MLS 2011 Attendance Statistics Game Week 15

Sorry for the long lapse in stats analysis. It's been quite busy elsewhere and only one person manages the desk at Futbol USA. One of the more important events in the past few weeks is the inauguration of Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, the new home of Sporting KC. Beautiful location and one the national team will remember for a while (just see some comments by Edu, Donovan and Co. at ussoccer.com). In MLS play, the stadium has been sold out and is a welcome sight after years at cavernous Arrowhead Stadium and CommunityAmerica Ballpark (slightly over 10,000 capacity). Because of KC's stadium and the fact that they just now started playing at home, its numbers will look relatively inflated. Remember that it's doubling its previous capacity so crowds will be bigger.

As was posted before, the median of the attendance can now more appropriately be used to gauge the approximate attendance any particular team has had this season. Above is the average - median relationship for the Western Conference. Unlike the East, there is more of a one-to-one relationship for most stadiums. Notable differences are Dallas and Chivas. Dallas had higher attendance for its opening day and when the Galaxy came to town. The same goes for Chivas (sellout at the HDC for the SuperClasico).

MLS 2009 Attendance stats weeks 14 & 15

International summer + summer travel by yours truly = less frequent attendance stats. Sorry, kids.

Things are interesting, though. People show up to games even though their national side is obviously playing internationally. I can't say I blame them. I would love to go see a game live after watching a good game by the USA. I did this way back in '98 after a world cup game. I attended the superclasico Emelec-Barcelona of Guayaquil. Score was 2-1 after penalties. Kaviedes scored.

I think stats will look much more interesting once Goldenballs comes back after July 15. Thing is, that's probably when the next major update will happen. Meantime, updated plots are on the right column.

USA!!!!

PREVIEW: MLS Attendance stats week 16

Since a lot of attendance analysis out in MLS soccerland is looking into other meaningful statistics like median, I thought I would follow along and create some new plots. These plots will not be regulars like the ones on the right column but instead I'll post them from time to time to show interesting trends. I think they speak for themselves by showing the markedly low attendance in places like New England, Kansas City and San Jose. This analysis also takes away the inflationary effects of overattendance due to Beckham and/or scheduled international doubleheaders. The analysis also makes Houston look better than its relative attendance suggests. I still wonder if the 32,000 capacity at Robertson Stadium is also the MLS capacity but I've had no word on a different number. Also note that LA's numbers show just how many times they have sold out the stadium since the median is 27,000. Another surprising number is New York's. Even though they've had two games under 10K, it still doesn't mean attendance has been that bad overall.
These plots are only valid through week 16. Full week 16 numbers and plots will be posted tomorrow.

MLS Attendance stats week 15

Enter DCU. Attendance wise, that is. As DCU fans already know, RFK usually attracts a good crowd. Beckham coming to town last week, coupled with Euro hype drew out a good crowd of 35,979. That was enough to catapult DC to above 20,000 for attendance average, thus surpassing TFC. In relative terms, however, TFC still reigns supreme in the East. Per the request of a BigSoccer member, I decided to look at the average attendance vs relative attendance per team. Today, due to time constraints, I've only done it for the East.
Also, for the sake of completeness, here's the official "MLS capacity" for each of the stadiums:
DC: 24,500
KC: 10,385
NE: 20,000
CLB: 22,500
TFC: 20,000
CHI: 20,000
NYRB: 25,576
Also keep in mind that some of these stadiums (RFK, Giants, Gillette) can hold a lot more in their actual NFL capacity. BMO field is listed at 20,000 but the stadium holds another three to five hundred more seats if necessary. Same goes for some of the other SS stadiums in the league, i.e. Dallas, etc.

*Week 15 does not include 3 games from week 16. They will be posted next week. This is to avoid confusion when looking at the figures so that all teams are well represented.