SoccerBlogs

Tuesday evening saw the start of another Carling cup campaign for many Premier League sides, but yet again the relevance of the competition is being called into question.

For the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United this competition has helped clubs to develop their talented youth players over the past decade, but for teams who are battling against relegation come the end of the season it could just prove a hindrance in their fight for survival!

Apparently, the pitch isn't the only place the Revolution have struggled this season.

According the league's latest attendance figures, New England, which currently sits in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, remains dead last at the gate, with a league-low 12,542 average homeattendance this season through Week 28.

Back after a hiatus, I present you the latest attendance figures from the Major Indoor Soccer League. As you may or may not know, United Soccer Leagues took over the MISL this season and brought it under their umbrella along with its nascent I-League. The result is a seven-team league that's averaging right about what the old one was through the same number of games a year ago.

It has been far too long since we last took a look at efforts to promote tickets sales in Major League Soccer.� During a year in which attendance figures continue to impress, it is worth taking a moment to look at what teams are doing to sell seats in 2012.� � Recall that last year Major League Soccer announced the formation of the MLS National Sales Center to assist MLS teams with ticket sales and staffing.

Just because people have asked and not because it's particularly revealing or surprising, here are the 149 teams in MLS, the NASL, USL Pro, the PSL, WPSL Elite and the W-League ranked by average announced attendance. Before you ask, many lower teams don't always report all of their numbers, so there are many missing figures in the WPSL-E, the PDL and W-League.

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.

Very busy week of games in Major League Soccer. Before we get to the attendance figures here is an article from the San Jose Mercury News with club President Dave Kaval.� The article provides some information about team season ticket sales (4,000) and preparations for a move into the team's new stadium.

First Kick is (almost) in the books with only a sold out Jeld-Wen Field left for Monday night.� Here is a look at the first week of attendance figures from around Major League Soccer.� The first set of games featured Colorado hosting Columbus and Vancouver hosting Montreal's inaugural match.� 21k sold out BC Place for Vancouver's home opener while just over 14,700 were DSG for the Rapids.

And by hold the line I mean "keep raising prices." Neil deMause of Field of Schemes writing in Slate on the dip in demand for sporting event tickets in America:

Where we look to be headed, then, is a two-tiered system. A handful of top teams and events will be able to charge whatever they want, while most everyone else is forced to give away tickets.

Time for some attendance numbers for you attendance geeks out there. The Sports Business Daily released current attendance figures to date in� comparison� to this time last season. As expected the league has enjoyed a 6.3% raise in folks at the gate with only five clubs seeing negative percentages (The Union are one of those teams in the negative and its largely due to them playing their first two games at the Linc in Philly).

� Photo: Earl Gardner

Danny Califf says of the hype leading into Saturday's game, "I think there was a lot of hoopla leading up to the game but once the game got underway, Union fans were cheering for the Union."

Califf, in the starting lineup after a two game layoff, was named to Goal.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

The Union are now 4–0–0 in international friendlies at PPL Park after a very entertaining 2–1 win over Schalke 04. The official attendance was 7,464 which, as is usually the case with attendance figures, seems generous. Whatever.

Before we jump into attendance figures for the weekend, a couple of quick items.� First, we'll start with a programming note.� Footiebusiness Contributor Dave Laidig is preparing a comprehensive and extremely interesting look at the Castrol Index and statistical evaluation of players.� Dave has tried to account for the minutes played bias in the Castrol Index and has produced some extremely interesting numbers.

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

Often, when push comes to shove in radicalising a group of football supporters, it will take one, symbolic moment to push those that might otherwise have merely got on with the job of watching their team to realise that the time� for action is now.

� For those that follow the ailing Blue Square Premier club Kettering Town, that moment may have come at any of three or four different occasions over the last month or so, but the tipping point for many may have cone with twin five-goal defeats at the hands of Luton Town over Christmas and the New Year (results which plunged the club back into the thick of the relegation places at the bottom of the table), it with the release of an official club statement which sought, unsurprisingly enough, to place the blame for the club's woes at the foot of everybody but those with the overall responsibility for managing its finances.

We all know that MLS is expanding to a 19th member next year and that they are actively looking for a 20th member but is MLS still viable in its 16th year of existence? As a side note the NASL lasted 17 years and next year the Mayan Calendar ends so it looks like MLS will also only last 17 years. The easiest way to tell if the MLS is healthy is to look at finances but since MLS is not a public entity there is not really any way to get that information, so that leaves us with looking at attendance.

Women's Professional Soccer has announced appointment of Jennifer Pogorelec O'Sullivan as the League's new Chief Executive Officer. O'Sullivan formerly served as the Vice President of Labor and Legal Affairs for the Arena Football League.� She is a law school graduate and sports industry veteran.