MLS Attendance 2009

The 2009 MLS regular season saw overall average attendance drop to an average of 16,037. Down from last years 16,459. It did, though, see a new record for attendance set by the expansion Seattle Sounders FC, who averaged 30,897 over the course of the season. Here are the averages of all the teams in the league this year.

1. Seattle - 30,897
2. LA - 20,416
3. Toronto - 20344
4. Houston - 17, 047
5. Salt Lake - 16,375
6. DC - 16,088
7. Chivas - 15,092
8. Chicago - 14, 689
9. Columbus - 14,447
10. San Jose - 14,114
11. New England - 13,732
12. New York - 12,491
13. Dallas - 12,441
14. Colorado - 12,331
15. KC - 10,053

Yes, once again KC was at the bottom of attendance, down an average of 633 this year, or about 6% this year. KC did up their number of sellouts from 5 to 8, but lost the bigger ticket bump that the LA game last year at Arrowhead brought. Still not the greatest numbers this year.

The other thing about the above numbers is how some are higher because of teams playing double headers with more marketable games. Three teams; Dallas, New England, and San Jose benefited from being the "opening act" for a double or triple header of soccer. The biggest beneficiary was San Jose, who added 3,389 to their average attendance for a double header that included Barcelona playing Chivas Guadalajara. Second was Dallas, who saw a bump of 2,755 for their double header with the Mexican national team playing Colombia. Finally, New England got a small 743 person bump in their average from the Gold Cup triple header back in June that included the US team playing.

Without those double headers, here is the average attendance looks.

1. Seattle - 30,897
2. LA - 20,416
3. Toronto - 20344
4. Houston - 17, 047
5. Salt Lake - 16,375
6. DC - 16,088
7. Chivas - 15,092
8. Chicago - 14, 689
9. Columbus - 14,447
10. New England - 12,989
11. New York - 12,491
12. Colorado - 12,331
13. San Jose - 10,275
14. KC - 10,053
15. Dallas - 9686

San Jose falls to 13th, while Dallas is the lowest attended team in the league without the help of that double header at the Cotton Bowl.