Continuing with a little house cleaning that I hadn't done since the season ended, here's the average attendance this year for the team's in MLS. For the first time in a while, KC did not have the lowest attendance in the league, that honor fell to San Jose, who averaged under 10,000 this year playing all their games at Buck Shaw Stadium this year. KC didn't fare a whole lot better, averaging just over 10,000, but just under 100 short of averaging a sell out at CAB and finishing 15th in average attendance. Next year with the new stadium, KC should be expected to jump to at least the league average this season of 15,397 and more likely into the 16,000 range, which would put them 8th on this year's list. Here's this year's average attendance, to compare to last year's, check here.
1. Seattle - 36,173
2. LA - 21,437
3. Toronto - 20,477
4. Philadelphia - 19,253
5. New York - 18,443
6. Houston - 17,310
7. Real Salt Lake - 17,095
8. Chicago - 15,802
9. Columbus - 14,642
10. Chivas USA - 14,575
11. DC - 14,549
12. Colorado - 13,329
13. New England - 12,988
14. Dallas - 10,815
15. KC - 10,287
16. San Jose - 9,659
Hopefully the success of The Rapids and FC Dallas translates to a bit more success in selling tickets.
ReplyDeleteI went to 3 Rapids home games this summer, none were well attended. I don't think they have ever been well attended. Weird given the pretty convenient location of the stadium, good quality team, large metro area.
ReplyDeleteHopefully we get and keep a significant attendance increase with our new spot. Any attendance predictions for next year?
ReplyDeleteToo bad we couldnt have fudged our numbers up a little higher, otherwise we would have passed Dallas too...
ReplyDeleteHow do you think the name change will hurt ticket sales and team brand recognition?
ReplyDeleteRon: The name change certainly hurts brand recognition in the short-term, but media attention from the new stadium will boost ticket sales.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see what KC's attendance is like when it isn't being artificially depressed by CAB's small capacity.
ReplyDeleteA better product will bring more people- no matter what the name. I'm skeptical, however that we'll see more than 15,000 as the average next year. I hope I'm wrong.
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