SoccerBlogs

Now that every professional (men's and women's) team in MLS, the NASL, USL Pro and the NWSL has had at least one home match, we can take a look at the attendance figures for each team in the various leagues through games of May 5. (As always, corrections are welcome.)

THE MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER	G	Total	Average
Seattle Sounders	3	117,471	39,157
Montreal Impact	4	100,512	25,128
Los Angeles Galaxy	5	105,156	21,031
Portland Timbers	5	103,370	20,674
Vancouver Whitecaps	4	77,657	19,414
Sporting KC	5	96,462	19,292
Toronto FC	5	96,439	19,288
Houston Dynamo	5	92,643	18,529
Real Salt Lake	5	90,764	18,153
Philadelphia Union	4	69,375	17,344
New York Red Bulls	4	68,213	17,053
FC Dallas	5	79,683	15,937
DC United	4	58,474	14,619
New England Revolution	3	40,882	13,627
Colorado Rapids	5	66,843	13,369
Columbus Crew	4	52,931	13,233
Chicago Fire	4	48,335	12,084
San Jose Earthquakes	6	62,699	10,450
Chivas USA	5	40,227	8,045
MLS TOTAL	85	1,468,136	17,272
NORTH AMERICAN SOCCER LEAGUE	G	Total	Average
San Antonio Scorpions	2	15,230	7,615
Minnesota Stars FC	3	15,714	5,238
Atlanta Silverbacks	2	10,402	5,201
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	2	9,764	4,882
Carolina RailHawks	2	8,794	4,397
Tampa Bay Rowdies	3	11,219	3,740
FC Edmonton	1	921	921
NASL TOTAL	15	72,044	4,803
USL PRO	G	Total	Average
Orlando City	4	31,660	7,915
Rochester Rhinos	1	5,963	5,963
Pittsburgh Riverhounds	1	4,000	4,000
Charleston Battery	2	7,808	3,904
Wilmington Hammerheads	2	5,955	2,978
Richmond Kickers	4	10,066	2,517
Phoenix FC	5	11,928	2,386
Dayton Dutch Lions	*1	1,436	1,436
Harrisburg City Islanders	2	2,769	1,385
Los Angeles Blues	*4	2,637	659
Charlotte Eagles	4	2,373	593
VSI Tampa FC	4	2,264	566
MLS Reserve Teams	3	10,373	3,458
USL PRO TOTAL	37	99,232	2,682
*=Missing one game
NATIONAL WOMEN'S SOCCER LEAGUE	G	Total	Average
Portland Thorns FC	1	16,479	16,479
FC Kansas City	2	10,848	5,424
Washington Spirit	3	12,682	4,227
Western NY Flash	2	6,192	3,096
Boston Breakers	2	5,747	2,874
Seattle Reign FC	1	2,618	2,618
Sky Blue FC	1	2,611	2,611
Chicago Red Stars	2	4,110	2,055
NWSL TOTAL	14	61,287	4,378

NOTES:

• MLS, which drew six million fans for the first time ever in 2012, is on pace to do slightly below that (if every team holds its average for the rest of the season), but at 17,272 and playing to about 83% capacity, its numbers are healthier than ever overall.

Might be the last one for a while, but here's the latest list of attendance figures for the prominent leagues (if a team's not listed, either they haven't had a home game yet or I have no figures for them).

THE MLS G Total Avg. Seattle Sounders FC 7 253,864 36,266 Los Angeles Galaxy 6 136,938 22,823 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 7 140,923 20,132 Toronto FC 8 157,020 19,628 Portland Timbers 6 111,762 18,627 Philadelphia Union 6 108,596 18,099 Houston Dynamo 7 122,414 17,488 New York Red Bulls 6 104,036 17,339 Chivas USA 5 85,592 17,118 DC United 6 98,063 16,344 Real Salt Lake 5 81,360 16,272 Colorado Rapids 6 83,007 13,835 FC Dallas 7 96,099 13,728 Chicago Fire 5 66,439 13,288 New England Revolution 7 87,146 12,449 Columbus Crew 6 60,427 10,071 San Jose Earthquakes 6 59,132 9,855 TMLS TOTAL 106 1,852,818 17,479 NASL G Total Avg.

All the leagues are up and running now, so here's a look at where the crowds are going in the prominent soccer leagues in the US and Canada as of yesterday's games:

THE MLS G Total Avg. Median Seattle Sounders FC 6 217,838 36,306 36,255 Los Angeles Galaxy 5 122,480 24,496 24,998 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 6 119,923 19,987 20,664 Toronto FC 7 136,898 19,557 20,086 Portland Timbers 5 93,135 18,627 18,627 Philadelphia Union 6 108,596 18,099 18,482 Houston Dynamo 6 105,705 17,618 17,281 New York Red Bulls 5 85,955 17,191 16,365 Chivas USA 5 85,592 17,118 14,058 Real Salt Lake 4 66,634 16,659 15,907 DC United 6 98,063 16,344 15,276 FC Dallas 7 96,099 13,728 12,109 Chicago Fire 4 54,513 13,628 12,315 Colorado Rapids 5 66,568 13,314 13,598 New England Revolution 6 65,353 10,892 11,585 Columbus Crew 5 50,996 10,199 10,306 San Jose Earthquakes 6 59,132 9,855 10,006 Sporting Kansas City 0 0 0 0 TMLS TOTAL 94 1,633,480 17,377 16,752 NASL G Total Avg.

With the year just days away from its end, let's look at how I did on my 10 Predictions for 2010 from back in January:

1. The USA will advance to the second round of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. - They did. Thank you, Landon Donovan

2.

Here are the latest attendance figures from the various soccer leagues around these parts, through yesterday's games:

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER G Total Average Seattle Sounders FC 11 397,701 36,155 Toronto FC 11 227,205 20,655 Philadelphia Union 9 183,122 20,347 Los Angeles Galaxy 9 182,871 20,319 New York Red Bulls 10 174,249 17,425 Houston Dynamo 11 187,668 17,061 Real Salt Lake 11 184,310 16,755 Chicago Fire 9 139,370 15,486 DC United 11 159,182 14,471 Chivas USA 9 128,413 14,268 Columbus Crew 11 155,903 14,173 Colorado Rapids 9 118,420 13,158 New England Revolution 10 118,139 11,814 FC Dallas 10 108,889 10,889 Kansas City Wizards 11 111,202 10,109 San Jose Earthquakes 10 96,376 9,638 MLS TOTAL 162 2,673,020 16,500 WOMEN'S PROFESSIONAL SOCCER G Total Average Boston Breakers 12 53,878 4,490 Chicago Red Stars 11 46,283 4,208 Washington Freedom 10 39,216 3,922 Atlanta Beat 9 32,976 3,664 Sky Blue FC 9 29,299 3,255 FC Gold Pride 11 33,667 3,061 Saint Louis Athletica 4 12,109 3,027 Philadelphia Independence 12 34,179 2,848 WPS TOTAL 78 281,607 3,610 USSF DIVISION II SOCCER LEAGUE G Total Average Montreal Impact 12 147,276 12,273 Portland Timbers 12 115,078 9,590 Rochester Rhinos 13 81,974 6,306 Vancouver Whitecaps 11 55,938 5,085 FC Tampa Bay Rowdies 10 43,730 4,373 Austin Aztex 13 46,363 3,566 AC St.

Once again, here are the latest unofficial (and, at the lower levels, incomplete) attendance figures for The Major League Soccer, Women's Professional Soccer, the USSF Division II Professional Soccer League, the USL Second Division, the USL W-League and the Premier Development League:

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER Team G Total Average Seattle Sounders FC 9 325,257 36,140 Philadelphia Union 4 95,821 23,955 Los Angeles Galaxy 7 144,811 20,687 Toronto FC 8 164,706 20,588 New York Red Bulls 8 130,214 16,277 Real Salt Lake 8 130,216 16,277 Houston Dynamo 9 144,028 16,003 Chicago Fire 7 103,476 14,782 DC United 7 103,139 14,734 Chivas USA 7 101,155 14,451 Columbus Crew 7 100,573 14,368 Colorado Rapids 6 82,298 13,716 New England Revolution 8 94,375 11,797 FC Dallas 7 78,678 11,240 Kansas City Wizards 8 80,047 10,006 San Jose Earthquakes 7 66,607 9,515 MLS TOTAL 117 1,945,401 16,627 WOMEN'S PROFESSIONAL SOCCER Team G Total Average Boston Breakers 6 28,277 4,713 Washington Freedom 7 29,778 4,254 Chicago Red Stars 8 33,369 4,171 Atlanta Beat 5 19,692 3,938 Sky Blue FC 5 17,889 3,578 FC Gold Pride 8 25,293 3,162 Saint Louis Athletica 4 12,109 3,027 Philadelphia Independence 8 24,061 3,008 WPS TOTAL 51 190,468 3,735 USSF DIVISION II SOCCER LEAGUE Team G Total Average Montreal Impact 7 86,790 12,399 Portland Timbers 11 99,660 9,060 Rochester Rhinos 9 50,783 5,643 FC Tampa Bay Rowdies 5 26,901 5,380 Vancouver Whitecaps 8 40,239 5,030 Austin Aztex 9 31,574 3,508 AC St.

Here are attendance figures for the various levels of the outdoor game through this past weekend:

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER Team G Total Average Seattle Sounders FC 5 180,723 36,145 Philadelphia Union 2 59,908 29,954 Toronto FC 3 60,432 20,144 Los Angeles Galaxy 5 96,985 19,397 New York Red Bulls 4 71,758 17,940 Houston Dynamo 5 78,772 15,754 DC United 5 74,768 14,954 Real Salt Lake 4 59,798 14,950 Chicago Fire 3 44,812 14,937 Chivas USA 4 58,216 14,554 Columbus Crew 4 53,082 13,271 Colorado Rapids 3 31,451 10,484 New England Revolution 5 50,598 10,120 Kansas City Wizards 4 38,813 9,703 San Jose Earthquakes 4 38,056 9,514 FC Dallas 4 37,407 9,352 MLS TOTAL 64 1,035,579 16,181 WOMEN'S PROFESSIONAL SOCCER Team G Total Average Boston Breakers 3 15,749 5,250 Atlanta Beat 2 10,360 5,180 Washington Freedom 4 19,023 4,756 Chicago Red Stars 3 13,915 4,638 Sky Blue FC 2 8,238 4,119 Philadelphia Independence 3 11,694 3,898 FC Gold Pride 3 9,912 3,304 Saint Louis Athletica 4 12,109 3,027 WPS TOTAL 24 101,000 4,208 USSF DIVISION II SOCCER LEAGUE Team G Total Average Montreal Impact 3 36,853 12,284 Portland Timbers 5 45,993 9,199 FC Tampa Bay Rowdies 1 8,082 8,082 Vancouver Whitecaps 4 19,829 4,957 AC St.

Other sites may give you the MLS attendance numbers (no one was doing it in 2001, when I started it), but who else gives you numbers for every level of the outdoor game? Now that the last two pro holdouts had their home openers, and the Premier Development League season is well underway, here's a look at the current (unofficial - corrections welcome) attendance averages for teams in the familiar outdoor leagues.

Through five weeks of the 2010 Major League Soccer season, average announced attendance is up by just over 15%, thanks in part to a new stadium in New York, a slightly enlarged capacity in Seattle, and...well, it being early still.

This table ranks the 16 teams by their percentage change in average announced attendance through the same number of dates as a year ago (Philadelphia did not play last year).

With a little help from the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, here's a list I've compiled of the all-time leading goalscorers in American outdoor soccer leagues, going back to the primordial soup days.

Player Goals Archie Stark 253 Johnny Nelson 223 Giorgio Chinaglia 193 Dave Brown 189 Bill Patterson 152 Andy Stevens 150 Jerry Best 138 Bart McGhee 137 Harold Brittain 135 Jaime Moreno 132 Bobby Blair 131 Werner Nilsen 131 Alan Willey 129 Karl-Heinz Granitza 128 Tommy Florie 126 Jeff Cunningham 124 Tec White 124 Ron Futcher 119 Bart Patenaude 118 Ante Razov 114 Jason Kreis 108 Mike McLeavey 108 Herbert Carlson 107 Paul Child 102 Illja Mitic 101 Taylor Twellman 101 Steve David 100

Archie Stark was a star of the Bethlehem Steel FC teams that were powerful in the 1920s.

What are the chances that someone taken in last week's Major League Soccer SuperDraft will play in MLS? Better than 50/50, looking at the history of the league's various drafts.

Through 2009 (the 2010 draft class hasn't had a chance to play a league match yet, obviously), 568 of the 993 players drafted1 by MLS teams played at least one regular-season or playoff match, either for the team that drafted them or another team or teams.

With today's announcement that there will be just six teams competing in the USL Second Division in 2010, here's a chart (still to be updated) showing the number of teams at each level of men's pro outdoor soccer here since MLS launched in 1996:

Year MLS USL 1 USL 2 PDL TOTAL USL 1996 10 *28 27 34 92 89 1997 10 24 39 30 103 93 1998 12 28 39 33 112 100 1999 12 30 26 42 110 98 2000 12 25 22 44 103 91 2001 12 21 17 45 95 83 2002 10 18 18 47 93 83 2003 10 19 13 50 92 82 2004 10 16 12 55 93 83 2005 12 12 9 54 87 75 2006 12 12 10 59 93 81 2007 13 12 10 63 98 85 2008 14 11 10 67 102 88 2009 15 11 9 69 104 89 2010 16 ?

Major League Soccer's regular season wrapped up yesterday and here are the final attendance figures:

Team G Total Avg Med Hi Lo Change Seattle 15 463,455 30,897 32,404 33,108 28,548 NA Los Angeles 15 306,240 20,416 19,718 27,000 16,649 -21.5% Toronto 15 305,167 20,344 20,384 20,902 19,843 1.

There's a month or so left in the 2009 Major League Soccer season, and six clubs (Chivas USA, Houston, Colorado, Columbus, Chicago and New England) still have a chance to win half of the games on their schedule.

Don't laugh. That's more rare than you might think. In the 30-game, no-shootouts era (since 2003), only 11 teams out of 71 have won 15 or more games.

It's been just over a month since I wrote about the strange statistical totals coming out of the Major Indoor Soccer League's teams in Chicago and Syracuse, where their goalkeepers particularly Chicago's Jeff Richey were being credited with record-breaking (and near-historic) numbers of saves.

Thanks to a decent final month, the Major Indoor Soccer League's final attendance figures rallied a bit from the last time we checked in on them. Still, the final average of 3,761 was the lowest since...last year, when the XSL did 3,435. But before that you have to go back almost 20 years, to the NPSL of 1991-92, to find a league averaging under 4,000 announced per game.

If you've ever thought the Premier Development League business model sounds great no player salaries or workman's comp, limited regional travel, short seasons keep in mind it's no guarantee of success. A dozen PDL teams some of them clubs of long standing are no more, according to the 2013 schedule announced today by United Soccer Leagues.

The USSF Division II Pro Soccer League season ended over the weekend (the playoffs start tomorrow) and, when all was said and done, average league attendance was down nearly six percent from a year ago, and at its lowest level since 2004. Here are the numbers:

Team G Total Avg. Med. Hi Lo Change Montreal 15 185,952 12,397 12,443 13,034 10,864 +3.

Just because I was curious, I thought I'd check to see which countries, leagues and clubs had produced the most First XI players among the countries who made the knockout stages of the 2010 World Cup.

Those 16 countries started a total (obviously) of 176 players in their round of 16 games.