose playing twice in Oakland Alameda Colliseum for 2 of it’s 7 matches in ‘08 and three times in ’09.
I’m now using 32,000 for Seattle’s capacity. Thier previous announced cap was 27,000. Since they haven’t drawn less than 28,000, I’ve recalculated all of the Sounders’ games to the new number.
Observations
Good crowds attended this week’s six matches as you would expect on the holiday weekend. The league averaged just over 16,100. A decent week, not a great one.
The week began with RSL hosting the Quakes before a good Friday night crowd of 17,400+. An OK turnout, nothing special saw Columbus host east leaders DC United. Colorado continued its tradition of July 4th attendance highs with its best turnout of the year. The Wizards played to capacity against west leaders Houston. LA welcomed the injury stricken Revs and a crowd of 20,609.
| YTD – 118 Games | ||||
| Average | Median | %<10K | %>20k | |
| 2005 | 14,568 | 12,043 | 31.36% | 16.95% |
| 2006 | 14,724 | 13,036 | 22.03% | 16.95% |
| 2007 | 15,217 | 14,130 | 11.02% | 22.03% |
| 2008 | 16,565 | 15,274 | 11.86% | 25.42% |
| 2009 | 15,238 | 14,406 | 14.41% | 16.95% |
| Week 16 Games | ||
| Real Salt Lake | 1 | Behind the Shield |
| San Jose | 1 | Center Line Soccer |
| Columbus | 1 | Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra |
| DC United | 1 | Soccer Insider – Steve Goff |
| Colorado | 1 | Undercurrent |
| Chicago | 2 | Chicago – Official Site |
| Kansas City | 0 | Hillcrest Road |
| Houston | 1 | Soccer y Fútbol – Barnard Fallas |
| FC Dallas | 2 | 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick |
| RBNY | 1 | Red Bulls Reader |
| Los Angeles | 1 | LA – 100 percent soccer |
| New England | 0 | New England – Official Site |
Gold Cup and MLS
| Gold Cup Rosters at CONCACAF | ||||
| Players, League Games Missed Due to Gold Cup Group Play | ||||
| Players | Opponent | |||
| 3-Jul | 4-Jul | 11-Jul | ||
| Chicago Fire | Busch, Pause, Segares(CRC) | Colorado | Columbus | |
| Chivas USA | Bornstein*, Kljestan* Thomas(JAM), Harmse(CAN) |
LA | ||
| Colorado Rapids | Clark, Perkins, Casey* Cummings(JAM), Ceus(HAI) |
Chicago | FCD | |
| Columbus Crew | Rogers, Marshall | DCU | Chicago | |
| DC United | Quaranta, Jakovic(CAN) | Columbus | ||
| FC Dallas | Cooper | RBNY | Colorado | |
| Houston Dynamo | Ching, Holden, Hainault(CAN) | KC | Seattle | |
| Kansas City Wizards | Arnaud, Conrad | Houston | NE | |
| Los Angeles Galaxy | Ricketts(JAM) | NE | Chivas USA | |
| New England Revolution | Heaps, Joseph(GRE)** | LA | KC | |
| RBNY | Pacheco(SLV), Richards(JAM) | FCD | ||
| Real Salt Lake | Beckerman, Johnson(CAN) Alexandre(HAI) |
SJ | ||
| San Jose Earthquakes | NONE | RSL | TFC | |
| Seattle Sounders FC | Evans, Marshall(JAM) | HOU | ||
| Toronto FC | Cronin, Gerba(CAN) | SJ | ||
* – Added when CONCACAF allowed the US to add 7 to the roster due to its participation in the Confederations Cup. These players will not travel with the team but are expected to join when the matches are geographically proximate.
** – Joseph in injured and didn’t play for club or country.
If I’ve missed anyone, hopefully our readers will let me know in the comment section.
This list encompasses the MLS matches that coincide with Gold Cup group play which ends on July 12. I will update the list as we go through the knock-out rounds.
Toronto’s new signing Gerba scored for Canada in its tuneup match and its Gold Cup opener.
Seattle’s new signing Gonzalez will join the Sounders after his participation in the Gold Cup for Costa Rica is completed.
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End of Week Thoughts
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Just Some Stuff
Chicago has a better record on the road than at home. They average 1 point per game at Toyota Park, 2 points per game away from home.
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals are on Tuesday, July 7. MLS teams DC United, Houston, Kansas City and Seattle will play. Seattle was off this week, DCU is off next week, so Houston and KC will be playing 3 matches in 8 days during the July 4-11 time period.
3 Responses to Take Me Out to the Ballgame – Week 16
Good stuff as usual.
One point however regarding Chicago: this is more of the same- last year was the same and the eventual undoing of Chicago.
Unlike most MLS managers, Dennis Hamlet is aggressive and plays to win on the road. At home thought they struggle. Look at how many times they stole 3 pts on the road last year only to come home and draw or even lose. The same has happened this season.
BTW, MLS isn’t alone in being affected by Gold Cup callups. Part of the reason I opted to skip Miami FC-Puerto Rico last night and watch the Gold Cup from home instead is that the Islanders were missing 3 starters/regulars thanks to the Gold Cup. MLS shouldn’t play period during a tournament like this (As I wrote two years ago MLS should break during Gold Cups but play during Confed and World Cups by scheduling smarter, like the league did during the 98 world cup when every team played basically every 10 days- the Gold Cup every two years is by far the largest drain on MLS players, more so than any other tournament) and USL should give a team the option to postpone a game if they have 3 or more callups as Puerto Rico has and I believe Vancouver may have also.
While Cummings was missed, the Rapids missed Colin Clark more. The Rapids had no width last night and were completely inept on the left side of the pitch. It was disappointing he did not make the bench in Seattle last night, because he was greatly missed in Colorado. Just one more example to justify the real drain the Gold Cup puts on MLS.
The Fire seem under Hamlet to be at it’s worst at home. I can’t seem to understand it and for 2 years now Hamlet hasn’t either. Kartik is correct that Hamlet plays to win on the road when many are happy to take a draw.
The most I have been able to detect over the last two years is that the team seems to play at a lower level until they get behind at home or that they put on a spurt and then sit back.