About eleven years ago now, I started fiddling with attendance figures for Major League Soccer, and published breakdowns of how teams and the league did during certain months, days of the week, vs. certain opponents, etc. I added to it and maintained it over the years and became something of a go-to guy for MLS attendance numbers and analysis.

Then Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union-Tribune wrote a really in-depth piece about how the numbers the league announces weren’t entirely accurate (which followed his original story – complete with quote from yours truly – four months earlier about how the practice is widespread). I think we all knew the numbers weren’t entirely accurate, but Zeigler’s reporting showed us all just how wide the gap was between announced and actual attendance (or announced and even remotely believable paid attendance).

So it seemed less and less important to study the issue from week-to-week and season-to-season. I didn’t keep tabs on things as closely in 2007 as I had before. I didn’t update the analysis, which had been a staple of my website for a long time. I found I had less and less patience for the weekly bitchfests about attendance on Bigsoccer.com, which came with the standard misinformation, faulty analysis and whining. And now that I’ve moved to Arizona and don’t work in the league any more, I’m even less interested in the numbers than I was before.

I’m sorry for those of you who have come here looking for the numbers. I appreciate those of you who enjoyed the data and the analysis and stuff. I do have all the numbers, but unless I get into a situation where I get re-invigorated and go full-bore after the project again, I can’t see myself putting Humpty back together again.

Maybe, someday. But not now.

Oh, and I don’t care about your college project, your vanity project, your economics project or the Alan Parsons project. There are people I’ve known to varying degrees for years with whom I wouldn’t share the raw data, I’m certainly not sharing it with people I don’t know at all. Sorry.

But, because there doesn’t seem to be a good clearinghouse for the simple lists of year-by-year team attendance in MLS (I can’t even find it on the league’s website), here is that list, at least. These are numbers from the league, and I’ve had my issues with conflicts between published numbers and their numbers (not to mention their math) from time to time, so I don’t have 100% confidence in every one of these digits. But for most people’s purposes, these should work fine.

ALL-TIME MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER ATTENDANCE
1996
Team	G	Total	Avg.
Los Angeles	16	462,650	28,916
MetroStars	16	382,360	23,898
New England	16	304,392	19,025
Columbus	16	303,202	18,950
San Jose	16	275,712	17,232
Dallas	16	256,173	16,011
DC United	16	244,199	15,262
Kansas City	16	206,044	12,878
Tampa Bay	16	186,856	11,679
Colorado	16	163,413	10,213
MLS TOTAL	160	2,785,001	17,406
1997
Team	G	Total	Avg.
New England	16	340,762	21,298
Los Angeles	16	330,015	20,626
MetroStars	16	270,288	16,893
DC United	16	267,171	16,698
Columbus	16	240,650	15,041
San Jose	16	217,546	13,597
Colorado	16	189,355	11,835
Tampa Bay	16	180,962	11,310
Dallas	16	154,845	9,678
Kansas City	16	144,935	9,058
MLS TOTAL	160	2,336,529	14,603
1998
Team	G	Total	Avg.
Los Angeles	16	348,549	21,784
New England	16	307,004	19,188
Chicago	16	286,190	17,887
MetroStars	16	264,316	16,520
DC United	16	256,127	16,008
Colorado	16	236,995	14,812
San Jose	16	218,450	13,653
Columbus	16	196,394	12,275
Dallas	16	175,162	10,948
Tampa Bay	16	164,999	10,312
Miami	16	164,548	10,284
Kansas City	16	129,163	8,073
MLS TOTAL	192	2,747,897	14,312
1999
Team	G	Total	Avg.
Columbus	16	283,129	17,696
Los Angeles	16	282,113	17,632
DC United	16	278,711	17,419
New England	16	267,752	16,735
Chicago	16	256,261	16,016
San Jose	16	239,350	14,959
MetroStars	16	235,301	14,706
Colorado	16	224,459	14,029
Tampa Bay	16	209,700	13,106
Dallas	16	195,381	12,211
Miami	16	139,021	8,689
Kansas City	16	130,924	8,183
MLS TOTAL	192	2,742,102	14,282
2000
Team	G	Total	Avg.
Los Angeles	16	326,392	20,400
DC United	16	297,279	18,580
MetroStars	16	281,938	17,621
New England	16	247,409	15,463
Columbus	16	247,220	15,451
Chicago	16	214,189	13,387
Dallas	16	209,637	13,102
Colorado	16	201,281	12,580
San Jose	16	199,364	12,460
Tampa Bay	16	151,232	9,452
Kansas City	16	145,793	9,112
Miami	16	119,352	7,460
MLS TOTAL	192	2,641,086	13,756
2001
Team	G	Total	Avg.
DC United	12	258,213	21,518
MetroStars	13	270,477	20,806
Columbus	13	227,644	17,511
Los Angeles	13	226,035	17,387
Colorado	13	214,249	16,481
Chicago	14	229,438	16,388
New England	13	203,501	15,654
Dallas	13	163,465	12,574
Miami	14	156,481	11,177
Kansas City	13	142,402	10,954
Tampa Bay	14	146,734	10,481
San Jose	13	125,250	9,635
MLS TOTAL	158	2,363,889	14,961
2002
Team	G	Total	Avg.
Colorado	14	289,622	20,687
Los Angeles	14	266,664	19,047
MetroStars	14	254,174	18,155
Columbus	14	243,999	17,429
New England	14	236,973	16,927
DC United	14	231,264	16,519
Dallas	14	183,702	13,122
Chicago	14	180,908	12,922
Kansas City	14	171,568	12,255
San Jose	14	156,104	11,150
MLS TOTAL	140	2,214,978	15,821
2003
Team	G	Total	Avg.
Los Angeles	15	329,752	21,983
Colorado	15	251,578	16,772
Columbus	15	243,756	16,250
MetroStars	15	237,326	15,822
Kansas City	15	233,594	15,573
DC United	15	233,476	15,565
New England	15	219,611	14,641
Chicago	15	210,080	14,005
San Jose	15	156,989	10,466
Dallas	15	118,585	7,906
MLS TOTAL	150	2,234,747	14,898
2004
Team	G	Total	Avg.
Los Angeles	15	357,137	23,809
DC United	15	258,484	17,232
MetroStars	15	257,923	17,195
Chicago	15	257,295	17,153
Columbus	15	253,079	16,872
Kansas City	15	222,235	14,816
Colorado	15	212,925	14,195
San Jose	15	195,015	13,001
New England	15	183,385	12,226
Dallas	15	136,319	9,088
MLS TOTAL	150	2,333,797	15,559
2005
Team	G	Total	Avg.
Los Angeles	16	387,256	24,204
Salt Lake	16	288,586	18,037
Chicago	16	275,811	17,238
Chivas USA	16	273,284	17,080
DC United	16	266,617	16,664
MetroStars	16	241,230	15,077
Colorado	16	218,206	13,638
San Jose	16	208,594	13,037
Columbus	16	206,654	12,916
New England	16	200,397	12,525
Dallas	16	179,021	11,189
Kansas City	16	155,060	9,691
MLS TOTAL	192	2,900,716	15,108
2006
Team	G	Total	Avg.
Los Angeles	16	333,016	20,814
Chivas USA	16	317,432	19,840
Houston	16	302,957	18,935
DC United	16	291,442	18,215
Salt Lake	16	261,855	16,366
Dallas	16	239,714	14,982
New York	16	233,112	14,570
Chicago	16	225,775	14,111
Columbus	16	212,699	13,294
Colorado	16	192,894	12,056
New England	16	188,569	11,786
Kansas City	16	177,322	11,083
MLS TOTAL	192	2,976,787	15,504
2007
Team	G	Total	Avg.
Los Angeles	15	363,782	24,252
DC United	15	314,506	20,967
Toronto FC	15	301,947	20,130
New England	15	251,812	16,787
New York	15	247,948	16,530
Chicago	15	247,356	16,490
Salt Lake	15	239,395	15,960
Houston	15	238,240	15,883
Columbus	15	228,451	15,230
Dallas	15	227,182	15,145
Colorado	15	221,229	14,749
Chivas USA	15	214,578	14,305
Kansas City	15	173,784	11,586
MLS TOTAL	195	3,270,210	16,770
2008
Team	G	Total	Avg.
Los Angeles	15	390,132	26,009
Toronto FC	15	301,793	20,120
DC United	15	297,531	19,835
New England	15	263,706	17,580
Chicago	15	255,511	17,034
Houston	15	254,083	16,939
Salt Lake	15	242,690	16,179
New York	15	238,925	15,928
Chivas USA	15	226,717	15,114
Columbus	15	219,332	14,622
San Jose	15	205,695	13,713
Colorado	15	204,884	13,659
Dallas	15	195,356	13,024
Kansas City	15	160,286	10,686
MLS TOTAL	210	3,456,641	16,460
2009
Team	G	Total	Avg.
Seattle	15	463,455	30,897
Los Angeles	15	306,240	20,416
Toronto	15	305,167	20,344
Houston	15	255,712	17,047
Salt Lake	15	245,628	16,375
DC United	15	241,322	16,088
Chivas USA	15	226,375	15,092
Chicago	15	220,331	14,689
Columbus	15	216,699	14,447
San Jose	15	211,717	14,114
New England	15	205,977	13,732
New York	15	187,359	12,491
Dallas	15	186,612	12,441
Colorado	15	184,963	12,331
Kansas City	15	150,802	10,053
MLS TOTAL	225	3,608,359	16,037
2010
Team	G	Total	Avg.
Seattle	15	542,600	36,173
Los Angeles	15	321,552	21,437
Toronto	15	306,795	20,453
Philadelphia	15	288,810	19,254
New York	15	276,616	18,441
Houston	15	259,645	17,310
Salt Lake	15	256,418	17,095
Chicago	15	237,216	15,814
Columbus	15	219,628	14,642
Chivas USA	15	218,629	14,575
DC United	15	217,978	14,532
Colorado	15	199,929	13,329
New England	15	194,802	12,987
Dallas	15	162,229	10,815
Kansas City	15	154,306	10,287
San Jose	15	144,886	9,659
MLS TOTAL	240	4,002,039	16,675
2012
Team	G	Total	Avg.
Seattle	17	733,441	43,144
Los Angeles	17	393,319	23,136
Montreal	17	387,124	22,772
Houston	17	357,251	21,015
Portland	17	347,446	20,438
Vancouver	17	331,081	19,475
Kansas City	17	329,874	19,404
Salt Lake	17	324,482	19,087
New York	17	310,782	18,281
Toronto	17	308,630	18,155
Philadelphia	17	306,904	18,053
Chicago	17	278,947	16,409
Colorado	17	257,972	15,175
Columbus	17	244,752	14,397
Dallas	17	241,390	14,199
New England	17	238,025	14,001
DC United	17	235,382	13,846
San Jose	17	225,977	13,293
Chivas USA	17	221,950	13,056
MLS TOTAL	323	6,074,729	18,807