MLS overtakes NHL and NBA as third-most attended league

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I posted this in the Beckham thread, noticed someone had said make it a thread so I figured, why not. It be cool to see Footy GAF/Sports GAF/Euro GAF etc.. all weigh in, maybe even open some more peoples eyes into the amazing experience this league has to offer.

http://www.coloradoan.com/article/2...-league?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|frontpage|p

Finding new favor: MLS overtakes NHL and NBA as third-most attended league

It’s called “the world’s game,” but in the U.S. it has been viewed more like a Third World game, until lately.

Major League Soccer has overtaken the NHL and the NBA as the third-most attended league per game in the U.S., based on 2011 attendance numbers.

MLS now trails only the NFL and MLB in professional leagues....
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Good sign for American soccer, good for the sport as a whole too in my eyes.

Sure some will attribute it too stadium size, package deals, cost etc...but in looking at size of stadiums and such it doesnt look to make that much of a difference, plus they play half as many games as the NHL and NBA if Im right, only 34 games.

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But no matter, a league many thought would fail in a sport that many Americans seem to hate, its incredible!
Come join us in MLS GAF, we could use some new blood and new fans, the OP offers a great introduction into the league to get you started, plus the season is half over so theres still time to jump in, support, and wait to see if your team makes the playoffs!
http://neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=464350
 
MLB is really second in attendance per game? I figured they would be high on a list because of the shear number of games, surprised it's still high when normalized like that

Slayven said:
Does it really count since the NBA had a short season this year?
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It says per game so not sure that would have had a major effect
 
Free/next-to-free tickets increases attendance.

Revenue and TV would be better ways to gauge success and profit.
 
Khold said:
MLB is really second in attendance per game? I figured they would be high on a list because of the shear number of games, surprised it's still high when normalized like that



It says per game so not sure that would have had a major effect
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its the most family friendly sport to attend

its like a picnic.
 
Wait, are those capacities the sizes of the venues? Those are tiny aren't they? AFL games here can get up to 110,000.
 
Good, but the quality of play needs to up by a lot. I've been to two MLS games already and
KuGsj.gif
. We need more academy programs damnit and lose the cap so we can sign bigger names.
 
Doesn't matter how many games are played since this is based on per game attendance. It should be outpacing the NHL and NBA in that respect.

This is still impressive though since professional soccer was basically dead in the US. I'm glad the MLS is continuing to get better both in quality and popularity.
 
Had no idea that MLS was getting those kinds of crowds in Canada. Wow, look at the Montreal Impact.

edit:

shira said:
Free or packed in with promotions like buy a happy meal get 10 free tickets.

I guess it is like movie theaters and they make profits off concessions and parking
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Ah. Ok. So it is almost like AAA base ball over here. Still surprised at the numbers.
 
mls is great, it has made so much progress in quality and entertainment.

never going to compete with europe though until we adopt a more academy-focused professional recruitment as opposed to college recruitment
 
Pkm said:
Sure some will attribute it too stadium size, package deals, cost etc...but in looking at size of stadiums and such it doesnt look to make that much of a difference, plus they play half as many games as the NHL and NBA if Im right, only 34 games.
Click to expand...

Slayven said:
Does it really count since the NBA had a short season this year?
Click to expand...

It appears that these numbers are per-game average attendance, therefore a shorter season might actually benefit them. In any case, the size of the venue is far and away the decisive factor here.

Also, it's only the 3rd place professional league. You'll find that many college football teams have average attendances of 80K+ and are limited by their stadium sizes.
 
Hockey is pretty much dull-ass soccer on ice.....no surprise that it's fading.

NBA games are expensive as all hell. Drop the prices down and it'd easily surpass soccer.
 
border said:
Hockey is pretty much dull-ass soccer on ice.....no surprise that it's fading.

NBA games are expensive as all hell. Drop the prices down and it'd easily surpass soccer.
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4th quarter Time-Out festival is exceptionally entertaining, yeah

Time Stoppage fun
 
oneils said:
Had no idea that MLS was getting those kinds of crowds in Canada. Wow, look at the Montreal Impact.

edit:




Ah. Ok. So it is almost like AAA base ball over here. Still surprised at the numbers.
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I follow the league, and I don't see very many ticket specials or group deals or whatever. It is true that tickets are cheaper than other sports, though; usually the cheapest in the SS is around 20 bucks and sideline tickets will run you 30-40.
 
IDK, Chivas tickets are dirt cheap. Galaxy are a little bit more I think? Plus the venues are bigger for soccer than NBA I would think.

The thing I like about MLS stadiums is that there doesn't seem to be a really bad seat in the house.

I like the home depot center to watch games. I want to visit these other newer MLS specific stadiums as well. They all look so cool.
 
I've never lived in an MLS market and it's not something I'm interested in the point to where I'd travel. Very cool that it's caught on though, I read where the Seattle Sounders were outdrawing the shitty Mariners.
 
impact said:
Sad sad news. I blame David Stern.
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I know I won't be watching any NBA games after that playoffs. Lebron being ringless was a big reason for a very casual fan like me to watch(my home team, the Raptors are not that great), but the officiating I had seen turned me off to the sport/league completely.

I am just going to stick with the NFL now, and watch the NHL playoffs. The rest of the leagues in NA are just not as entertaining.
 
terrible article and thread title. It's not the third most attended, it's the 3rd highest average per game.

Easy to have a higher average when you have much less games. NFL wouldn't be getting as much as it does if people had to buy 50 games a year for a season ticket.
 
its amazing that mlb has the 2nd best avg attendance considering there are 2430 games played during a season.
 
People who think any of the major sports are boring likely just don't know them well, or were/are bad at them.

That said, I can not for the life of me watch college level sports or MLS. Those are absolutely boring to me because there's such a dearth of talent there compared to their professional counterparts, or in the case of the MLS, the countries that actually give a shit about soccer (football) like England or Italy.
 
bigtroyjon said:
terrible article and thread title. It's not the third most attended, it's the 3rd highest average per game.

Easy to have a higher average when you have much less games. NFL wouldn't be getting as much as it does if people had to buy 50 games a year for a season ticket.
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Spin and twist.
What did you expect from a reporter?
 
bigtroyjon said:
terrible article and thread title. It's not the third most attended, it's the 3rd highest average per game.

Easy to have a higher average when you have much less games. NFL wouldn't be getting as much as it does if people had to buy 50 games a year for a season ticket.
Click to expand...
ahem baseball
 
daycru said:
I can't follow hockey on TV (I was the only one who liked the Fox glowing puck) but it's so much fun live for me. We just got a new minor league team a couple of years ago where you can sit 4-5 rows from the ice for $15. Incredible in person, just wish I understood the rules better.
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I love hockey either way, but it's definitely so much better live. It's played at such a ridiculous speed when it's played best.
 
Izick said:
People who think any of the major sports are boring likely just don't know them well, or were/are bad at them.

That said, I can not for the life of me watch college level sports or MLS. Those are absolutely boring to me because there's such a dearth of talent there compared to their professional counterparts, or in the case of the MLS, the countries that actually give a shit about soccer (football) like England or Italy.
Click to expand...

I generally agree with you.

But the utility of college sports comes from the historic rivalries and the fact that none of the athletes are spoiled mega-rich-and-famous superstars.
 
I've only been to ppl but I love watching the unions play. My buddy got season tickets and always takes me I'm pretty lucky. :P
 
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