Take Me Out to the Ballgame – Week 18
After week 18 the numbers look like this…
| 5 year comparison | ||||||||
| WK 15 | 130 GP | YTD | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | GP | Avg | +/- | Avg | +/- | GP | |
| 2005 | 8,365 | 2 | 15,023 | 14,568 | 118 | |||
| 2006 | 11,399 | 36.28% | 7 | 15,558 | 3.56% | 14,549 | -0.13% | 120 |
| 2007 | 15,894 | 39.43% | 6 | 15,853 | 1.89% | 15,024 | 3.26% | 117 |
| 2008 | 13,013 | -18.13% | 6 | 16,542 | 4.35% | 16,939 | 12.75% | 122 |
| 2009 | 16,634 | 27.83% | 6 | 15,490 | -6.36% | 15,490 | -8.55% | 130 |
Here are the attendance comparisons to 2008′s equal number of home games(130):
| MLS Attendance Averages – Equal # of Home Games | |||||||
| 2008 | 2009 | ||||||
| Att | Cap | Att | Att +/- | GP | Cap | Cap | |
| Seattle | 0 | 0.00% | 29,984 | NA | 10 | 93.70% | 32,000 |
| Toronto | 20,173 | 91.79% | 20,278 | 0.52% | 11 | 92.26% | 21,978 |
| LA Galaxy | 25,348 | 93.88% | 19,292 | -23.89% | 9 | 71.45% | 27,000 |
| ChivasUSA | 14,286 | 52.91% | 16,211 | 13.48% | 9 | 60.04% | 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 |
| D.C. United | 20,133 | 89.48% | 15,193 | -24.53% | 9 | 67.53% | 22,500 |
| NE Revolution | 16,584 | 73.71% | 13,242 | -20.15% | 7 | 58.85% | 22,500 |
| Columbus Crew | 12,881 | 64.40% | 13,041 | 1.24% | 9 | 65.20% | 20,000 |
| Chicago | 16,667 | 83.34% | 12,839 | -22.97% | 8 | 64.19% | 20,000 |
| N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls | 17,385 | 69.02% | 12,702 | -26.94% | 9 | 50.43% | 25,189 |
| Colorado Rapids | 14,612 | 80.79% | 12,431 | -14.93% | 8 | 68.73% | 18,086 |
| San Jose | 16,752 | 85.56% | 11,513 | -31.28% | 8 | 47.54% | 10,300 |
| 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
Observations
Week 18 opened with the much balleyhoo’d return of David Beckham to the LA Galaxy as they visited the Red Bulls in the media center of the country.
RBNY’s overall average was raised by their largest crowd of the year. What, however shall we glean from the numbers in camparison? In 2007 this match drew 66,237(Aug 18), in 2008 46,754(Jul 19). Thursday’s attendance: 23,238.
Toronto had its usual full house for Houston’s visit. The DCU/Rapids, Columbus/RSL and Chicago/SJ games were played directly opposite the USMNT Gold Cup Quarterfinal match. DCU and Chicago drew above their YTD averages while Columbus came close to its average. The week’s league play culminated with a modest 10,997 in a late Sunday afternoon match at Foxboro. All told, a decent week averaging over 16,600.
Seattle filled the house, over 65,000, to see its friendly vs Chelsea FC.
| YTD – 130 Games | ||||
| Average | Median | %<10K | %>20k | |
| 2005 | 15,023 | 12,167 | 30.00% | 16.15% |
| 2006 | 15,558 | 12,979 | 22.31% | 17.69% |
| 2007 | 15,853 | 14,235 | 10.77% | 23.08% |
| 2008 | 16,542 | 15,324 | 11.54% | 26.15% |
| 2009 | 15,490 | 14,479 | 14.62% | 19.23% |
| Week 18 Games | ||
| RBNY | 1 | Red Bulls Reader |
| Los Angeles | 3 | LA – 100 percent soccer |
| Toronto | 1 | TFC Connected |
| Houston | 1 | Soccer y Fútbol – Barnard Fallas |
| DC United | 3 | DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider |
| Colorado | 1 | Undercurrent |
| Columbus | 3 | Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra |
| Real Salt Lake | 1 | RSL – Behind the Shield |
| Chicago | 2 | Chicago – En Fuego Official Blog |
| San Jose | 0 | Center Line Soccer |
| New England | 2 | Revolution Soccer |
| Chivas USA | 0 | Chivas USA – MLSNet |
Gold Cup and MLS
| Players, League Games Missed Due to Gold Cup Semifinal and Final Matches | ||||
| Players | Opponent | |||
| 16-Jul | 18-Jul | 25-Jul | ||
| Chicago Fire | Busch, Pause. Segares(CRC) | SJ | SEA | |
| Chivas USA | Bornstein*, Kljestan* Harmse(CAN)** |
NE | ||
| Colorado Rapids | Clark, Perkins, Casey* Ceus(HAI)** |
DCU | RBNY | |
| Columbus Crew | Rogers, Marshall | RSL | TFC | |
| DC United | Quaranta, Jakovic(CAN)** | Colorado | SJ | |
| FC Dallas | Cooper | RSL | ||
| Houston Dynamo | Ching, Holden, Hainault(CAN)** | TFC | NE | |
| Kansas City Wizards | Arnaud, Conrad | LA | ||
| Los Angeles Galaxy | NONE | RBNY | KC | |
| New England Revolution | Heaps | Chivas USA | HOU | |
| RBNY | NONE | LA | NE | |
| Real Salt Lake | Beckerman, Johnson(CAN)** Alexandre(HAI)** |
Columbus | FCD | |
| San Jose Earthquakes | NONE | Chicago | DCU | |
| Seattle Sounders FC | Evans | Chicago | ||
| Toronto FC | Cronin, Gerba(CAN)** | HOU | CLB | |
* – Added when CONCACAF allowed the US to add 7 to the roster due to its participation in the Confederations Cup. With Adu, Davies, Cherundolo, Feilhaber and Parkhurst returning to their clubs in Europe, more MLS’ers will be on the field for the USMNT.
** – xxx eliminated this week.
Casey, Bornstein and Kljestan were with their clubs this weekend. We’ll have to see if they get called for the semifinal on Thursday.
If I’ve missed anyone, hopefully our readers will let me know in the comment section.
Naturally the column for the games on the 25th is for those that win the semis on the 23rd.
With Canada eliminated, Toronto will welcome new signing Gerba who scored for Canada in its pre Gold Cup tuneup match and in 2 Gold Cup matches.
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End of Week Thoughts
Streaking
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Just Some Stuff
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinals are on Tuesday, July 21. The USL-1 Rochester Rhinos meet defending champions D.C. United at the Maryland Soccerplex in Boyds, MD. The other semi features Houston at Seattle at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, WA.
7 Responses to Take Me Out to the Ballgame – Week 18
A rare but necessary home win for the Fire. Not a bad crowd given the conflict with USMNT, McBride injury, poor weather, and a the Gold Cup Semi-final drawing $$$$$ off this Thursday. Even more impressive was that Blanco sat on the bench for Chicago until the 2nd half. With both big names out the Fire played even until Blanco was put in. The Fire have great depth and sometimes you get the impression they wait for pure talent to take over and lack effort. They have seemed to play quite well when they know a star is out and and a big effort is needed by all.
Given the economy and the other soccer available both in person and on tv and the web MLS is not bad. With the increased media attention soccer has become a front page story in sports this summer. Increased coverage will follow especially as the economy picks up. A few more big houses can be expected with the Beckham effect over the next few weeks.
All in all a good time for the MLS in my book.
Front page story? Hahahaha! You wish. The game is still irrelevant in the usa and always will be. Get a clue
Hey Footyfan…so irrelevant that you are on an MLS blog throwing out stupid comments for what. So you can bask in your hard headed closed minded thoughts. Hate to break it to you but soccer in America is here to stay and is only going to get stronger and better as this country becomes more and more diverse. The MLS will get more teams and hopefully open up the checkbook a little bit but not to fast.
Footyfan, I could say something clever like if you could read you would know the headline story the US Men’s team has made, but I’m bigger then that. So, I’ll ask instead what deep seated fear do you have about the achievement of soccer in the United States at all levels. Why must you go to bed each night hoping for the MLS to fail and the USMNT not to reach the World Cup. Why does the Stars and Stripes becoming a socer power make your stomach turn so much.
Answering those questions may find the way to happiness in your life.
Well said.
KC also misses Espinoza of Honduras.
Looking at those attendance numbers it’s even more obvious what a foolish move it was to pull out of Florida after 2001. You have to go more than halfway up the list to DC at over 15,000 per game to find numbers that aren’t just marginally better than what the Fusion were pulling in in 2001. And the Fusion were just starting to really gain support and grow the fan base. In the 8 seasons since then, probably a few a which would have included titles from the Ray Hudson led team, you know we’d be getting AT LEAST 15K down here. Bring MLS back to us Garber!!