MLS Attendance Statistics 2012 Week 20

The summer void is upon us with oppressive heat that clears seats in stadiums throughout the country. Why some teams choose to play under unbearable East Coast conditions is beyond most of us. And yet the players must go on playing in virtual saunas that can't possibly be good for their health. How about scheduling matches in the evening?

As far as the statistics, not much has changed. New York looked to be making up for lost ground but the latest matinee match erased their gains. Houston looks to have lost some of their initial spark in attendance and are now below the 100% mark in 3 games out of their last 4. However, these are still 90% full thanks to the BBVA Compass Stadium.

Elsewhere, Montreal is having a hard time attracting fans to the newly-renovated Stade Saputo, and this has taking down their numbers considerably so that the median is 17112. This, after selling out the Olympic stadium for the LA Galaxy match and their opening game. Short honeymoon?

For some perspective, below is the 2012-2011 difference. Notice that the major population markets are down relative to last year, especially New York. Unlike Seattle and Portland, Vancouver has seen some minor ups and downs and don't quite sell out their stadium on a weekly basis.

MLS Attendance Statistics 2012 Week 17

Briefly catching up with MLS, which is in full swing after the international break. There are consistent patterns in attendance numbers stemming from how well a team is doing, especially as compared to recent seasons. DC United, for instance, has seen a steady increase in attendance given their winning ways this season. The same can be said for Columbus, Chicago and Colorado.

Some of the negatives include New York's struggles at Red Bull Arena, although the latest match was a sellout, and Montreal, which has seen attendance numbers that are relatively low for a debuting team. Indeed, as soon as Saputo Stadium opened, there have been three games in a row well below 15,000. Interestingly, places like Seattle and Portland sell out every game, and Salt Lake, Philadelphia, Houston and Kansas City have full stadiums almost every game.

The numbers:

Team	Average	Relative	Median
DC	14132	73	14131
KC	19353	105	19876
NE	12254	61	12523
CLB	14141	69	11978
TOR	19036	83	18911
CHI	14756	74	14163
NYRB	17161	68	17114
PHI	18399	99	18367
HOU	21632	98	22039
MON	26495	130	19223
LA	22483	83	21836
CHV	13291	71	13816
DAL	13252	65	12203
SJ	16509	157	10391
COL	15396	85	15269
RSL	18820	94	18780
SEA	39514	103	38399
POR	20438	100	20438
VAN	19123	91	19271

MLS Attendance Statistics 2012 Week 15

After a long stretch of international games, qualifiers and a small break for the Euro, MLS got back into full action last week. Thus, it is time to look at statistics once more. New England, DC, and New York continue to struggle. The latter, although the average number of seats filled approaches 16,000, the relative value is 63%, making Red Bull Arena look empty.

Montreal's recent opening of Stade Saputo, its permanent home base, would suggest strong, constant attendance numbers. Instead, neither one of the first two games at the stadium have sold out the 20341 available spots. This weekend's match, for example, drew in only 12,357. Blame the Euro perhaps, but other locales had close to capacity from Philadelphia to Salt Lake City. 

To illustrate the reason why averages may be much higher than any given match, the Eastern Conference mean vs median is presented in this scatter plot. Clearly, Montreal has a median closer to its stadium capacity, while New York has a higher mean stemming from a couple of sold out games.