The Week 20 numbers look like this…
| 5 year comparison | ||||||||
| Week 20 | 154 GP | YTD | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | GP | Avg | +/- | Avg | +/- | GP | |
| 2006 | 17,497 | 7 | 15,233 | 15,449 | 128 | |||
| 2007 | 23,740 | 35.68% | 7 | 16,027 | 5.21% | 15,899 | 2.91% | 129 |
| 2008 | 13,907 | -41.42% | 4 | 16,484 | 2.85% | 17,230 | 8.37% | 132 |
| 2009 | 12,055 | -13.32% | 6 | 15,801 | -4.14% | 16,274 | -5.55% | 143 |
| 2010 | 14,620 | 21.28% | 9 | 16,612 | 5.13% | 16,604 | 2.03% | 154 |
| YTD – 154 Games | ||||
| Average | Median | %<10K | %>20k | |
| 2006 | 15,233 | 13,036 | 21.43% | 16.88% |
| 2007 | 16,027 | 14,623 | 9.74% | 23.38% |
| 2008 | 16,484 | 15,188 | 11.04% | 25.32% |
| 2009 | 15,801 | 14,525 | 14.29% | 19.48% |
| 2010 | 16,612 | 14,434 | 8.44% | 22.08% |
Here are the attendance comparisons to 2009:
| MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games | |||||||
| 2009 | 2010 | ||||||
| Att | Cap % | Att | Att +/- | GP | Cap % | Cap | |
| Seattle | 30,204 | 93.22% | 36,155 | 19.70% | 11 | 101.84% | 35,500 |
| Toronto | 20,267 | 92.21% | 20,510 | 1.20% | 10 | 93.32% | 21,978 |
| Philadelphia | NA | NA | 20,343 | NA | 9 | 89.09% | 18,500 |
| LA Galaxy | 19,292 | 71.45% | 20,319 | 5.32% | 9 | 75.26% | 27,000 |
| N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls | 12,487 | 49.57% | 17,425 | 39.54% | 10 | 69.18% | 25,189 |
| Houston | 15,538 | 69.06% | 16,878 | 8.62% | 10 | 75.01% | 22,500 |
| Real Salt Lake | 16,213 | 78.95% | 16,755 | 3.35% | 11 | 86.64% | 19,340 |
| Chicago | 12,839 | 64.19% | 15,664 | 22.01% | 8 | 78.32% | 20,000 |
| D.C. United | 15,887 | 70.61% | 14,702 | -7.46% | 10 | 65.34% | 22,500 |
| ChivasUSA | 16,211 | 60.04% | 14,268 | -11.99% | 9 | 52.84% | 27,000 |
| Columbus Crew | 13,114 | 65.57% | 13,984 | 6.63% | 10 | 69.92% | 20,000 |
| Colorado Rapids | 12,918 | 71.42% | 13,158 | 1.86% | 9 | 72.75% | 18,086 |
| NE Revolution | 14,188 | 63.06% | 11,814 | -16.73% | 10 | 52.51% | 22,500 |
| FC Dallas | 9,306 | 43.91% | 10,953 | 17.70% | 9 | 51.68% | 21,193 |
| KC Wizards | 10,019 | 96.47% | 10,082 | 0.63% | 10 | 97.08% | 10,385 |
| San Jose | 11,236 | 60.58% | 9,509 | -15.37% | 9 | 92.32% | 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.
- Philly’s first two home games were played at Lincoln Financial Field. The announced capacity for the Union was published as 38,000 and will be calculated as such.
- San Jose’s 4th match in 2009 was at Oakland Alameda Coliseum and drew over 15,800. Their 7th match was also at OAC and they drew over 17,100.
Observations
The week began in Philadelphia and New Jersey on Wednesday. The Union drew over 16,000 and RBNY pulled in over 19,000. The same two team had the early games on Saturday and again drew big crowds, over 17,700 in Philly and 25,000 at Red Bull Arena for the Galaxy. DC had a soft crowd of under 13,000 while New England had their usual poor turnout of just over 11,500. Salt Lake had just under 17,000 turn out for a match between the last 2 MLS Cup winners. I’m always disappointed when San Jose(and KC) don’t sell out in their small temporary homes. Only 8600+ saw the Quakes win. The weekend ended with Chivas USA drawing an ordinary sub 14,000.
Rookie Watch: Danny Mwanga scored for the Union in each of their games. Michael Stephens had a strong game for the Galaxy. Eric Alexander scored for Dallas.
Joel Lindpere, on my preseason ‘watch list’(bottom of post) scored for RBNY v TFC.
Week 20 Games Philadelphia 1 Philadelphia Union Talk Real Salt Lake 1 RSL – Behind the Shield RBNY 1 Red Bulls Reader Toronto 0 TFC Connected Philadelphia 1 Philadelphia Union Talk Colorado 1 Undercurrent RBNY 0 Red Bulls Reader Los Angeles 1 LA – Official Blog DC United 1 DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider FC Dallas 3 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick New England 1 Revolution Soccer Houston 0 Soccer y Fútbol – Jose de Jesus Ortiz Real Salt Lake 2 RSL – Behind the Shield Columbus 0 Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra San Jose 1 San Jose Center Line Soccer Kansas City 0 Kansas City – Hillcrest Road Chivas USA 0 Chicago Fire Confidential Seattle 0 Seattle Times GP W D L GF GA GFA GAA PPG PTS GD Los Angeles 20 13 4 3 32 13 1.60 0.65 2.15 43 19 Real Salt Lake 21 11 6 4 36 16 1.71 0.76 1.86 39 20 Columbus 20 11 4 5 28 19 1.40 0.95 1.85 37 9 Dallas 19 8 9 2 27 17 1.42 0.89 1.74 33 10 NY Red Bull 20 9 4 7 21 22 1.05 1.10 1.55 31 -1 Seattle 21 8 5 8 23 25 1.10 1.19 1.38 29 -2 Colorado 19 7 7 5 21 18 1.11 0.95 1.47 28 3 San Jose 18 7 5 6 21 20 1.17 1.11 1.44 26 1 Toronto FC 19 7 5 7 21 21 1.11 1.11 1.37 26 0 Chicago 16 5 6 5 21 21 1.31 1.31 1.31 21 0 New England 18 6 3 9 18 27 1.00 1.50 1.17 21 -9 Kansas City 19 5 5 9 15 22 0.79 1.16 1.05 20 -7 Houston 20 5 5 10 23 30 1.15 1.50 1.00 20 -7 Chivas USA 19 5 4 10 22 25 1.16 1.32 1.00 19 -3 Philadelphia 19 4 5 10 23 34 1.21 1.79 0.89 17 -11 DC United 20 3 3 14 13 35 0.65 1.75 0.60 12 -22
Streaking
- RSL are unbeaten in their last 21 regular season home games.
- Houston are winless in their last 10 games.
- DC United are winless in their last 8 games.
- Dallas are unbeaten in their last 10 games.
- Dallas are also unbeaten in their last 9 road games.
- Colorado are unbeaten in their last 6 home games.
- Toronto are unbeaten in their last 17 regular season home games(7 in ’09).
MLS Throw Ins
- LA is the only club to have earned more than 50% of its points on the road.
- There have been 40 draws compared to 49 in ’09 thru the first 154 matches.
- There have been 95 clean sheets in the first 154 matches, counting scoreless draws as 2.
- Through 145 games: goal scoring is down around 9.0% from 2009, 2.37 vs 2.60.
- RSL has lost only twice in its last 40 home matches. They lost only once in ’08 and ’09, a feat matched by Houston.
N.A. SuperLiga
The participants in the 2010 N.A. SuperLiga and their respective finishes in the last completed season are …
MLS FMF Houston 3 UNAM Pumas 4 Chicago 5 Monarchas Morelia 7 Chivas USA 6 Pachuca 8 New England 7 Puebla 13 N.A. SuperLiga Group A W D L Pts GD Houston 2 1 0 7 2 Puebla 2 0 1 6 2 Chivas USA 1 1 1 4 0 Pachuca 0 0 3 0 -5 Group B W D L Pts GD New England 3 0 0 9 3 Monarchas Morelia 1 1 1 4 3 Chicago 1 0 2 3 -4 UNAM Pumas 0 1 2 1 -2 N.A. SuperLiga Semifinals New England(1)(5) v Puebla(1)(3) Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA Wed, Aug 4 Houston(0) v Morelia(1) Robertson Stadium, Houston, TX Thu, Aug 5 SuperLiga after Semifinals Total Game Dates Average 2007 234,751 14 16,768 2008 186,148 14 13,296 2009 86,948 11 7,904 2010 118,298 12 9,858 3 Doubleheaders in 2009 – 2 in 2010 New England will attempt to win its 2nd SuperLiga title on Sept 1 at Gillette Stadium.
Four MLS clubs will play in the group phase of the 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League. RSL and Columbus earned automatic berths as the MLS Cup and Supporters Shield winners. Toronto FC won the Canadien Nutrilite Championship and then won their preliminary contest vs Motagua of Honduras. Seattle won the L.H. U.S. Open Cup and also won their preliminary vs Isidro Metapan of El Salvador, while the Galaxy(MLS Cup runners-up) were unable to overcome their thrashing at home by giant killers Puerto Rico, representing the Caribbean Football Union. The group phase begins play on Aug 17.
Group play begins this week. The matches with MLS teams are(home team listed first) …
- Aug 17 – Toronto v Cruz Azul
- Aug 18 – Columbus v Municipal
- Aug 18 – Real Salt Lake v Arabe Unido
- Aug 19 – Marathón v Seattle
The winner will compete in the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League.
In the semifinals, Columbus will play DC United on Sept 1, 7:30 p.m. ET @ RFK Stadium, Wash, DC and Seattle will play ChivasUSA on Sept 1, 10 p.m. ET @ Starfire Sports Complex, Tukwila, WA.
The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup structure
Congestion
You can decide if fixture congestion has had an effect so far. Of the clubs that participated in multiple non-league competitions, only Seattle and Toronto have not been bounced out yet. LA crashed out of the CCL and US Open Cup. Chicago and Houston lost in the N.A. SuperLiga and the US Open Cup. Chivas USA lost in SuperLiga but are in the US Open Cup semifinals. New England lost in the US Open Cup but are in the N.A. SuperLiga final. Columbus and RSL have the automatic berths in the group phase of the CCL, but RSL lost in the US Open Cup while Columbus are in the semifinals. It’s a matter for discussion as to whether Seattle had tougher go than Toronto vis-a-vis the Canadien Nutrilite Championship vs the US Open Cup being injected into their schedules.
TFC and Seattle have the longest stretches without a full week between games. Seattle and RSL have no league matches between their first two CCL games, which makes sense as they are the only two MLS teams that have played 21 games. Seattle however will have to remain very sharp as they have a slim lead over playoff contenders, all of whom have games in hand. Columbus, coming off a tough loss to RSL, have the toughest period coming up.
Fixture Congestion for MLS Teams TFC SEA CLB RSL NE 7/24/10 MLS 7/25/10 MLS 7/27/10 CCL 7/28/10 CCL 7/31/10 MLS MLS 8/1/10 8/3/10 CCL CCL 8/4/10 8/5/10 8/7/10 MLS MLS 8/8/10 MLS 8/11/10 MLS MLS 8/14/10 MLS MLS MLS MLS 8/17/10 CCL MLS 8/18/10 CCL CCL 8/19/10 CCL 8/21/10 MLS MLS MLS 8/24/10 CCL CCL 8/25/10 CCL CCL 8/28/10 MLS MLS MLS MLS MLS 8/29/10 9/1/10 USOC USOC SL 9/4/10 MLS MLS MLS Days 36 42 22 22 22 Games 10 11 7 6 6 Days/Game 3.6 3.8 3.1 3.7 3.7 CCL=CONCACAF Champions League – SL=N.A. SuperLiga – USOC=US Open Cup
As heavy as ths schedule has been, the game overloads have just started for the Sounders, Toronto and some of the other teams. Twice a week is going to be the norm, rather than the exception from here on out.
Streaking: Sounders are undefeated since Ljungberg was benched/traded.
9 games….and counting.
I think you have the MLS and CCL dates for the Sounders mixed up. the 25th is the CCL date and the 28th is MLS.
never mind. you have it correct. I was looking at July! lol
MLS Talk is slowing down on postings. So many games have been featured and no updates.
Maybe we will see it pick up now that Donovan is not going to Europe.
Would be nice if instead of writing about how they hope he will leave they would write about the dream…..Him (and many other VERY good players I assume they want to leave too ) playing here…in OUR league.
I saw that many are predicting 3 MLS teams to make the final 8 in CCL. Hopefully my Sounders can make it to make it four.
Yeahhhhhhhhhh no.
MLS is going nowhere in the CCL (TFC being one of them). They’re just not good enough to compete and win it all. RSL is most likely to win the whole thing but I don’t see them being any Mexican side.
Well since Toronto and Salt Lake are in the same group, they would have to beat out a Mexican team to get four teams in the final 8.
Aside from that, 3 MLS teams could make the final eight without even as much as a tie versus a Mexican team in the group stages.
Yeah there’s no way TFC is going to beat one of the Mexican Clubs…. wait what?
When I read this, I didn’t realize they already had.
Sweeet victory. I hope the BMO field was rocking !
I…..I can’t believe we won. It was so beautiful.
Why do we rock at home and suck so bad away?
RSL has a favorable schedule concerning CCL. J Kreis has said we’re playing to win CCL, so I expect a pretty strong squad on 8/18 and our best 11 on 8/25.
Am so pleased to see the comments on the CCL. I wrote about the importance of the competition several times last year and barely got a peep in the comments. This response is terrific(and the post wasn’t even about CCL).
I’m hoping this year is the start of a run of MLS clubs making it to the finals for several years running. I think that will send some talented young Central American players to MLS instead of the Mexican league.
N.Y./N.J? really?
I guess I was wrong, now that Donovan isn’t going to Europe there are no posts….at all.
I can get things started. Pro/rel is the dumbest idea in sports and business and both….too easy….how about:
I agree with you Peter C. The Euroidiots will never admit it, but when the top 4 or 5 teams in MLS, which are barely above the MLS average, can compete with the top teams in Mexico, we will have ourselves one VERY good league.
Looking forward to the game tomorrow.
Where are those Everton homers ? The ones that wree arguing they might win EPL ?
I just read this while looking at NFL odds:
“A title-winning season for Liverpool’s club rival Everton is currently the worst case scenerio for Paddy Power, although at 150-1 the company is “quite comfortable with that” Hines said.”
They are 150-1 and the neutral bookie is STILL betting against them !!!
What would it take for them to get back to neutral 2000-1 ?!?!
Blackpool are right in the mix to win it all!!!!!