MLS passes NBA as third best-attended American sport

**Storm** · 11-07-2011, 10:50 PM

MLS passes NBA as third best-attended American sport

Major League Soccer set a new high-water mark for average attendance this season, as expansion clubs in Portland and Vancouver lived up to preseason expectations for big crowds, and a new stadium and rebranding effort in Kansas City turned around that city’s once-ailing club.

Average attendance for the 18 clubs rose 7.2 percent to 17,872 spectators a game this season, surpassing the league’s previous record of 17,406, which was set during its inaugural season in 1996. The league’s lowest attendance came in 2000 when it averaged just 13,756 fans. Since 2007, its average has consistently stayed between 16,000 and 17,000. The strong showing at the gate brought MLS’s average above the most recent seasons for both the NHL (17,132) and NBA (17,323).

“It’s historic for us — we exceeded our best with 18 teams, and we only had 10 back then,” said MLS President Mark Abbott. “We have Montreal joining next year, and we believe that we will have a very positive story in that market as well.”

The Seattle Sounders again led the league with a whopping average attendance of 38,496, 15,000 fans more per game than the next closest franchise. Evidence of the strength of the team’s appeal is that if one took the Sounders out of the MLS mix, the league would have averaged more than 1,000 fans fewer per game, at 16,659.

With the Sounders jumping to the top of MLS’s attendance rankings upon their debut in 2009, league officials expected the expansion Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers to also score big numbers this season, as both teams own 20-plus ears of history in the Division II USL and old Division I NASL leagues, much like the Sounders. The teams did not disappoint, as Portland sold out all 17 home games and Vancouver sold out seven matches on its way to reaching 97.2 percent capacity.

The demand for tickets in Portland prompted Timbers officials to build temporary seating at Jeld-Wen Field for two of its last three games to expand capacity from 18,827 to 20,323. The team easily sold the additional seats, and this offseason the Timbers will permanently install seating to bring the stadium’s capacity to 23,000, and increase the season-ticket cap from 12,500 to 14,500.

Sporting Kansas City, which dropped its original name “Wizards” in December 2010 in favor of a more European name and brand, also posted impressive attendance statistics, selling out nine home games and 96.4 percent of its total ticket inventory. The club undoubtedly was helped by its new $200 million Livestrong Sporting Park, though the club had to play all 17 of its home games during the second half of the season because the park didn’t open until June.

“Half of our games were on school nights because we were so backloaded,” said a team representative. “Next year we will have more Saturday night games.”

The club previously averaged 10,006 at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, and its average this season was 17,810.

Of the league’s 16 non-expansion teams, 12 showed either gains or flat attendance. Toronto FC saw its numbers shrink by 0.9 percent. However, the club is still selling at 101.3 percent of capacity. The Chicago Fire saw a 9.7 percent dip in average attendance. The Columbus Crew saw the largest drop, a 16.8 percent decrease in attendance.

Mike Malo, senior vice president for sales and marketing with the Crew, said the team has lowered the price of season tickets for 2012 by as much as 33 percent in an attempt to reverse the slide. The Crew announced the new prices in a campaign to reach 10,000 season-ticket holders, called “Goal 10K.” Malo said the team is currently at 4,900 new and renewed tickets for 2012.

The league’s gate numbers were mirrored by growth in television audiences, although MLS still trails the other major professional leagues in viewership. For its 26 matches on ESPN and ESPN2, MLS stayed at a 0.1 rating, but its audience grew to 321,000 viewers, up 15 percent from 2010. On Fox Soccer, the average viewership grew 34 percent to 75,000, and on Fox Deportes, audiences grew 53 percent to 29,000, which translated to a 0.31 rating.

Abbott said the league is in talks with its new television partner NBC to finalize a weekly broadcast schedule for 2012.

Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/soccer/s...#ixzz1d4BSl4Je

**Óttar** · 01-25-2012, 05:55 AM

When I heard the New England Revolution signed Beckham for $120 million, I thought, 'I didn't even know MLS had $120 million for the entire league.'

Now I guess we would rather watch European descended players than the NBA which is 95% black, perhaps because White Americans have no one to really identify with. I've even thought of starting following MLS myself. I'd cheer for New England out of sheer pragmatism, seeing as there isn't a Pittsburgh team.

**Mindflare** · 04-05-2012, 02:45 PM

It'd be good for the United States to have a competitive domestic league. I'm not a Soccerphile so I assume the MLS is still well below European standards.

**crow** · 04-07-2012, 03:58 AM

It should be noted that the football stadiums have a much higher capacity than the indoor basketball arenas. So the Seattle FC stadium has a capacity of more than 60,000, while the Lakers' arena only holds 20,000.

The MLS is of poor quality with very amateurish play. I'm a big football fan, and I don't pay attention to it because it's an inferior product. Most of my friends who follow football are into all of the big European clubs in England and Spain.

**iNird** · 04-09-2012, 03:21 AM

Originally Posted by Óttar

When I heard the New England Revolution signed Beckham for $120 million, I thought, 'I didn't even know MLS had $120 million for the entire league.'

Now I guess we would rather watch European descended players than the NBA which is 95% black, perhaps because White Americans have no one to really identify with. I've even thought of starting following MLS myself. I'd cheer for New England out of sheer pragmatism, seeing as there isn't a Pittsburgh team.

LA Galaxy signed him ,and IIRC the deal was incentive based (mostly paid by sponsors) and I don't think Beckham made nearly that much.

Secondly, American Football is still the most popular sport in America where 70% of the athletes are black. Though the most important position on the team the QB is still a predominately white position which helps the league market the game to white america.

**iNird** · 04-09-2012, 03:23 AM

Originally Posted by crow

It should be noted that the football stadiums have a much higher capacity than the indoor basketball arenas. So the Seattle FC stadium has a capacity of more than 60,000, while the Lakers' arena only holds 20,000.

The MLS is of poor quality with very amateurish play. I'm a big football fan, and I don't pay attention to it because it's an inferior product. Most of my friends who follow football are into all of the big European clubs in England and Spain.

MLS is piss poor quality. I'm not even the biggest soccer fan but comparing an EPL or La Liga game to a MLS game is night and day. Granted EPL and La Liga are some, if not the, 2 best leagues in the league, but the point stands that MLS is sh*t. Complete sh*t.