MLS 2009 Attendance stats weeks 28 & 29

Back to the stats. Figures are on the right column. Not going too much in depth this week. Most markets are up, including Chicago, New England and Columbus. It's hard to watch the games with the football lines still on the pitch, though. I'm enjoying the new soccer-specific venues. Up next year are the Red Bull's Red Bull Arena which is opening in Harrison, NJ, and the new soccer stadium in Chester, PA for the Philadelphia Union.

I read an interesting tidbit the other day regarding TV ratings for MLS... at least from the ESPN perspective. Looks like some of us out there were being entirely too negative about MLS on TV. It seems that the audience has gone up for the world-wide leader in sports by 7-10%. This is after the execs decided to scrub the "MLS Primetime Thursdays" slot for the "MLS Game of the Week." Smart. Also, ESPN's loss of the UEFA Champions League may be a blessing in disguise since the Spanish La Liga and the English EPL are during the weekend. This has opened up quality soccer for everyone that was at work or school on weekdays. A side effect? More MLS viewers.

MLS Attendance stats week 28

Back again after a brief respite. Probably will join you next week as the season winds down. There's only 3 more weeks of play after this week. I'm including the mean vs media plot to show some of the more recent happenings in league attendance. DCU was boosted by its last game at home, and they can forget about any further play until next season unless something miraculous happens. No more DP (Gallardo) this season. The guy played okay so no fuss with him, people. He wasn't a complete mess like Denilson. More important is my current focus on Dallas.

The team has very legitimate chances of advancing to the post-season since only 5 points separates them from the Goats and there are 9 points to be had still. They have one more home game against TFC and somehow I doubt they'll have more than 40% of seats full at the Pizza Place they call their stadium. It's sad since they also boast one of the league's top scorers and potential national team star Kenny Cooper (Bradley has yet to name him to the squad and fans are upset). Cooper has 16 goals this season and is second only to record-breaking Landon Donovan (19). Clearly, something needs to be done at the big D if they want to both keep their franchise and/or earn respect. You'll note that they have the lowest mean and the lowest median. Both point to the same huge problem. But I just work with the numbers here people, as sad as some may look. I say bring in another DP player. Maybe a Mexican figure with stature or someone that people actually care about seeing.