The Week 23 numbers look like this…
| 5 year comparison | ||||||||
| Week 23 | 177 GP | YTD | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | GP | Avg | +/- | Avg | +/- | GP | |
| 2006 | 11,814 | 10 | 15,158 | 15,139 | 153 | |||
| 2007 | 17,413 | 47.39% | 7 | 16,522 | 9.00% | 16,019 | 5.82% | 151 |
| 2008 | 19,222 | 10.39% | 6 | 16,472 | -0.30% | 17,121 | 6.88% | 154 |
| 2009 | 16,665 | -13.31% | 9 | 15,749 | -4.39% | 16,737 | -2.25% | 164 |
| 2010 | 14,748 | -11.50% | 8 | 16,543 | 5.04% | 16,543 | -1.16% | 178 |
| YTD – 178 Games | ||||
| Average | Median | %<10K | %>20k | |
| 2006 | 15,158 | 13,452 | 20.22% | 16.85% |
| 2007 | 16,522 | 15,046 | 8.43% | 26.97% |
| 2008 | 16,472 | 15,188 | 11.24% | 25.28% |
| 2009 | 15,749 | 14,525 | 16.29% | 19.66% |
| 2010 | 16,543 | 14,434 | 7.30% | 22.47% |
Here are the attendance comparisons to 2009:
| MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games | |||||||
| 2009 | 2010 | ||||||
| Att | Cap % | Att | Att +/- | GP | Cap % | Cap | |
| Seattle | 30,412 | 93.87% | 36,174 | 18.94% | 12 | 101.90% | 35,500 |
| Toronto | 20,288 | 92.31% | 20,688 | 1.97% | 12 | 94.13% | 21,978 |
| LA Galaxy | 19,379 | 71.78% | 20,298 | 4.74% | 10 | 75.18% | 27,000 |
| Philadelphia | NA | NA | 20,027 | NA | 10 | 89.41% | 18,500 |
| N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls | 12,229 | 48.55% | 17,828 | 45.79% | 11 | 70.78% | 25,189 |
| Real Salt Lake | 16,091 | 78.74% | 16,952 | 5.35% | 12 | 87.65% | 19,340 |
| Houston | 15,938 | 70.84% | 16,895 | 6.01% | 12 | 75.09% | 22,500 |
| Chicago | 13,724 | 68.62% | 16,044 | 16.90% | 10 | 80.22% | 20,000 |
| Columbus Crew | 13,714 | 68.57% | 14,384 | 4.89% | 12 | 71.92% | 20,000 |
| D.C. United | 15,542 | 69.07% | 14,271 | -8.17% | 12 | 63.43% | 22,500 |
| ChivasUSA | 16,107 | 59.65% | 14,093 | -12.50% | 10 | 52.20% | 27,000 |
| Colorado Rapids | 12,771 | 70.61% | 12,749 | -0.17% | 11 | 70.49% | 18,086 |
| NE Revolution | 13,221 | 58.76% | 12,070 | -8.71% | 12 | 53.64% | 22,500 |
| FC Dallas | 9,229 | 43.55% | 10,811 | 17.15% | 11 | 51.01% | 21,193 |
| KC Wizards | 10,010 | 96.39% | 10,109 | 0.99% | 11 | 97.34% | 10,385 |
| San Jose | 11,104 | 62.65% | 9,638 | -13.21% | 10 | 93.57% | 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. Their 11th was part of a doubleheader with Barcelona and drew over 61,500.
Observations
Philadelphia drew over 17,000, but still can’t win at home. The Rapids’ run to the playoffs means nothing in Denver. Only 10,300+ showing up as owner Stan Kroenke bought the St. Louis NFL Rams. LA is still a big draw as over 21,000 were at Toyota Park for the Fire match. DC United’s performance is now really showing at the gate as only 12,000 came out for the Crew. A typical Revs crowd of 13,100+ were at Gillette. Dallas, same as Colorado. Despite their fantasic season, only 10,033 came out to PHP. Not the case in Sandy, UT as 19,100 turned out for the Thierry Henry road show. A decent, but sub-par turnout in Houston of just over 15,000.
Rookie Watch: No rookie scorers this week. Can’t speak to performances as I have company visiting and couldn’t watch any of the matches.
Week 23 Games Philadelphia 1 Philadelphia Union Talk Kansas City 1 Kansas City – Hillcrest Road Colorado 3 Undercurrent Chivas USA 0 Chicago Fire Confidential Chicago 1 Chicago Fire Confidential Los Angeles 1 LA – Official Blog DC United 0 DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider Columbus 1 Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra New England 3 Revolution Soccer Seattle 1 Seattle Times FC Dallas 1 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick Toronto 0 TFC Connected Real Salt Lake 1 RSL – Behind the Shield RBNY 0 Red Bulls Reader Houston 1 Soccer y Fútbol – Jose de Jesus Ortiz San Jose 2 San Jose Center Line Soccer GP W D L GF GA GFA GAA PPG PTS GD Los Angeles 23 13 5 5 33 17 1.43 0.74 1.91 44 16 Columbus 23 13 5 5 32 20 1.39 0.87 1.91 44 12 Real Salt Lake 23 12 7 4 37 16 1.61 0.70 1.87 43 21 Dallas 22 10 10 2 29 17 1.32 0.77 1.82 40 12 NY Red Bull 23 11 4 8 27 24 1.17 1.04 1.61 37 3 Colorado 22 9 7 6 28 21 1.27 0.95 1.55 34 7 San Jose 21 9 5 7 24 23 1.14 1.10 1.52 32 1 Seattle 23 9 5 9 26 29 1.13 1.26 1.39 32 -3 Kansas City 22 7 6 9 22 24 1.00 1.09 1.23 27 -2 Toronto FC 22 7 6 9 22 26 1.00 1.18 1.23 27 -4 Chicago 20 6 7 7 28 29 1.40 1.45 1.25 25 -1 New England 22 7 3 12 24 36 1.09 1.64 1.09 24 -12 Houston 23 6 5 12 28 38 1.22 1.65 1.00 23 -10 Chivas USA 22 6 4 12 23 29 1.05 1.32 1.00 22 -6 Philadelphia 22 5 6 11 26 38 1.18 1.73 0.95 21 -12 DC United 23 4 3 16 15 37 0.65 1.61 0.65 15 -22 Well, suddenly we have a 4 team race for the Supporters’ Shield. Next weekend Columbus visits LA. Chicago has 3 games in hand over Seattle, who is in the last playoff position, and trails by 7 points. But they’ll also have to leapfrog Kansas City and Toronto.
Streaking
- RSL are unbeaten in their last 22 regular season home games.
- Dallas are unbeaten in their last 13 games.
- Dallas are also unbeaten in their last 10 road games, an MLS record.
- Colorado are unbeaten in their last 8 home games.
- Houston are winless in their last 8 road games. And they’ve been scoreless in their last 4 road games.
- New England are winless in their last 8 road games.
MLS Throw Ins
- LA is the only club to have earned more than 50% of its points on the road.
- There have been 44 draws compared to 53 in ’09 thru the first 178 matches.
- There have been 110 clean sheets in the first 178 matches, counting scoreless draws as 2.
- Through 178 games: goal scoring is down around 6.8% from 2009, 2.38 vs 2.56.
- RSL has lost only twice in its last 41 home matches. They lost only once in ’08 and ’09, a feat matched by Houston.
- DC United have yielded 14 goals in the last 15 minutes.
- Dallas have not given up more than 1 goal since April 22.
- San Jose has gone from one the worst allowing late goals in ’09 to the 3rd stingiest in ’10(as a percentage of total goals allowed).
N.A. SuperLiga
Monarchas Morelia beat the New England Revs to win the 2010 N.A. SuperLiga. Below are the final attendance numbers for the tourney.
SuperLiga Totals Total Game Dates Average 2007 247,251 15 16,483 2008 195,380 15 13,025 2009 114,163 12 9,514 2010 128,712 13 9,901 Doubleheaders in meant
3 fewer separate game dates
After a good showing for MLS in the first group phase matches, they pulled an oh-for four in the 2nd round.
- Aug 17 — Toronto 2 Cruz Azul 1
- Aug 18 — Columbus 1 Municipal 0
- Aug 18 — Real Salt Lake 2 Arabe Unido 1
- Aug 19 — Marathón 2 Seattle 1
- Aug 24 – Arabe Unido 1 Toronto 0
- Aug 24 – Santos Laguna 1 Columbus 0
- Aug 25 – Cruz Azul 5 Real Salt Lake 4
- Aug 25 – Seattle 0 Monterrey 2
Group play continues in two weeks. The matches with MLS teams are(home team listed first) …
- Sep 14 — Columbus v Joe Public
- Sep 14 — Saprissa v Seattle
- Sep 15 — Real Salt Lake v Toronto
- Sep 21 — Columbus v Santos Laguna
- Sep 21 — Cruz Azul v Toronto
- Sep 22 — Arabe Unido v Real Salt Lake
- Sep 22 — Monterrey v Seattle
CONCACAF Champions League Group Phase Group A Arabe Unido RSL Cruz Azul Toronto Home Arabe Unido(PAN) X 0 0 501 501 RSL(USA) 10,626 X 0 0 10,626 Cruz Azul(MEX) 0 6,156 X 0 6,156 Toronto(CAN) 0 0 16,862 X 16,862 Away 10,626 6,156 16,862 501 Group B Columbus Municipal Santos Laguna Joe Public Home Columbus(USA) X 5,745 0 0 5,745 Municipal(GUA) 0 X 0 2,498 2,498 Santos Laguna(MEX) 4,700 0 X 0 4,700 Joe Public(T&T) 900 0 0 X 900 Away 2,800 5,745 0 2,498 Group C Monterrey Saprissa Seattle Marathón Home Monterrey(MEX) X 12,042 0 0 12,042 Saprissa(CRC) 0 X 0 2,899 2,899 Seattle(USA) 22,513 0 X 0 22,513 Marathón(HON) 0 0 1,990 X 1,990 Away 22,513 12,042 1,990 2,899 Group D Toluca Olimpia Puerto Rico FAS Home Toluca(MEX) X 0 0 0 0 Olimpia(HON) 0 X 0 0 0 Puerto Rico(CFU) 0 2,632 X 2,050 2,341 FAS(SLV) 3,500 0 0 X 3,500 Away 3,500 2,632 0 2,050 No Report on the Toluca/Olimpia match
The winner will compete in the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League.
In the semifinals, Columbus defeated DC United and Seattle beat ChivasUSA. Seattle, the defending champion, will host the final at Qwest Field on Tuesday, October 5.
The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup structure
Eric, you will be missed.
Related posts:
Last year’s crazy tight playoff race has been replaced by this years “only a few care” year.
Figure Dallas, Salt Lake, Columbus and LA are in. With NY needing a total collapse to not get in.
Figure New England and the 4 teams below them, need to win 6 games to make it ( out of 8 or so game, not likely ). That leaves 6 teams vying for 3 spots.
In case you think it is going to be boring for the whole league.
( Not likely, THIS IS MLS ! )
Seattle and San Jose, the bubble teams, both play ALL three of the wannabe playoff teams, Chicago, Toronto and KC in their remaining games.
Colorado, plays Salt Lake twice, LA and Dallas ( who has only lost 2 times )
Team most likely to tick off Columbus fans by winning MLS Cup after Columbus wins the SS:
Dallas, although Seattle would tick them off more……
I think the lowest loss total for a team in a season was 4 ( by San Jose in ’05 ). Dallas still has a ways to go but they can do it. Although LA and SLC away for the last two games will be tough, huh ?
Combine the end of last season with this season…they are luke warm ( a lot of ties ).
For those that don’t think they can win it all, they have only given up 1 more goal than Salt Lake and LA.
MLS attendance continues to hold up well. If you doubt the good job the fans are doing coming out to the grounds well you can note that NFL attendance is expected to drop again this year.
A rookie deed of note, Chicago’s Sean Johnson stopping Landon Donovan on a penalty kick! The fans in Chicago seem to be impressed by the new signings for the team and have sold out the house for NY on a Sunday night and LAG on a Saturday afternoon. Mid-week attendance falls off but 14,000 is a mark to look for in the stands.