MLS Starts Again! Week 1 Attendance

A new year of MLS soccer, year 17. Last year was the highest gate attendance and highest average attendance ever in MLS history.

Season	Total Gate	Games	Avg.	High avg.	Team	Low avg.	Team
1996	2,785,001	160	17,406	28,916	Los Angeles Galaxy	10,213	Colorado Rapids
1997	2,339,019	160	14,619	21,423	NE Revolution	9,058	Kansas City Wizards
1998	2,747,897	192	14,312	21,784	Los Angeles Galaxy	8,072	Kansas City Wizards
1999	2,742,102	192	14,282	17,696	Columbus Crew	8,183	Kansas City Wizards
2000	2,641,085	192	13,756	20,400	Los Angeles Galaxy	7,460	Miami Fusion
2001	2,363,859	158	14,961	21,518	D.C. United	9,112	Kansas City Wizards
2002	2,215,019	140	15,822	20,690	Colorado Rapids	11,150	San Jose Earthquakes
2003	2,234,747	150	14,898	21,983	Los Angeles Galaxy	7,906	Dallas Burn
2004	2,333,797	150	15,559	23,809	Los Angeles Galaxy	9,088	Dallas Burn
2005	2,900,716	192	15,108	24,204	Los Angeles Galaxy	9,691	Kansas City Wizards
2006	2,976,787	192	15,504	20,814	Los Angeles Galaxy	11,083	Kansas City Wizards
2007	3,270,210	195	16,770	24,252	Los Angeles Galaxy	11,586	Kansas City Wizards
2008	3,456,600	210	16,460	26,008	Los Angeles Galaxy	10,685	Kansas City Wizards
2009	3,608,325	225	16,037	30,942	Seattle Sounders FC	9,883	FC Dallas
2010	4,002,000	240	16,675	36,173	Seattle Sounders FC	9,659	San Jose Earthquakes
2011	5,468,951	306	17,870	38,496	Seattle Sounders FC	11,858	San Jose Earthquakes

(sorry I am terrible at HTML)

We have a new team. Montreal is added to the mix and sure to add an increase in attendance as every Canadian club has.


We have new stadiums for Vancouver (only used BC Place a couple times last year)and the Houston Dynamo in BBVA Compass Stadium. Both stadiums are beautiful and will only increase the attendance and excitement for MLS soccer in both of these cities.


Meanwhile Portland and Seattle, in the new heartland of MLS, both increased capacity at their stadiums as the Cascada region continues to amaze Don Garber and the MLS.



This year looks to be a another great year for the MLS as a league and in attendance. As long as all the new expansion teams can keep their high attendance up and keep their team the talk of the town, the MLS could break 19,000 for average attendance. The original teams look to increase attendance and copy the set up now seen in Canada, Seattle, Portland, and others. With no team planned to join in 2013, the fans and league must focus on building up and maintaining the MLS to a high standard. I have no doubts that this league can grow to be one of the best in the world.

Eight games were played this weekend and here is the attendance for those as the MLS kicks off.

Team	Attendance	Capacity	Percent Full	Last Year's Average Attendance
Chicago Fire		20,000	%	14,274
Chivas USA	14,464	27,000	53.57%	14,830
Colorado Rapids	14,746	18,087	81.53%	14,838
Columbus Crew		20,145	%	12,185
DC United	16,314	23,865	68.36%	15,211
FC Dallas	20,906	21,193	98.65%	12,861
Houston Dynamo		22,000	%	17,694
Los Angeles Galaxy	27,000	27,000	100.0%	23,335
Montreal Impact		20,341	%	---
NE Revolution		22,385	%	13,222
New York Red Bulls		25,189	%	19,691
Philadelphia Union		18,500	%	18,258
Portland Timbers	20,438	20,323	100.57%	18,827
Real Salt Lake		20,008	%	17,594
San Jose Earthquakes	10,525	10,300	102.18%	11,858
Seattle Sounders		38,500	%	38,495
Sporting Kansas City		18,467	%	17,810
Toronto FC		21,800	%	20,267
Vancouver Whitecaps	21,000	21,500	97.67%	20,406
Average	18,174	21,926	82.89%	17,870