Take Me Out to the Ballgame – Week 19
An abbreviated post due to my being on the road.
After week 19 the numbers look like this…
| 5 year comparison | ||||||||
| WK 15 | 137 GP | YTD | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | GP | Avg | +/- | Avg | +/- | GP | |
| 2005 | 13,291 | 6 | 14,799 | 14,506 | 124 | |||
| 2006 | 92,650 | 597.11% | 1 | 15,564 | 5.17% | 15,194 | 4.74% | 121 |
| 2007 | 25,407 | -72.58% | 5 | 15,966 | 2.58% | 15,449 | 1.68% | 122 |
| 2008 | 18,584 | -26.85% | 6 | 16,524 | 3.50% | 17,147 | 10.99% | 128 |
| 2009 | 16,846 | -9.35% | 7 | 15,559 | -5.84% | 15,559 | -9.26% | 137 |
Here are the attendance comparisons to 2008′s equal number of home games(137):
| MLS Attendance Averages – Equal # of Home Games | |||||||
| 2008 | 2009 | ||||||
| Att | Cap | Att | Att +/- | GP | Cap | Cap | |
| Seattle | 0 | 0.00% | 30,204 | NA | 11 | 94.39% | 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 |
| Real Salt Lake | 15,412 | 74.09% | 16,353 | 6.11% | 9 | 73.69% | 19,340 |
| ChivasUSA | 14,286 | 52.91% | 16,211 | 13.48% | 9 | 60.04% | 27,000 |
| Houston | 16,234 | 72.15% | 15,632 | -3.71% | 9 | 69.48% | 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 | 13,681 | 68.40% | 13,114 | -4.14% | 10 | 65.57% | 20,000 |
| Colorado Rapids | 14,171 | 78.36% | 12,918 | -8.85% | 9 | 71.42% | 18,086 |
| 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 |
| San Jose | 15,986 | 86.19% | 11,236 | -29.71% | 9 | 49.56% | 10,300 |
| KC Wizards | 9,596 | 92.40% | 10,024 | 4.46% | 9 | 96.52% | 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 19 opened on Friday with RSL moving up to 4th in average attendance on the strength of a big crowd for FCD’s visit. The other six matches were on Saturday. Seattle filled the house again as they played the league’s best road team, Chicago to a draw. Columbus claimed the Trillium Cup against TFC. Houston drew a soft crowd as they lost their first home match this season against ’06 and ’07 MLS Cup opponents New England. KC played to capacity for Beck’s visit, although unlike the previous 2 seasons, the match was at Community America Ballpark as opposed to Arrowhead stadium. The Rockies has a nice turnout of over 16,800. Finally San Jose did not sell out for its match vs DC United. All told, a decent week averaging over 16,800.
Seattle filled the house, over 65,000, to see its friendly vs Chelsea FC.
| YTD – 137 Games | ||||
| Average | Median | %<10K | %>20k | |
| 2005 | 14,799 | 12,101 | 30.66% | 15.33% |
| 2006 | 15,564 | 13,056 | 21.17% | 18.25% |
| 2007 | 15,966 | 14,351 | 10.22% | 23.36% |
| 2008 | 16,524 | 15,276 | 11.68% | 25.55% |
| 2009 | 15,559 | 14,516 | 14.60% | 18.98% |
| Week 19 Games | ||
| Real Salt Lake | 4 | RSL – Behind the Shield |
| FC Dallas | 2 | 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick |
| Seattle | 0 | Seattle Times |
| Chicago | 0 | Chicago – En Fuego Official Blog |
| Columbus | 3 | Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra |
| Toronto | 2 | TFC Connected |
| Kansas City | 1 | Kansas City – Hillcrest Road |
| Los Angeles | 1 | LA – Official Blog |
| Houston | 0 | Soccer y Fútbol – Barnard Fallas |
| New England | 1 | Revolution Soccer |
| RBNY | 0 | Red Bulls Reader |
| Colorado | 4 | Colorado – Undercurrent |
| San Jose | 2 | San Jose Center Line Soccer |
| DC United | 2 | DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider |
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 before final.
If I’ve missed anyone, hopefully our readers will let me know in the comment section.
======
Just Some Stuff
The finalists for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup are DC United and Seattle. DCU looks to defend its crown while the Sounders are looking for their first hardware as an MLS club.
6 Responses to Take Me Out to the Ballgame – Week 19
I think one of the reasons attendance is down in many places is because of the cost of tickets. Even in Houston, where we are blessed with a good team, the cheapest non-season ticket is $20 per person. So, a family of 4, with parking, and no concessions (not realistic, I know) is looking at spending $90 just to get in the door. I know that the clubs need to make money, and it’s a catch-22, but there has to be a way to make this equation work out.
Are you kidding me? $20 is amazing compared to any other professional sporting event in the States. It is expensive only compared to little league. Taking your whole family to see an NFL game would cost you hundreds, especially if you want half decent seats. Maybe you just just stay home and watch on tv?
Yeah, $20 is fantastic! I would pay more honestly. Players make peanuts, play like they love the game ( usually ). Come on. Good product.
It would be interesting to see a breakdown of USL-1, USL-2, & PDL attendances this season too. $20 is a relatively cheap ticket price, especially compared to MLB. Last time I was in Houston we planned to see the Astros, but the tickets were nuts $22 for mediocre 300 level seats & $39+ for decent seats this year. $20 for soccer at Robertson is a good deal; not really a bad seat in the house.
Regarding ticket prices: 20 bucks is too much for the talent on the field. When you pay 20 bucks to go to a MLB game, you are seeing the best baseball players. For the same price, you are not coming close to that talent level in MLS. Here is a league that is paying the players minimum, but ticket prices are comparable to other sports, where top talent is on display. The Galaxy are charging $20 and $15 to park. So, if they pack in 15,000 fans, they actually sold 20,000 tickets when you account for parking prices. Management is simply extracting as much as possible from each customer, which, in theory, is fine. But, when you compare prices from tickets to parking, MLS fans are being ripped off, talent-wise.
I would say $20 is a little high, considering parking and concessions.