Take Me Out to the Ballgame – Week 24

After week 24 the numbers look like this…

	5 year comparison
	WK 24			172 GP		YTD
	Avg	+/-	GP	Avg	+/-	Avg	+/-	GP
2005	16,101		5	14,930		14,897		156
2006	14,880	-7.58%	6	15,109	1.20%	15,129	1.56%	159
2007	17,987	20.88%	8	16,425	8.71%	16,118	6.54%	159
2008	16,016	-10.95%	7	16,384	-0.25%	16,925	5.00%	161
2009	16,148	0.82%	8	15,841	-3.31%	15,829	-6.48%	172

YTD – 172 Games
	Average	Median	%<10K	%>20k
2005	14,930	12,368	28.90%	16.76%
2006	15,109	13,084	20.93%	16.86%
2007	16,425	14,900	8.72%	26.16%
2008	16,384	15,078	11.63%	24.42%
2009	15,841	14,573	15.70%	19.77%

Here are the attendance comparisons to 2008′s equal number of home games(172):

MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games
	2008		2009
	Att	Cap	Att	Att +/-	GP	Cap	Cap
Seattle	0	0.00%	30,587	NA	13	94.40%	32,400
Toronto	20,147	91.67%	20,308	0.80%	12	92.40%	21,978
LA Galaxy	25,648	94.99%	20,072	-21.74%	11	74.34%	27,000
ChivasUSA	15,557	57.62%	16,107	3.53%	10	59.65%	27,000
Real Salt Lake	14,889	72.85%	16,091	8.08%	12	74.91%	19,340
Houston	16,155	71.80%	15,938	-1.35%	12	70.84%	22,500
D.C. United	19,993	88.86%	15,887	-20.53%	10	70.61%	22,500
San Jose	14,917	90.48%	15,137	1.48%	12	77.31%	10,300
Chicago	17,257	86.29%	14,113	-18.22%	12	70.56%	20,000
Columbus Crew	13,569	67.84%	13,660	0.67%	11	68.30%	20,000
NE Revolution	18,673	82.99%	13,561	-27.38%	11	60.27%	22,500
Colorado Rapids	13,677	75.62%	12,614	-7.77%	12	69.75%	18,086
N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls	15,986	63.46%	12,070	-24.49%	12	47.92%	25,189
KC Wizards	11,118	107.06%	10,010	-9.97%	11	96.39%	10,385
FC Dallas	14,072	68.64%	9,229	-34.42%	11	45.02%	20,500

My disclaimer about the capacity calculations

Observations

Week 24 games drew 16,148, despite poor crowds at New England, Colorado and the Meadowlands(rain). RSL kept its playoff hopes alive against Chivas USA in front of over 14,700 in their midweek clash. Seattle had its usual full house for fellow MLS 2.0 club Toronto. Rain from Hurricane Danny kept the gate under 8,000 in New England. KC had a near sellout for its match with RSL. Over 16,300 at Toyota Park were disappointed by the continued poor play of their club at home. LA had its first sellout of the season(they had 7 at this point last year). Under 11,000 turned out for the Rapids’ matchup with league leaders Houston. And it was a little worse at the Meadowlands for a replay of the 2008 MLS Cup Final(Ok keep your laughing under control).

The only thing that could have been better for MLS publicity would have been an earlier start time for the SuperClasico at the HDC. Natural rivals vying for a guaranteed spot in the playoffs(I don’t see Houston being overtaken), a sellout atmoshere, and Beckham scores the game winner late in the game.

In 2009, RBNY has been the poster boy for disaster on the field. Off the field, FC Dallas holds that honor. The only club averaging less than 10,000 per game, FCD has played 10 different opponents at home. It comes as no surprise that for 8 of them it’s been the lowest road attendance of the season. As a sidebar, 7 of the 15 teams are drawing more on the road than at home. Last year, 8 of the 14 teams had higher attendances on the road than at home.

2009	Home Avg	Away Avg	Home minus Away
Chicago	14,113	17,377	Away	(3265)
Chivas USA	16,107	14,502	Home	1604
Colorado	12,614	16,216	Away	(3602)
Columbus	13,660	18,813	Away	(5153)
D.C. United	15,887	15,096	Home	791
FC Dallas	9,229	14,252	Away	(5023)
Houston	15,938	14,120	Home	1817
Kansas City	10,010	16,824	Away	(6814)
Los Angeles	20,072	19,078	Home	995
New England	13,561	16,193	Away	(2633)
RBNY	12,070	17,076	Away	(5006)
Real Salt Lake	16,091	14,214	Home	1877
San Jose	15,137	13,893	Home	1244
Seattle	30,587	14,541	Home	16046
Toronto FC	20,308	15,007	Home	5301

---

Week 24 Games
Real Salt Lake	4	RSL – Behind the Shield
Chivas USA	0	Chivas USA – MLSNet
Seattle	0	Seattle Times
Toronto	0	TFC Connected
New England	2	Revolution Soccer
San Jose	1	San Jose Center Line Soccer
Chicago	0	Chicago Fire Confidential
DC United	1	DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider
Kansas City	0	Kansas City – Hillcrest Road
Real Salt Lake	1	RSL – Behind the Shield
Los Angeles	1	LA – Official Blog
Chivas USA	0	Chivas USA – MLSNet
Colorado	1	Undercurrent
Houston	0	Soccer y Fútbol – Barnard Fallas
RBNY	1	Red Bulls Reader
Columbus	0	Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra

Did you notice that 5 of the 8 games ended 1-0?

---

So How Are They Doing?

Points after 172 Games
	Pts	GP	PPG	GD
Houston	40	25	1.60	9
Columbus	39	23	1.70	9
Chicago	38	24	1.58	5
Los Angeles	38	24	1.58	5
Seattle	34	24	1.42	6
Colorado	33	22	1.50	8
Real Salt Lake	33	24	1.38	8
New England	33	21	1.57	0
Chivas USA	33	22	1.50	-1
DC United	32	23	1.39	1
Toronto FC	31	23	1.35	-3
Dallas	23	22	1.05	-4
Kansas City	21	21	1.00	-9
San Jose	20	22	0.91	-13
NY Red Bull	16	24	0.67	-21

Games in hand will be critical. RSL and Seattle might be the most vulnerable to being overtaken for playoff positions. DCU, unbeaten at home, will play 5 of its last 7 at RFK. Columbus is poised to overtake Houston for the Supporters’ Shield with its 2 games in hand.

---

Streaking

• LA is unbeaten in 6 road games.
  
• Columbus(11 games) and DC United(10 games) are unbeaten at home.
  
• FC Dallas has won 4 straight at home.
  
• FC Dallas has lost 4 straight on the road.
  
• KC has no wins in its last 7(5 losses).
  
• RBNY has won 2 in a row!
  
• RBNY is winless on the road.
  
• Colorado is winless on the road in its last 4.
  

  
  Just Some Stuff

  The CONCACAF Champions League group phase began last week. DC United, Houston and Columbus are representing MLS in the regional club championship. RBNY and Toronto FC were eliminated in the preliminaries.

  After 2 group play matches in the CONCACAF Champions League Houston has 4 points, Columbus has 3 points, while DC United sit last in Group B with 0 points.

  CONCACAF Champions League
  Sep 15-16	Sep 22-24
  Group Game 3	Group Game 4
  Houston plays Sep 15, 22
  Columbus plays Sep 16, 23
  DCU plays Sep 16, 24

  =====

  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. The final is on September 2 at RFK stadium in DC.

  =====

  Congratualtions!

  Richmond wins USL-2 Title

  =====

  ---

  
  They COULD HAVE Gotten it Right

  Well, what can you say? First the good: MLS scheduled only 3 games this coming weekend, which is a FIFA International calendar period. That surely minimized any potential conflict for many possible USMNT’ers who might be called into service for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers. In fact, for US players, only Conor Casey, on September 5th, stands to miss a match if he’s selected. Not the solution many fans want, which would be no MLS matches during FIFA International periods, but a lot better than having a full slate of games on the schedule. Now the WTF!: The USMNT game v El Salvador is at 8pm ET, the three MLS matches start at 7:30, 8:00 and 10:00 ET. Are you kidding me? Wait, it gets better. On Wednesday, Sep 9, the US travels to Trinidad and Tobago and will play at 7pm ET. MLS has ONE midweek match scheduled, on you guessed it, Wed the 9th. Not only that, it begins at 8:00pm ET. There are no words.

  • Tweet