After a long hiatus (for a number of reasons), here are the final (in most cases) attendance figures for the primary men’s and women’s outdoor soccer leagues in North America for 2011. As always, corrections and additions are welcome. NOTE: I’ve just received more data and updated the USL Pro numbers. The PDL and W-League numbers I’ll update soon.

NOTES:

• MLS recorded its highest average attendance since the inaugural season of 1996 (17,872 to 17,406), up about 7% from 2010. Twelve of the 18 teams saw increases from last year (two – Vancouver and Portland, obviously couldn’t, they’re new), however slight in some cases. Kind of puts paid to all that kvetching about the schedule being late, doesn’t it? Anyway, Kansas City set a record by jumping 73% by moving into their new yard (but with only 5% of the league’s games, any one team can’t have a huge effect on the league number anymore). San Jose – thanks in part to a game at Stanford Stadium that drew 41,000+ – was up 23%, and were getting capacity (such as it is) crowds to Buck Shaw by year’s end. Still, they need a new yard. Dallas was up 19% and Colorado 11%, but Chicago (down 10%) and Columbus (down 17%) are concerns. Twelve of the league’s 18 teams (14 of 19 once Montreal officially starts and Houston moves into their new stadium in 2012) play in purpose-built stadiums and Seattle and Vancouver aren’t a concern for now. Portland will actually expand its capacity for next year. So San Jose, New England and DC United are the only real trouble spots as far as stadiums are concerned, and Gillette is only really a concern for Revs fans, not for Bob Kraft. Bottom line: anybody who tells you MLS has widespread attendance problems or that “nobody goes to MLS games” is full of it. The league isn’t going away.
• The NASL completed its season with no teams folding and no major drama (which is harder than you think in the second division). But its 3,770 average was the lowest for a second-division league since the 2003 A-League (which had 19 teams – 11 of whom are either dead or in MLS now). The relocation and re-branding of Miami FC into the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers resulted in a 200% increase in average attendance, but they are still only an average-drawing D2 team (hey, the folks in South Florida will take it…for now). Carolina – with the best team in the league and an experienced GM in Curt Johnson – was up 50%, but Montreal, with a terrible team in their D2 swan song, was off 7%. Minnesota – which won the playoffs – was up 22%, but they were starting from a very low level and still don’t have an owner. And Tampa Bay’s move across the Bay to St. Petersburg was a bad move when it was announced and a bad move when all was said and done (unless you like 22% attendance drops. Seriously, that would have to be some really big cost-savings to offset losing a quarter of your fans).
• USL Pro’s 2,147 average (even with the three Puerto Rico teams that had to be dropped a month into the season and who weren’t drawing at all) was the highest ever for a third-division league in the modern era (thank you, Orlando). But dropping a level may have been one cause for Rochester’s 20% decline in average announced attendance – the Rhinos went from 6,464 in the USSF D2 Pro League in 2010 to 5,139 in USL Pro in 2011. That doesn’t explain why Harrisburg (with a team that went to the final) dropped 16% (from 1,666 to 1,404), though the Islanders had horrific luck with weather early. Pittsburgh was up 20%, Charlotte up 12% and Orlando was up 45% over its numbers in Austin in 2010.
• WPS averaged 5,126 for 18 games post-Women’s World Cup. Which would be great if they could keep that up. It’s virtually impossible to think they will. Still, it was probably enough to convince a couple of investors to step up (supposedly there’s a Connecticut expansion team coming, but magicJack is out and Boston is looking for an owner) to fund a 2012 season. Atlanta was a bright spot (up 31% despite having the absolute worst team in the league and maybe ever), while the move from Washington to Boca Raton was disastrous on so many levels for the former Freedom (down 47%). But Dan Borislow ran his pro team like it was your daughter’s U14 travel team, only with your daughter trying to serve balls in to Abby Wambach. Sky Blue is a mystery (down 36%). Overall, the league was off about 2% from last year, thanks to the late surge. Still, it won’t matter unless there’s a serious change in how this league is perceived (or they stage a Women’s World Cup every year).
• Fresno led the PDL with 4,511 a game (I’m missing one of their attendance figures), but didn’t sell a ticket. The Fuego’s tickets were free to fans this year thanks to a sponsorship deal. Good for the fans, but I’m skeptical about the move. Sponsors come and go. When they can’t find one and have to go back to charging, what happens? It’ll be curious to see. I’m missing several games in the PDL (about 12%), but I don’t think it matters much. 500-550 a game is where this league is and is likely to be.
• Vancouver led the W-League with 1,258 per game (the only team to break four figures), but they’ve said they’re not interested in moving up to WPS (smart move). DC United Women was a success, drawing 803 per game in their first season. Wonder if we’ll see more MLS/W-League cooperation going forward.

This will be the last I’ll have to say on this subject – or any other – for a while. See y’all in 2012.

Tags: attendance, MLS, NASL2, PDL, soccer, things only I care about, USL, USL-Pro, W-League

This entry was posted on Monday, October 31st, 2011 at 5:32 pm and is filed under soccer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.