Take Me Out to the Ballgame – Week 10
The Week 10 numbers look like this…
| 5 year comparison | ||||||||
| Week 10 | 79 GP | YTD | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | GP | Avg | +/- | Avg | +/- | GP | |
| 2006 | 12,000 | 8 | 15,139 | 15,615 | 60 | |||
| 2007 | 16,317 | 35.97% | 6 | 15,212 | 0.48% | 15,248 | -2.35% | 65 |
| 2008 | 13,498 | -17.28% | 7 | 15,990 | 5.12% | 16,893 | 10.79% | 70 |
| 2009 | 13,779 | 2.09% | 7 | 14,708 | -8.01% | 15,005 | -11.17% | 75 |
| 2010 | 14,068 | 2.09% | 8 | 16,162 | 9.88% | 16,162 | 7.71% | 79 |
| YTD – 79 Games | ||||
| Average | Median | %<10K | %>20k | |
| 2006 | 15,139 | 13,612 | 19.23% | 14.10% |
| 2007 | 15,212 | 14,351 | 11.39% | 21.52% |
| 2008 | 15,990 | 14,919 | 13.92% | 26.58% |
| 2009 | 14,708 | 14,225 | 17.72% | 16.46% |
| 2010 | 16,162 | 13,611 | 12.66% | 22.78% |
Here are the attendance comparisons to 2009:
| MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games | |||||||
| 2009 | 2010 | ||||||
| Att | Cap % | Att | Att +/- | GP | Cap % | Cap | |
| Seattle | 29,468 | 90.95% | 36,113 | 22.55% | 6 | 101.73% | 35,500 |
| Philadelphia | NA | NA | 29,954 | NA | 2 | 78.83% | 18,500 |
| Toronto | 20,225 | 92.02% | 20,276 | 0.25% | 4 | 92.26% | 21,978 |
| LA Galaxy | 19,139 | 70.88% | 19,397 | 1.35% | 5 | 71.84% | 27,000 |
| N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls | 10,792 | 42.85% | 16,740 | 55.11% | 5 | 66.46% | 25,189 |
| Houston | 15,480 | 68.80% | 16,685 | 7.79% | 7 | 74.16% | 22,500 |
| Real Salt Lake | 14,629 | 66.58% | 15,077 | 3.06% | 5 | 77.96% | 19,340 |
| D.C. United | 14,816 | 65.85% | 14,635 | -1.22% | 6 | 65.05% | 22,500 |
| ChivasUSA | 14,555 | 53.91% | 14,501 | -0.37% | 5 | 53.71% | 27,000 |
| Chicago | 10,998 | 54.99% | 14,334 | 30.33% | 4 | 71.67% | 20,000 |
| Columbus Crew | 12,369 | 61.84% | 14,244 | 15.16% | 5 | 71.22% | 20,000 |
| Colorado Rapids | 12,410 | 68.61% | 12,404 | -0.04% | 4 | 68.58% | 18,086 |
| NE Revolution | 13,616 | 60.51% | 10,319 | -24.21% | 6 | 45.86% | 22,500 |
| KC Wizards | 9,431 | 90.81% | 9,840 | 4.33% | 5 | 94.75% | 10,385 |
| FC Dallas | 9,417 | 44.43% | 9,671 | 2.70% | 5 | 45.63% | 21,193 |
| San Jose | 11,028 | 43.86% | 9,654 | -12.46% | 5 | 93.73% | 10,300 |
My disclaimer about the capacity calculations
For my calculations, I’ve taken the 3 teams playing in Amercan football stadiums, DCU in RFK, Houston in Robertson and New England in Foxboro and assigned maximum capacities at 22,500. I took the 22,500 number from an approximate average of the soccer specific stadiums in use.
Observations
Chicago drew a so-so crowd, just over 12,500 for its midweek tilt vs Dallas. Columbus had a great turnout for the battle of the unbeatens, over 18,000. DC United saw just an average crowd of just over 13,000. The Revs crowd was a soft 11,316. Houston had over 13,500 show up in near 100 degree heat. Colorado sold out(18,166). Salt Lake had a decent showing of over 15,500 and San Jose came within 100 of selling out.
Rookie Watch: Tony Tchani made a terrific run to set up a goal in RBNY’s Open Cup play-in match. Irving Garcia of RBNY followed up his strong performance v Juventus with another good match v the Rapids in their Open Cup play-in. Michael Seamon scored for Seattle v Boca Jrs.
In league play: Michael Stephens got the game winner for the Galaxy. Zach Schilawski’s(Revs) goal in the RBNY/Revs match was also a game winner. Danny Mwanga scored the winning goal for the Union, his 2nd score in two games. Andy Najar scored for DCU. Then of course there was Tim Ream’s own goal.
| Week 10 Games | ||
| Chicago | 1 | Chicago Fire Confidential |
| FC Dallas | 1 | 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick |
| Columbus | 0 | Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra |
| Los Angeles | 2 | LA – Official Blog |
| DC United | 3 | DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider |
| Chivas USA | 2 | Chicago Fire Confidential |
| New England | 3 | Revolution Soccer |
| RBNY | 2 | Red Bulls Reader |
| Houston | 2 | Soccer y Fútbol – Jose de Jesus Ortiz |
| Philadelphia | 3 | Philadelphia Union Talk |
| Colorado | 1 | Undercurrent |
| Seattle | 0 | Seattle Times |
| Real Salt Lake | 4 | RSL – Behind the Shield |
| Kansas City | 1 | Kansas City – Hillcrest Road |
| San Jose | 1 | San Jose Center Line Soccer |
| Toronto | 3 | TFC Connected |
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GFA | GAA | PPG | PTS | GD | |
| Los Angeles | 11 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 2 | 1.64 | 0.18 | 2.64 | 29 | 16 |
| Columbus | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 8 | 1.56 | 0.89 | 2.22 | 20 | 6 |
| Real Salt Lake | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 21 | 11 | 2.10 | 1.10 | 1.90 | 19 | 10 |
| San Jose | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 10 | 1.44 | 1.11 | 1.78 | 16 | 3 |
| Houston | 11 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 16 | 13 | 1.45 | 1.18 | 1.45 | 16 | 3 |
| Colorado | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 1.11 | 0.78 | 1.78 | 16 | 3 |
| Toronto FC | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 15 | 14 | 1.50 | 1.40 | 1.60 | 16 | 1 |
| NY Red Bull | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 15 | 1.10 | 1.50 | 1.50 | 15 | -4 |
| Dallas | 10 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 11 | 1.10 | 1.10 | 1.20 | 12 | 0 |
| Seattle | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 0.82 | 1.27 | 1.09 | 12 | -5 |
| New England | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 17 | 1.18 | 1.55 | 1.00 | 11 | -4 |
| Chicago | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 13 | 1.33 | 1.44 | 1.11 | 10 | -1 |
| Chivas USA | 11 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 13 | 17 | 1.18 | 1.55 | 0.91 | 10 | -4 |
| Kansas City | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 13 | 1.00 | 1.44 | 0.89 | 8 | -4 |
| Philadelphia | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 17 | 1.25 | 2.13 | 0.88 | 7 | -7 |
| DC United | 10 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 20 | 0.70 | 2.00 | 0.60 | 6 | -13 |
Streaking
- TFC has not lost at home in 10 straight.
- TFC ended its 13 game road winless streak.
- RSL are unbeaten in their last 15 regular season home games.
- Los Angeles have yet to yield a goal on the road(6 games).
- Los Angeles has racked up 5 consecutive clean sheets.
MLS Throw Ins
- Los Angeles remains unbeaten, defeating Columbus this week.
- There have been 14 draws compared to 31 in ’09 thru the first 79 matches.
- There have been 48 clean sheets in the first 79 matches, counting scoreless draws as 2
- Through 79 games: goal scoring is slightly down from 2009, 2.56 vs 2.63.
- RSL has lost only twice in its last 34 home matches. They lost only once in ’08 and ’09, a feat matched by Houston.
Going to World Cup Camp
These are the MLS players that are heading to the World Cup. The last column represent the minimum number of games that will be played by their MLS teams during their absences. As of Friday May 28(15 days before the start of the tournament), each of the clubs receives $1600 per day per player from FIFA until one day after the last game played by their respective teams at the World Cup.
| On Provisional WC Rosters | ||
| Players | Team | 6/25 |
| Buddle, Donovan | LA | 4 |
| Bornstein | CHV | 3 |
| Findley | RSL | 4 |
| Espinoza | KC | 4 |
| Boyens | RBNY | 4 |
| Final Roster | ||
| 6/25 – End of WC Group Phase | ||
Getting Friendly
| This Week’s Friendlies | ||||
| Opponents | Venue | Date | Friendlies | Att |
| AC Milan v Chicago Fire | Toyota Park, Bridgeview, IL | Sun, May 30 | Club | 20,356 |
| Boca Jrs v Portland | PGE Park, Portland, OR | Sat, May 29 | Club | 14,106 |
| Turkey v USMNT | Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA | Sat, May 29 | Int’l | 55,407 |
| Boca Jrs v SEA | Qwest Field, Seattle, WA | Wed, May 26 | Club | 40,122 |
| AC Milan v DCU | RFK Stadium, Washington, DC | Wed, May 26 | Club | 30,367 |
| Czech Republic v USMNT | Rentschler Field, Hartford, CT | Tue, May 25 | Int’l | 36,218 |
| Juventus v Fiorentina | Rogers Centre, Toronto, CA | Tue, May 25 | Club | 21,122 |
| Turkey v N Ireland | Veterans Stadium, New Britain CT | Tue, May 25 | Int’l | 3,021 |
| total | 220,719 | |||
| average | 27,590 | |||
The MLS play-in matches for the Open are down to the final matches that will determine the teams that will join the top 6 league finishers in 2009. Seattle are the defending cup holders, and as such will compete in the 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League. RBNY grabbed one place with its win over the Rapids. DC United host RSL on June 2 for the other berth.
- Colorado Rapids defeated the Kansas City Wizards 2-1.
- Real Salt Lake beat the San Jose Earthquakes on PK’s 5-3 after playing to a 3-3 score.
- New York Red Bulls downed Philadelphia 2-1.
- DC United beat FC Dallas 4-2, the 2nd year in a row that DCU eliminates FCD.
- New York Red Bulls downed New England 3-0.
- New York Red Bulls beat Colorado 3-0 to claim one of the two play in spots. .
- DC United v RSL – June 2
The structure for the tourney has been finalized. Round 1 begins June 15, Round 2 June 22, Round 3(when the 8 MLS teams join in) June 29.
In case you were wondering, here is the World Cup schedule(June 11-July 11). Note that the latest start time(ET) is 2pm.
6 Responses to Take Me Out to the Ballgame – Week 10
The friendly numbers say it all. American’s love seeing the big names. We all should know it’s the best soccer when a touring club comes to town but the name attraction is huge. MLS has to find some way to translate the friendly numbers into fans in the stands for league play.
The crowd for the Fire v. FC Dallas game on Thursday is more impressive then you may think. It is extremely difficult to get to any sporting event in the area for a 7:00pm start with the local traffic and road construction.The casual fan will just not want to make the trip. Also, this was one league game between 3 big named friendly match-ups the Fire had. Given that is was a sandwich game a good number.
EPLNFL. Nice post.
I take a way more negative view however towards these friendlies.
One of two things have happened, outside of Seattle, the fans just don’t support soccer on a regular basis. So either they are never going to, or it is only going to be after MLS teams are as good as Barcelona.
The obvious point being, MLS teams wouldn’t be that far behind if they were supported. Maybe DC could draw like they did for AC Milan, they have won MLS Cup four times, 30k shouldn’t be to much of a stretch.
To the people that go to friendlies while not supporting in this country, nice job trying to hold back socccer in this country.
that should be “too much of a stretch”
BTW, I just don’t these “sellouts” ? Colorado announces the game as a “sell out”…there were thousands of empty seats ?
The number of rookies and second year players making a huge impact on their teams has to have you believing the league level of play is getting a lot better very quickly.
The idiots only going to friendlies are missing out.
Well last night there where a few seats to be seen. Those could of been season ticket holders that decided not to use the tickets.
I agree that the fans that just come out for the friendlies are missing the best of the action. Yet they may bring people out for the first time who will come back. Once you visit Toyota Park and take in the game experience you will want to come back, no matter who is playing. The committed fan who is buying the season ticket has to ask is it worth there money. Last night every season ticket holder was given the ticket so it was a easy decision. The Sister Cities Cup was only for full season ticket holders.
Actually typo is that it is not the best soccer when there is a friendly. so I agree with you. But they are big events. I have to say that the Fire are now regularly supported. A couple sellout crowds so far this year and we have not hit June yet. Fire attendance has to be considered good. It was not long ago that both the White Sox and Blackhawks would find the Fire crowds good for them.
The Fire are secure attendance wise. There is always room to grow and and you would like to see Toyota Park expand it’s capacity down the line a bit.