MLS Attendance: Best Seasons

Historically this category has been owned by the Galaxy. More than half of the 20 best seasons belong to the team from Los Angeles. If you look closely, there's some proof that TFKA Metro hasn't always been inept at getting people to come see soccer. With their new home in Harrison opening next year, it will be interesting to see if they might be able to get their attendance back into this lofty company.

   year team         home avg
1  2009 Seattle      30,897
2  1996 Los Angeles  28,916
3  2008 Los Angeles  26,009
4  2007 Los Angeles  24,252
5  2005 Los Angeles  24,204
6  1996 New York     23,898
7  2004 Los Angeles  23,809
8  2003 Los Angeles  21,983
9  1998 Los Angeles  21,784
10 2001 DC           21,518
11 1997 New England  21,423
12 2007 DC           20,967
13 2006 Los Angeles  20,814
14 2001 New York     20,806
15 2002 Colorado     20,690
16 1997 Los Angeles  20,626
17 2009 Los Angeles  20,416
18 2000 Los Angeles  20,400
19 2009 Toronto      20,344
20 2007 Toronto      20,130

Looking at the numbers in regards to how far above the league average each team was, Seattle's inaugural season is absolutely shocking. Not only did they set the record for average attendance, but they almost doubled up the league average. This absolutely shatters the previous mark. Also interesting in my mind is that Toronto has averaged over 20,000 fans each year, but still can't make the top 20 list.

   year team         diff in %
1  2009 Seattle      92.66
2  1996 Los Angeles  66.12
3  2005 Los Angeles  60.20
4  2008 Los Angeles  58.01
5  2004 Los Angeles  53.02
6  1998 Los Angeles  52.21
7  2000 Los Angeles  48.30
8  2003 Los Angeles  47.56
9  1997 New England  46.54
10 2007 Los Angeles  44.62
11 2001 DC           43.83
12 1997 Los Angeles  41.09
13 2001 New York     39.07
14 1996 New York     37.29
15 2000 DC           35.07
16 2006 Los Angeles  34.25
17 1998 New England  34.07
18 2002 Colorado     30.77
19 2000 New York     28.10
20 2006 Chivas USA   27.96

MLS Attendance - Percent of Tickets Sold

One of the folks who commented on the Expansion's Effect on MLS Attendance post pointed out that the Sounders have been seen by over 20% of the people attending a game this year. Another person thought that David Beckham's Flying Circus had probably beaten that mark. (This is in fact true.)

However it turns out that neither of these sides hold the record for the largest percentage of tickets sold to see a given team in a season. That record is currently held by the 1996 Los Angeles Galaxy.

  year team     home    away  tm ttl league ttl % sold
1 1996 LA    462,650 346,210 808,860 2,785,001  29.04
2 2004 DC    258,484 355,289 613,773 2,333,797  26.30
3 1997 LA    330,015 248,179 578,194 2,339,019  24.72
4 2004 LA    357,137 217,411 574,548 2,333,797  24.62
5 1996 Metro 382,360 295,952 678,312 2,785,001  24.36
6 1997 NE    342,762 221,566 564,328 2,339,019  24.13
7 2003 LA    329,752 209,091 538,843 2,234,747  24.11
8 2007 LA    363,782 420,525 784,307 3,270,210  23.98
  2005 LA    387,256 308,241 695,497 2,900,716  23.98
10 1997 DC   267,171 287,944 555,115 2,339,019  23.73

For those wondering, if the season ended today Seattle would end up with the 23rd best mark.

Can MLS Advance?

Here's what the three MLS teams need to do this week to make it into the group stages of the CONCACAF Champions League:

Toronto FC
Down a goal after their home leg, things look fairly bleak. These results would get them through:

• A win by two goals or more
  
• A scoring draw with two or more goals

Winning by one goal would get them to extra time, but if they couldn't get a goal in the first leg, chances are they won't in the return leg either. With their experience parking the bus in front of the goal from last year's tournament, I expect Colin Clarke's men to advance.

DC United
The 1-1 tie at RFK didn't completely kill their chances of advancing, but they absolutely have to score in El Salvador. They advance with:

• A win
• A scoring draw with two or more goals

It doesn't sound much better than Toronto's plight, but any scoring draw gets them to extra time and potentially into penalties.

New York Red Bulls
OK -- hands up if you expected the Red Bulls to have the best chance of advancing to the group stage... Mrs. Osorio, you can put your hand down now. Coming away with a 2-2 tie in their away leg was a huge result. There are many ways NY can advance:

• A win
• Any draw with less than two goals scored

A loss still ruins things for NYRB, but even a 2-2 tie only forces extra time. If the Red Bulls can keep from scoring another own goal, they just might make it through.