From the June 27, 1994 issue of The Sporting News comes this story on the new soccer league that would start up less than two years later.

Yeah, loud wrong.

I just noticed this seems to be the only stuff I post here anymore. Sorry about that. I really don’t have much to say that’s over 140 characters most of the time anymore.

Anyway, here are the latest attendance figures for the various leagues, with only a few quick notes because I’m otherwise engaged:

NOTES:

• MLS is on pace right now to draw slightly more than six million fans, but that’s if everybody holds their current averages and Montreal can’t now that they’ve moved back into Saputo Stadium.
• Speaking of which, how do you get 60,000 for a game in Olympic Stadium and yet not sell out the first game back at Saputo? The Impact only drew 17,112 for Saputo’s rebirth after averaging 36,498 (with a previous low of 19,223) for five games at the Big O.
• The Minnesota Stars had a franchise-high crowd of 2,908, the biggest NSC Stadium league attendance since the old Thunder drew 3,773 to a USL First Division match on September 20, 2009 against Charleston last July 22, when Montreal was in town and they drew 3,071 (thanks, ERic).
• Atlanta’s crowd of 6,000 against Carolina Saturday was also a club record, but tickets were free as part of We’ll Make It Up To You Fan Appreciation Night.
• Orlando drew 6,148 Sunday night and continue to lead USL Pro at just under 7k a night. On the other side of the coin, the LA Blues drew 276 and 239 for two matches against Dayton this weekend. The Blues, I fear, are not long for this world.
• I have seven – seven – attendance figures from the 31 matches played in the WPSL Elite League. It is not, apparently, a big concern for them.
• Seattle Sounders Women continue to lead the W-League after another sellout crowd of 4,500 at Starfire yesterday against the LA Strikers. Remarkable that Seattle has just now discovered a team that averaged just over 500 people a game last year and for most of the last several years, and that they’re still turning out after the US Women’s National Team stars are away.
• PDL figures are a lot easier to come by than WPSL ones, but I’m still missing about 15 percent of the games from the amateur league. Portland – on the basis of two 8k+ crowds at JELD-WEN, still leads the league, but its margin over Des Moines shrank after the Timbers U23s drew 505 to Sherwood High School yesterday. (Portland moves its U23 games around the area to venues of differing sizes.) And thanks to the fine folks at the Austin Aztex, who directed me to a figure I didn’t have. Austin – which lost the original Aztex to Orlando after 2010 – is doing well in the PDL.

Here are the latest attendance figures for all the various leagues in the US and Canada, through games of Sunday, June 3. I’m missing a couple of USL Pro attendance figures (both in Dayton), a couple W-League figures, several in WPSL Elite (both leagues have been a bit lax in other areas lately) and many in the PDL. But based on what I have, this is how the league attendance figures look as of today.

• Portland’s PDL team broke the league record with a school-day crowd of 8,174 for their match Friday morning against Vancouver. I couldn’t tell you what the old record was, and neither can USL, probably, so just go with it for now.
• MLS only had one match this past weekend while largely standing down for an official FIFA Match Day, but the league is on pace to draw more than six million this year, and projects roughly to a final average of 18,713 (which would be a record). Montreal’s average will go down a bit when they move into Saputo Stadium. More than half the league (10 clubs) are averaging more than 18,000 a game, which is quite the feather in their cap.
• They had to bring in temporary seating in Edmonton as the NASL club drew 2,521 against Atlanta yesterday. It was a season high for the Eddies, near their franchise record (set in the opener last year) and the first time they’d been over 2k for a league match since last June 26. Overall, they’re down 25% in average over the same number of home games as a year ago, but hope for increased attendance as they bring in more seating to their new stadium.
• Elsewhere in the NASL, Atlanta and Carolina are way up (46% and 59%, respectively) and the RailHawks hope to get a bounce from their Open Cup run. Puerto Rico is down 48% because of their temporary venue. Ft. Lauderdale is down 25% amid talk that their advertising and marketing budget has been slashed. And Tampa Bay – which finally got the historic “Rowdies” name back – has a nearly identical average after five home games this year as last. So much for nostalgia.
• San Antonio reversed a slide that had seen each of their home games draw fewer people than the last when they drew 8,639 for their game Saturday against Minnesota. After five home matches, the Scorpions are averaging just under 10,000, which has only been done at the D2 level by Rochester, Portland and Montreal.
• While Orlando and Rochester continue to lead USL Pro, the best story is probably in Wilmington, where the Hammerheads are third in the league at 4,119. Harrisburg continues to be bedeviled by bad weather, as their game against Richmond Friday was stopped after 84 minutes because of lightning and drew just 355.
• Looks like we’re only going to get WPSL Elite numbers regularly out of Boston. The other clubs don’t seem to think it’s important to count people (or if they count them, they don’t announce them). But, to no one’s surprise, I think we can safely say WPSL Elite, without the ability to market on a league level and with its clubs having limited budgets to market locally, will not be making anyone forget WPS.
• Seattle Sounders Women drew 4,500 for their official home opener against Colorado last Thursday (after packing Starfire for a series of exhibitions against local colleges). They weren’t a big draw on the road a day later in Victoria (no national team players made the trip) as just 502 fans went to their game against the Highlanders. We’ll see what happens with the Sounders Women as Hope Solo and company leave for the Olympics.
• Besides Portland’s U23 squad, PDL teams doing well at the gate include Carolina Dynamo, Des Moines, Fresno and West Texas, who are all over 1,000 a game. The league itself is at 629 (with several games missing), ahead of the historical average of just over 500.