Soccer News: Soccer Becomes More Popular

The American soccer season is underway and fans are flocking to games in record numbers. More than One Million people have attended an MLS game so far this season.  With 50 games played already, that's an average attendance of just under 20,000 per game. 

Club (2012 Rank)	2012 Home Average	2011 Home Average
Chicago (15)	14,282	14,273
Chivas USA (17)	11,853	14,830
Colorado (16)	13,949	14,838
Columbus (13)	14,857	12,185
D.C. United (12)	15,045	15,196
FC Dallas (11)	15,079	12,861
Houston (-)	--	17,694
Kansas City (7)	18,671	17,810
Los Angeles (3)	22,233	23,335
Montreal (1)	41,016	--
New England (18)	11,657	13,222
New York (10)	17,184	19,749
Philadelphia (9)	18,263	18,259
Portland (4)	20,438	18,827
Real Salt Lake (8)	18,554	17,591
San Jose (14)	14,289	11,858
Seattle (2)	38,549	38,496
Toronto FC (6)	19,163	20,267
Vancouver (5)	20,197	20,406
Leaguewide	19,490	17,872

Two Cities in the Top: Kansas City and Philadelphia are leading the pack with ticket sales and report that fan support for games is measurably on the rise with standing-room-only crowds. Seattle had over 38,000 fans watch its 1-0 victory against Colorado.

Want to know the stats for past MLS seasons? We were curious about attendance and ticket prices. And yes, in most cases ticket prices went up! Chris Matcovich, Director of Data & Communications at TiqIQ, helped us analyze ticket sales and MLS attendance.

Team	2011 Avg Home Price	2012 Avg Home Price	2010 Attendence	2011 Attendence
Philadelphia Union	$52.16	$63.52	19,254	18,259
Toronto FC	$65.43	$53.22	20,453	20,267
Houston Dynamo	$35.00	$38.00	17,310	17,694
Montreal Impact	N/A	$96.46	N/A	N/A
D.C. United	$36.00	$49.00	14,532	15,181
Chicago Fire	$35.00	$37.00	15,814	14,274
New England Revolution	$39.00	$52.34	12,987	13,222
Columbus Crew	$35.00	$48.00	14,642	12,185
Sporting Kansas City	$55.09	$52.04	10,287	17,810
New York Red Bulls	$44.00	$65.08	18,441	19,691
Seattle Sounders	$54.37	$67.78	36,173	38,496
Chivas USA	$31.00	$66.47	14,576	14,830
FC Dallas	$26.00	$40.00	10,815	12,861
Real Salt Lake	$43.00	$49.00	17,095	17,594
Vancouver Whitecaps	$65.96	$77.80	N/A	20,412
Portland Timbers	$65.72	$97.59	N/A	18,827
Los Angeles Galaxy	$44.00	$89.47	21,437	23,335
San Jose Earthquakes	$23.00	$49.00	9,659	11,858
Colorado Rapids	$41.00	$47.00	14,329	14,838

TiqIQ is the #1 sports ticket aggregator and has the latest secondary ticket data on last year's MLS cup: 2011's average ticket price went up 162% (averaging approximately $325) after the LA Galaxy qualified for the finals.

The 2010 game was in Toronto and featured two smaller market teams (Dallas and Colorado). Last year marked the third time in MLS Cup history that the host team (LA Galaxy) has participated in the championship. It first happened in 1997, when D.C. United beat the Colorado Rapids in front of 57,431 at RFK Stadium. In 2002, the New England Revolution lost to the LA Galaxy in front of 61,316 at Gillette Stadium.  

Yep, the fans love to see their local team play in the MLS Cup Championship. So the question that comes to mind is, who are the teams that will play in the MLS Cup this year? If fan support has anything to do with it, Kansas City Wizards playing in Livestrong Park would be a favorite.  Not only did the team just beat the LA Galaxy with a 1-0 win but reported record attendance of over 20,000 for the game.