The 2012 Major League Soccer season was the most attended in the 17-year history of the league. During 338 regular season and playoff matches, a total of 6.4 million fans made their way to MLS stadiums throughout North America, generating an average attendance of 18,959 per match.
In this, the final attendance ranking of the 2012 season, we measured all 19 clubs’ figures in the following four categories: total attendance, average attendance, number of sellouts, and percentage increase (or decrease) from 2011 to 2012. Where does your club rank? Have a look below.
Highest Total Attendance
Seattle Sounders – 812,277
Los Angeles Galaxy – 492,532
Houston Dynamo – 398,876
Montreal Impact – 387,124
Sporting Kansas City – 350,768
Portland Timbers – 347,446
Real Salt Lake – 344,139
Vancouver Whitecaps – 331,081
New York Red Bulls – 324,817
Toronto FC – 308,630
Philadelphia Union – 306,904
Chicago Fire – 289,663
D.C. United – 272,953
Colorado Rapids – 257,972
Columbus Crew – 244,752
FC Dallas – 241,390
New England Revolution – 238,025
San Jose Earthquakes – 236,721
Chivas USA – 221,950
Highest Average Attendance
Seattle Sounders – 42,751
Los Angeles Galaxy – 23,453
Montreal Impact – 22,772
Houston Dynamo – 20,993
Portland Timbers – 20,438
Sporting Kansas City – 19,487
Vancouver Whitecaps – 19,475
Real Salt Lake – 19,119
Toronto FC – 18,155
Philadelphia Union – 18,053
New York Red Bulls – 18,045
Chicago Fire – 16,092
Colorado Rapids – 15,175
Columbus Crew – 14,397
D.C. United – 14,365
FC Dallas – 14,199
New England Revolution – 14,001
San Jose Earthquakes – 13,251
Chivas USA – 13,056
Most Sellouts
Sporting Kansas City/Portland Timbers – 17
Seattle Sounders – 12
San Jose Earthquakes/Real Salt Lake – 11
Los Angeles Galaxy/Houston Dynamo – 9
Philadelphia Union – 7
Montreal Impact – 6
Vancouver Whitecaps – 5
FC Dallas/New York Red Bulls – 3
Colorado Rapids/New England Revolution/Chicago Fire/D.C. United – 2
Toronto FC/Chivas USA – 1
Columbus Crew – 0
Largest Increase in Average Attendance
Montreal Impact – 97.8%
Columbus Crew – 18.2%
Houston Dynamo – 16.1%
FC Dallas – 14%
Chicago Fire – 12.7%
San Jose Earthquakes – 11.7%
Seattle Sounders – 11.1%
Sporting Kansas City – 9.4%
Real Salt Lake – 8.7%
Portland Timbers – 8.6%
New England Revolution – 3.3%
Colorado Rapids – 2.3%
Los Angeles Galaxy – 0.9%
Philadelphia Union – 1.2% (decrease)
Vancouver Whitecaps – 4.6% (decrease)
D.C. United – 5.5% (decrease)
New York Red Bulls – 9.1% (decrease)
Toronto FC – 10.4% (decrease)
Chivas USA – 12% (decrease)
It’s disappointing to see NY’s average attendance decrease by 9%. The stadium was half empty the couple of games I went to… Hopefully it’ll pick again next year.
I can only predict a continued downward spiral for D.C. United attendance figures until/if a new stadium finally gets built. RFK is a disaster and other than the supporters section bleachers, the fans are simply too far from the field and the action.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything positive about RFK. I do hope that a stadium plan gets worked out soon.