MLS New #3 Sport In USA !!

[denime]

NBA Loses Its Spot As Third-Best-Attended U.S. Pro Sports League

An average of 17,870 fans have attended MLS games over the course of the 2011 season -- that's 3.0 percent more than the NBA and 4.1 percent more than the National Hockey League.

[prizby]

i tweeted this the other day

[NBS]

Montreal can only help this next year, especially when they open the season (with a loss ) versus TFC at a sold out Big Owe.

[Inklink]

Good news, but don't forget that the largest NBA/NHL venue probably seats 21,000.

[TFCRegina]

Only one slight problem is that MLS also plays a fraction of the games. The overall attendance for NHL/NBA is significantly higher during a season.

[akoto]

Exactly TFCRegina. We still have a long way until MLS is a true number 3. I think what's more impressive is that MLS is 10th internationally.

[Oldtimer]

The original article on which this is based is very interesting:

http://www.examiner.com/soccer-in-na...ook-110311-MLS

Another reason for the increase is Major League Soccer's better understanding of genuine soccer culture

MLS attendance also ranks higher internationally, now holding the No. 10 spot.
1. English Premier League: 35,283
2. Germany Bundesliga: 42,101
3. Spain La Liga: 29,128
4. Mexico Primera: 26,722
5. Italy Serie A: 24,031
6. Argentina Primera: 19,843
7. France Ligue 1: 19,650
8. Netherlands Eredivisie: 19,116
9. Japan J League 1: 18,428
10. U.S. Major League Soccer: 17,870
11. England League Championship: 17,388
12. Brazil Serie A: 14,839
13. Germany Bundesliga: 14,539
14. Scottish Premier League: 13,677

[Kaz]

The other thing that dampens this a bit is that MLS is an outdoor league, where as NBA and NHL are indoor played in smaller venues on significantly smaller playing surfaces. Both sports would have significantly high per game attendance in a larger space. (in some venues) But it's a good sign. And the fact that we are now a league with attendance about on par with the Championship for a little while, is a good sign. TV viewership need to be worked on though. That is the number that matters we need to start seeing people turn on the game at home and in the pub more.

[torontocelt]

Exactly TFCRegina. We still have a long way until MLS is a true number 3. I think what's more impressive is that MLS is 10th internationally.

When you consider the population of North America though then per person the ratio isn't impressive. Also other sports in NA have big TV audiences and MLS doesn't. I know tons of people that would go see TFC live but never watch them on TV. MLS is still very much a work in progress but there is positive signs for sure.

[mowe]

Thank god for Seattle.

[cuecas_red]

MLS attendance ranking climbs internationally

MLS attendance also ranks higher internationally, now holding the No. 10 spot.
1. English Premier League: 35,283
2. Germany Bundesliga: 42,101
3. Spain La Liga: 29,128
4. Mexico Primera: 26,722
5. Italy Serie A: 24,031
6. Argentina Primera: 19,843
7. France Ligue 1: 19,650
8. Netherlands Eredivisie: 19,116
9. Japan J League 1: 18,428
10. U.S. Major League Soccer: 17,870
11. England League Championship: 17,388
12. Brazil Serie A: 14,839
13. Germany Bundesliga: 14,539
14. Scottish Premier League: 13,677

Why is Germany on their twice (2 and 14) and why do they get second spot when their number is higher than England?

[CSO_BBTB]

They'll be talking about Bundesliga 1. and Bundesliga 2. or whatever the correct terminology is. England has #1 and #11 for the same reason.

[Whoop]

Isn't Germany actually #1?

a) it's common knowledge that the Bundesliga 1 is the best attended football league in the world

and

b) 42,101 > 35,283

[Whoop]

And you can't really go by average attendance really because if that was the case, the CFL has a better average than the NHL or NBA (and some football leagues in Europe) and I don't think the CFL is as popular as those sports in North America.

[TFCRegina]

Why is Germany on their twice (2 and 14) and why do they get second spot when their number is higher than England?

1.Bundesliga 2.Bundesliga (Bundesliga = National League)

[TOBOR !]

That list actually represents the order of TOTAL ATTENDANCE per season - in which case the EPL has a higher rank. However, the EPL slips to number two in average fans per game..

Wiki has it all.

[Super]

It's also important to factor in cost of tickets. It's significantly cheaper to go see an MLS game compared to an NHL/NBA game. I'm sure our numbers wouldn't be quite as good if we had the same amount of games + prices.

But having said that, it's great to see us getting such good numbers - and whether that makes us #3 or #whatever in the US is really not that important to me.

[BakaGaijin]

It's also important to factor in cost of tickets. It's significantly cheaper to go see an MLS game compared to an NHL/NBA game. I'm sure our numbers wouldn't be quite as good if we had the same amount of games + prices.

But having said that, it's great to see us getting such good numbers - and whether that makes us #3 or #whatever in the US is really not that important to me.

Not true for the NBA. You can see an NBA game for $20 in almost any city. In good basketball markets, like Toronto, these seats can be hard to come by though.

[Oldtimer]

You can see hockey really cheap in the old south.

[habstfc]

Price is the biggest reason why. To put things in perspective the cost of the best seats at bmo won't even get you in the lower bowl at the ACC. The average ticket cost in mls is by far the cheapest of any of the other leagues including the cfl.