Take Me Out to the Ballgame – Week 18
After week 18 the numbers look like this…
| 5 year comparison | ||||||||
| WK 15 | 130 GP | YTD | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | GP | Avg | +/- | Avg | +/- | GP | |
| 2005 | 8,365 | 2 | 15,023 | 14,568 | 118 | |||
| 2006 | 11,399 | 36.28% | 7 | 15,558 | 3.56% | 14,549 | -0.13% | 120 |
| 2007 | 15,894 | 39.43% | 6 | 15,853 | 1.89% | 15,024 | 3.26% | 117 |
| 2008 | 13,013 | -18.13% | 6 | 16,542 | 4.35% | 16,939 | 12.75% | 122 |
| 2009 | 16,634 | 27.83% | 6 | 15,490 | -6.36% | 15,490 | -8.55% | 130 |
Here are the attendance comparisons to 2008’s equal number of home games(130):
| MLS Attendance Averages – Equal # of Home Games | |||||||
| 2008 | 2009 | ||||||
| Att | Cap | Att | Att +/- | GP | Cap | Cap | |
| Seattle | 0 | 0.00% | 29,984 | NA | 10 | 93.70% | 32,000 |
| Toronto | 20,173 | 91.79% | 20,278 | 0.52% | 11 | 92.26% | 21,978 |
| LA Galaxy | 25,348 | 93.88% | 19,292 | -23.89% | 9 | 71.45% | 27,000 |
| ChivasUSA | 14,286 | 52.91% | 16,211 | 13.48% | 9 | 60.04% | 27,000 |
| Real Salt Lake | 15,101 | 71.96% | 16,045 | 6.25% | 8 | 71.15% | 19,340 |
| Houston | 16,566 | 73.63% | 15,689 | -5.29% | 8 | 69.73% | 22,500 |
| D.C. United | 20,133 | 89.48% | 15,193 | -24.53% | 9 | 67.53% | 22,500 |
| NE Revolution | 16,584 | 73.71% | 13,242 | -20.15% | 7 | 58.85% | 22,500 |
| Columbus Crew | 12,881 | 64.40% | 13,041 | 1.24% | 9 | 65.20% | 20,000 |
| Chicago | 16,667 | 83.34% | 12,839 | -22.97% | 8 | 64.19% | 20,000 |
| N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls | 17,385 | 69.02% | 12,702 | -26.94% | 9 | 50.43% | 25,189 |
| Colorado Rapids | 14,612 | 80.79% | 12,431 | -14.93% | 8 | 68.73% | 18,086 |
| San Jose | 16,752 | 85.56% | 11,513 | -31.28% | 8 | 47.54% | 10,300 |
| KC Wizards | 9,596 | 92.40% | 9,789 | 2.01% | 8 | 94.26% | 10,385 |
| FC Dallas | 13,687 | 66.76% | 9,306 | -32.01% | 9 | 45.40% | 20,500 |
My disclaimer about the capacity calculations
Observations
Week 18 opened with the much balleyhoo’d return of David Beckham to the LA Galaxy as they visited the Red Bulls in the media center of the country.
RBNY’s overall average was raised by their largest crowd of the year. What, however shall we glean from the numbers in camparison? In 2007 this match drew 66,237(Aug 18), in 2008 46,754(Jul 19). Thursday’s attendance: 23,238.
Toronto had its usual full house for Houston’s visit. The DCU/Rapids, Columbus/RSL and Chicago/SJ games were played directly opposite the USMNT Gold Cup Quarterfinal match. DCU and Chicago drew above their YTD averages while Columbus came close to its average. The week’s league play culminated with a modest 10,997 in a late Sunday afternoon match at Foxboro. All told, a decent week averaging over 16,600.
Seattle filled the house, over 65,000, to see its friendly vs Chelsea FC.
| YTD – 130 Games | ||||
| Average | Median | %<10K | %>20k | |
| 2005 | 15,023 | 12,167 | 30.00% | 16.15% |
| 2006 | 15,558 | 12,979 | 22.31% | 17.69% |
| 2007 | 15,853 | 14,235 | 10.77% | 23.08% |
| 2008 | 16,542 | 15,324 | 11.54% | 26.15% |
| 2009 | 15,490 | 14,479 | 14.62% | 19.23% |
| Week 18 Games | ||
| RBNY | 1 | Red Bulls Reader |
| Los Angeles | 3 | LA – 100 percent soccer |
| Toronto | 1 | TFC Connected |
| Houston | 1 | Soccer y Fútbol – Barnard Fallas |
| DC United | 3 | DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider |
| Colorado | 1 | Undercurrent |
| Columbus | 3 | Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra |
| Real Salt Lake | 1 | RSL – Behind the Shield |
| Chicago | 2 | Chicago – En Fuego Official Blog |
| San Jose | 0 | Center Line Soccer |
| New England | 2 | Revolution Soccer |
| Chivas USA | 0 | Chivas USA – MLSNet |
Gold Cup and MLS
| Players, League Games Missed Due to Gold Cup Semifinal and Final Matches | ||||
| Players | Opponent | |||
| 16-Jul | 18-Jul | 25-Jul | ||
| Chicago Fire | Busch, Pause. Segares(CRC) | SJ | SEA | |
| Chivas USA | Bornstein*, Kljestan* Harmse(CAN)** |
NE | ||
| Colorado Rapids | Clark, Perkins, Casey* Ceus(HAI)** |
DCU | RBNY | |
| Columbus Crew | Rogers, Marshall | RSL | TFC | |
| DC United | Quaranta, Jakovic(CAN)** | Colorado | SJ | |
| FC Dallas | Cooper | RSL | ||
| Houston Dynamo | Ching, Holden, Hainault(CAN)** | TFC | NE | |
| Kansas City Wizards | Arnaud, Conrad | LA | ||
| Los Angeles Galaxy | NONE | RBNY | KC | |
| New England Revolution | Heaps | Chivas USA | HOU | |
| RBNY | NONE | LA | NE | |
| Real Salt Lake | Beckerman, Johnson(CAN)** Alexandre(HAI)** |
Columbus | FCD | |
| San Jose Earthquakes | NONE | Chicago | DCU | |
| Seattle Sounders FC | Evans | Chicago | ||
| Toronto FC | Cronin, Gerba(CAN)** | HOU | CLB | |
* – Added when CONCACAF allowed the US to add 7 to the roster due to its participation in the Confederations Cup. With Adu, Davies, Cherundolo, Feilhaber and Parkhurst returning to their clubs in Europe, more MLS’ers will be on the field for the USMNT.
** – xxx eliminated this week.
Casey, Bornstein and Kljestan were with their clubs this weekend. We’ll have to see if they get called for the semifinal on Thursday.
If I’ve missed anyone, hopefully our readers will let me know in the comment section.
Naturally the column for the games on the 25th is for those that win the semis on the 23rd.
With Canada eliminated, Toronto will welcome new signing Gerba who scored for Canada in its pre Gold Cup tuneup match and in 2 Gold Cup matches.
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End of Week Thoughts
Streaking
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Just Some Stuff
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinals are on Tuesday, July 21. The USL-1 Rochester Rhinos meet defending champions D.C. United at the Maryland Soccerplex in Boyds, MD. The other semi features Houston at Seattle at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, WA.
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