The playoff numbers look like this…
| 5 year comparison | ||||||
| Quarterfinals Totals(both legs) | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | Teams | ||||
| 2005 | 13,273 | NA | CHI, COL, DAL, DCU, LA, NE, RBNY, SJ | |||
| 2006 | 12,736 | -4.05% | CHI, COL, CHV, DAL, DCU, HOU, NE, RBNY | |||
| 2007 | 17,041 | 33.81% | CHI, CHV, DAL, DCU, HOU, KC, NE, RBNY | |||
| 2008 | 14,960 | -12.22% | CHI, CHV, CLB, HOU, KC, NE, RBNY, RSL | |||
| 2009 | 20,755 | 38.74% | CHI, CHV, CLB, HOU, LA, NE, RSL, SEA | |||
| Semifinals Totals | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | Teams | ||||
| 2005 | 15,454 | NA | NE v CHI – COL v LA | |||
| 2006 | 21,330 | 38.02% | DCU v NE – HOU v COL | |||
| 2007 | 20,645 | -3.21% | NE v CHI – HOU v KC | |||
| 2008 | 17,348 | -15.97% | CLB v CHI – RSL v RBNY | |||
| 2009 | 23,548 | 35.74% | LA v HOU – CHI v RSL | |||
| Finals Totals | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | Teams | Venue | |||
| 2005 | 21,193 | NA | NE v LA | Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, TX | ||
| 2006 | 22,427 | 5.82% | NE v HOU | Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, TX | ||
| 2007 | 39,859 | 77.73% | NE v HOU | RFK Stadium, Wash DC | ||
| 2008 | 27,000 | -32.26% | RBNY v CLB | Home Depot Center, LA, CA | ||
| 2009 | 46,011 | 70.41% | RSL v LA | Qwest Field, Seattle, WA | ||
| Playoff Totals | ||
| Avg | +/- | |
| 2005 | 14,390 | NA |
| 2006 | 15,179 | 5.49% |
| 2007 | 19,771 | 30.25% |
| 2008 | 16,488 | -16.60% |
| 2009 | 23,559 | 42.88% |
Observations
A great finale to the MLS season. With the 46,000+ at Qwest Field, the average for the 8 finals played at football sized stadia is 46,835. The 6 finals played at ’soccer specific stadia’ have averaged 24,174.
Obviously the Final Match percentage increase over last year is a useless number, given the different capacities of the of the venues.
| MLS Quarterfinals – 2nd Leg | ||
| RSL Advances 4-2 | ||
| Columbus | 2 | Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra |
| Real Salt Lake | 3 | RSL – Behind the Shield |
| Chicago Advances 3-2 | ||
| Chicago | 2 | Chicago Fire Confidential |
| New England | 0 | Revolution Soccer |
| Houston Advances 1-0 | ||
| Houston | 1 | Soccer y Fútbol – Barnard Fallas |
| Seattle | 0 | Seattle Times |
| Los Angeles Advances 3-2 | ||
| Los Angeles | 1 | LA – Official Blog |
| Chivas USA | 0 | Chivas USA – MLSNet |
| MLS Semifinals | ||
| Los Angeles | 2 | LA – Official Blog |
| Houston | 0 | Soccer y Fútbol – Barnard Fallas |
| Chicago | 0(4) | Chicago Fire Confidential |
| Real Salt Lake | 0(5) | RSL – Behind the Shield |
| MLS Cup | ||
| Los Angeles | 1(4) | LA – Official Blog |
| Real Salt Lake | 1(5) | RSL – Behind the Shield |
MLS Throw Ins
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
This was a good playoffs from every angle for MLS. Good ball played for the most part, and with the exception of that ridiculously poor crowd in New England fairly good attendance.
MLS Cup overnights rise 29%
Despite moving from broadcast to cable, overnight ratings improved for the MLS Cup.
Sunday night’s Real Salt Lake/Galaxy matchup drew a 0.9 overnight rating on ESPN, up 29% from a 0.7 for last year’s afternoon Crew/Red Bulls tilt on ABC, and tied as the highest overnight for the event since ‘05.
To put that in perspective, David Beckham’s debut with the Galaxy in July ‘07 drew a 1.2 overnight on ESPN.
Overnight ratings for the MLS Cup since ‘99
Year
Date
Game
Net
Rating
2009
Sun., 11/22/09
Real Salt Lake/Galaxy
ESPN
0.9
2008
Sun., 11/23/08
Crew/Red Bulls
ABC
0.7
2007
Sun., 11/18/07
Dynamo/Revolution
ABC
0.9
2006
Sun., 11/12/06
Dynamo/Revolution
ABC
0.8
2005
Sun., 11/13/05
Galaxy/Revolution
ABC
1.0
2004
Sun., 11/14/04
United/Wizards
ABC
0.8
2003
Sun., 11/23/03
Earthquakes/Fire
ABC
0.9
2002
Sun., 10/20/02
Galaxy/Revolution
ABC
1.0
2001
Sun., 10/21/01
Earthquakes/Galaxy
ABC
1.2
2000
Sun., 10/15/00
Wizards/Fire
ABC
1.0
1999
Sun., 11/21/99
United/Galaxy
ABC
1.0
Yes, I read that piece. It’s good news. Now MLS must maintain that momentum. As I’ve written before, the future quality of the MLS product will depend heavily on national domestic TV rights fees. A jump from the current $20M would provide a significant boost to the league’s ability to maintain and attract quality talent.