Houston's new stadium packed again
- by Mike Woitalla @MikeWoitalla, May 30, 2012
[MLS ATTENDANCE] Week 12 featured 13 games that averaged 18,000-plus as Houston sold out its new stadium for the third straight game and Seattle packed them in
for a midweek game. For MLS team attendance rankings ...
* The Portland Timbers sold out their 23rd straight game at their Jed-Wen Field -- a 1-1 tie with Vancouver.
*
Houston's third game at its new BBVA Compass Stadium, a 2-1 win over defending champ Los Angeles, was a third straight sellout (22,039).
* Seattle drew 38,311 for last Wednesday's 2-0 loss
to Columbus.
* Fireworks helped Columbus draw well above its average -- 16,024 for a 2-1 win over Chicago.
* The league-wide attendance after 120 games is 18,596, an increase
of 6.4 percent from last year's average of 17,425 after Week 12.
MLS ATTENDANCE*
| Club (2012 Rank) | Week 12 Home Games |
2012 Home Average | 2011 Home Average (Final) |
| Chicago (13) | 11,947 | 13,730 | 14,273 |
| Chivas USA (15) | 12,285 | 13,632 | 14,830 |
| Colorado (12) | 17,877 | 15,194 | 14,838 |
| Columbus (17) | 16,024 | 13,219 | 12,185 |
| D.C. United (14) | 14,627 | 13,668 | 15,196 |
| FC Dallas (16) | -- | 13,181 | 12,861 |
| Houston (4) | 22,039 | 22,039 | 17,694 |
| Kansas City
(6) | 19,974 | 19,177 | 17,810 |
| Los Angeles (3) | 16,512 | 22,242 | 23,335 |
| Montreal (2) | -- | 36,498 | -- |
| New England (19) | -- | 11,598 | 13,222 |
| New York (11) | 13,919 | 15,823 | 19,749 |
| Philadelphia (10) | -- | 18,313 | 18,259 |
| Portland (5) | 20,438 | 20,438 | 18,827 |
| Real Salt Lake (9) | 19,341 | 18,486 | 17,591 |
| San Jose (18) | -- | 11,668 | 11,858 |
| Seattle (1) | 38,311 | 38,672 | 38,496 |
| Toronto FC (8) | 18,227 | 18,889 | 20,267 |
| Vancouver (7) | -- | 19,012 | 20,406 |
| Leaguewide | 18,579 | 18,596 | 17,872 |
* Attendance figures, provided by MLS, reflect tickets sold and distributed.
no fireworks at the Columbus Crew game. A post game concert and 600+ visiting fans from Chicago!
As so many MLS games are at night (and this is understandable now due to the heat in so many parts of the country -- playing in daytime is sheer folly), do attendances typically rise once the public schools end? If this is so, shouldn't the MLS expect to see larger attendances starting the second week of June? And I bet that there is a Memorial Day Weekend "boost" to be observed in these numbers above, i.e. parents could take their children knowing that the next day was not a school day. This has to be a crucial factor when one has a midweek game. It would be very interesting to see league April/May attendances versus June/July attendances. Houston: Good job on the new stadium, but you built it about 6 - 8,000 seats too small. (Maybe the new Houston stadium has swift(er) expansion capabilities built into it?)