Toronto's amazing fans; Revs hit another low
- by Mike Woitalla @MikeWoitalla, Jun 22, 2011
[MLS ATTENDANCE] The smallest crowd of the season appeared for New England's midweek game. But Toronto FC's fans continue their
remarkable support for the perennial struggler. For MLS attendance rankings ...
* Toronto FC drew 21,839 fans -- the biggest crowd of Week 14 -- hoping to see their team win their third
game of the season. They were disappointed as Seattle prevailed, 1-0. Despite having missed the playoffs in each of its first four seasons in the league and second-to-last in this season's overall
standings, Toronto ranks fifth in attendance average.
* New England played at home twice in Week 14, drawing 6,680 for a midweek scoreless tie with Toronto and 14,246 for a 1-1 tie with
Chicago on Saturday. The Wednesday crowd was MLS's lowest of the season. The season's second lowest crowd, 7,114, was also at Gillette Stadium, April 2 against Portland.
* Colorado hosted
the Los Angeles Galaxy, which was without injured David Beckham, and drew its biggest crowd of the season (18,277). Since Beckham arrived in MLS, he has missed four of the Galaxy's
five trips to Colorado. The Galaxy beat the defending champion, 3-1.
MLS ATTENDANCE:
| Club (2011 Rank) | Week 14 Home Games | 2011 Home Average | 2010 Home Average (Final) |
| Chicago (14) | -- | 13,380 | 15,814 |
| Chivas USA
(12) | 11,253 | 15,917 | 14,576 |
| Colorado (13) | 18,277 | 13,684 | 13,329 |
| Columbus (17) | -- | 10,447 | 14,642 |
| D.C. United (11) | -- | 16,024 | 14,532 |
| FC Dallas (15) | -- | 12,990 | 10,815 |
| Houston
(9) | 13,039 | 17,718 | 17,310 |
| Kansas City (4) | 18,467 | 19,925 | 10,287 |
| Los Angeles (2) | -- | 22,206 | 21,437 |
| New England (16) | 14,246 | 12,449 | 12,987 |
| New York (7) | -- | 18,204 | 18,441 |
| Philadelphia (8) | -- | 18,190 | 19,254 |
| Portland (6) | 18,627 | 18,627 | -- |
| Real Salt Lake (10) | 16,841 | 16,080 | 17,095 |
| San Jose (18) | -- | 9,722 | 9,659 |
| Seattle (1) | -- | 36,297 | 36,173 |
| Toronto FC
(5) | 21,839 | 19,665 | 20,453 |
| Vancouver (3) | 20,168 | 20,117 | -- |
| Leaguewide | 15,944 | 17,244 | 16,037 |
The Revs game on Wednesday coincided with game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, where the Bruins were trying to win their first cup in 39 years. The WHOLE area was home watching this game - the TV ratings were on par with the Patriots-Giants Super Bowl game. I'd bet that the actual attendance was a good deal lower than the announced 6,680.
Okay they were below their season average of less that 12,500 per game, they are still one of the worst drawing teams in the league and have been for many years. Take away the 21,000 that attended the Red Bulls game and their average is even worse.
Considering the NASL Impact are drawing 12,000 a game in a 13,000 seat stadium, teams like Columbus, Dallas and New England don't present themselves as Major League teams. In San Jose's defence, they are drawing 9,700 a game in a 10,300 seat stadium, even with a reduced capacity for MLS, the Revs capacity is 22,385 meaning they are drawing 54.6% of capacity compared with 92.5% in Montreal and 94.9% in San Jose. I guarantee you that Montreal will outdraw at least half the league next year.