Major League Soccer starts its 17th season this weekend, tying it with the original North American Soccer League for longevity among top-flight soccer leagues on these shores in the modern area. So, just for fun, here’s a look at where each of the markets that had one or more NASL or MLS teams over the years rank in terms of average announced attendance. The “NASL Years” actually include 18 seasons, as I’ve included the totals from the precursor rival leagues of 1967, the USA and the NPSL, and those numbers go through 1984. The “MLS Years” would be from 1996-2011.

Market	Team(s)	Yrs	G	Total	Average
Minneapolis	Kicks, Strikers	7	99	2,264,316	22,872
Seattle	Sounders	13	186	4,207,207	22,619
New York	Generals, Skyliners, Cosmos, MetroStars/Red Bulls	33	465	9,064,288	19,493
Vancouver	Royal Canadians, Royals, Whitecaps	14	190	3,224,471	16,971
Salt Lake City	Real	7	109	1,833,671	16,823
Tampa	Rowdies, Mutiny	16	235	3,728,610	15,866
Los Angeles	Toros, Wolves, Aztecs, Surf, Galaxy, Chivas USA	31	562	8,873,337	15,789
Columbus	Crew	16	246	3,749,683	15,243
Tulsa	Roughnecks	7	105	1,519,480	14,471
Washington, DC	Darts, Whips, Diplomats, Team America, DC United	29	417	5,885,098	14,113
Portland	Timbers	9	131	1,710,126	13,054
Boston	Rovers, Beacons, Minutemen, Tea Men, Revolution	24	347	4,525,299	13,041
Denver	Dynamos, Caribous, Rapids	19	282	3,658,091	12,972
Houston	Stars, Hurricane, Dynamo	11	161	2,084,706	12,948
SF Bay Area	Gales, Clippers, Earthquakes, Stompers, Clash/Earthquakes	29	418	5,253,896	12,569
Montreal	Olympiques, Manic	6	78	928,361	11,902
Chicago	Spurs, Mustangs, Sting, Fire	27	391	4,618,078	11,811
Toronto	City, Falcons, Metros, Metros-Croatia, Blizzard, FC	22	297	3,275,751	11,029
Kansas City	Spurs, Wiz/Wizards/Sporting	19	282	2,998,244	10,632
Calgary	Boomers	1	16	168,019	10,501
Detroit	Cougars, Express	5	66	666,910	10,105
Dallas	Tornado, Burn/FC	31	424	4,264,688	10,058
Philadelphia	Atoms, Fury, Union	10	137	1,340,620	9,786
Miami/Ft.L	Toros, Gatos, Strikers, Fusion	16	218	2,083,564	9,558
Edmonton	Drillers	4	63	572,425	9,086
Memphis	Rogues	3	46	400,364	8,704
Jacksonville	Tea Men	2	32	266,675	8,334
San Diego	Jaws, Sockers	9	132	1,099,816	8,332
Las Vegas	Quicksilvers	1	13	92,031	7,079
Rochester	Lancers	11	137	838,696	6,122
St. Louis	Stars	11	131	763,524	5,828
Atlanta	Chiefs, Apollos	10	123	647,494	5,264
Cleveland	Stokers	2	22	108,273	4,922
San Antonio	Thunder	2	23	106,052	4,611
Honolulu	Team Hawaii	1	13	59,056	4,543
Baltimore	Bays, Comets	5	52	219,713	4,225
Hartford	Bicentennials	3	36	132,687	3,686
Pittsburgh	Spartans	1	16	49,959	3,122
COMBINED TOTALS		33	6,701	87,283,279	13,025

It’s interesting that Minneapolis takes the top spot, though it’s all NASL and only seven seasons of that. The accomplishments of the Cosmos at the gate are brought down a bit by their precursors, the Generals and Skyliners, and by the MetroStars/Red Bulls. Seattle gets a boost from the current-day Sounders, but the original Sounders averaged 18,322 in 10 NASL seasons, ranking them fourth in the original league’s standings behind Minneapolis, New York and Tampa (who gets hurt in the combined rankings by the Mutiny). MLS is in 16 of the top 20 markets on this list, missing only Minneapolis, Tampa, Tulsa and Calgary.

I wouldn’t read a lot into this because the two eras are so very different and the leagues went about things in very different manners (if you’re curious, the NASL averaged 10,749 over its lifetime, while MLS’ all-time average is 15,744, almost 50% higher). I just thought it was interesting.

The Major Indoor Soccer League’s regular season ended today and here are the final attendance figures for the league:

Team	G	Total	Avg.	Med	Hi	Lo
Baltimore Blast	12	71,538	5,962	5,800	9,644	2,316
Rochester Lancers	12	68,102	5,675	5,570	7,210	3,997
Missouri Comets	12	49,105	4,092	3,892	8,276	2,853
Milwaukee Wave	12	47,463	3,955	3,336	5,964	3,059
Wichita Wings	12	45,707	3,809	3,865	5,200	2,538
Syracuse Silver Knights	12	35,406	2,951	2,901	3,892	2,317
Norfolk SharX	12	19,157	1,596	1,385	3,422	635
MISL TOTAL	84	336,478	4,006	3,700	9,644	635

The MISL averaged 4,007 fans per game (announced) last season and 4,006 this season. That’s consistency. The Baltimore Blast led their league for the eighth consecutive season, but their average announced crowd was down 14 percent from last year. Milwaukee was also down by 13 percent. Missouri was basically flat and the other four teams were in their first year. Rochester was a success right out of the gate, as the Lancers finished second in the East and second in average attendance. The playoffs begin this week.