This week, we take a look at all 55 men’s professional clubs (in MLS, the NASL and the USL) to see where they all rank in terms of average attendance. While in the past there have been instances where lower-division clubs have drawn higher average announced attendances than an MLS club or two, the top twenty on this list are all in the top flight. The top lower-level club is not from the second-division NASL, but from the USL, where Sacramento Republic FC draws about a thousand more a night (in a slightly larger stadium) than the NASL’s Indy Eleven. In large part, though, this falls in line pretty well by division (and therefore, budget and capitalization and stadium size), with 19 of the bottom 20 coming from USL (and eight of those are MLS developmental squads, which have other priorities).

Rk Club Lg G Total Average Median High Low 1 Seattle Sounders MLS 12 495,889 41,324 40,299 53,125 39,175 2 Orlando City SC MLS 12 400,150 33,346 30,990 62,510 23,372 3 New York City FC MLS 12 347,531 28,961 26,833 48,047 20,461 4 Toronto FC MLS 7 167,844 23,978 24,895 30,226 16,382 5 San Jose Earthquakes MLS 9 212,646 23,627 18,000 50,422 18,000 6 Los Angeles Galaxy MLS 12 262,668 21,889 20,713 27,000 13,391 7 Portland Timbers MLS 11 232,554 21,141 21,144 21,144 21,114 8 Houston Dynamo MLS 11 228,620 20,784 21,046 22,651 16,018 9 Vancouver Whitecaps MLS 10 207,064 20,706 21,000 22,500 18,083 10 Real Salt Lake MLS 12 241,461 20,122 20,228 20,956 18,895 11 Sporting Kansas City MLS 11 218,273 19,843 19,784 21,505 18,864 12 New York Red Bulls MLS 9 169,988 18,888 20,053 25,217 12,540 13 New England Revolution MLS 12 213,246 17,771 16,793 28,811 10,668 14 Philadelphia Union MLS 12 212,573 17,714 18,047 18,883 15,374 15 Columbus Crew MLS 12 191,158 15,930 15,604 21,324 11,435 16 Montreal Impact MLS 9 141,923 15,769 15,304 25,245 10,035 17 Colorado Rapids MLS 11 173,175 15,743 15,585 18,597 11,450 18 Chicago Fire MLS 12 185,706 15,476 14,733 20,124 11,833 19 FC Dallas MLS 11 169,676 15,425 15,236 19,140 12,640 20 DC United MLS 13 195,455 15,035 16,221 19,125 11,218 21 Sacramento Republic FC USL 10 112,748 11,275 11,342 11,442 10,906 22 Indy Eleven NASL 8 81,467 10,183 10,216 10,524 9,629 23 Minnesota United NASL 7 64,404 9,201 9,233 9,412 9,012 24 Jacksonville Armada NASL 7 63,798 9,114 8,167 16,164 6,847 25 San Antonio Scorpions NASL 8 52,020 6,503 6,716 7,636 4,912 26 Louisville City FC USL 10 63,905 6,391 6,368 8,254 4,772 27 New York Cosmos NASL 7 41,747 5,964 5,032 12,550 3,383 28 Rochester Rhinos USL 8 45,812 5,727 5,687 6,922 4,251 29 Tampa Bay Rowdies NASL 8 45,491 5,686 5,478 7,010 4,217 30 Ft. Lauderdale Strikers NASL 7 38,852 5,550 4,883 11,691 3,283 31 Atlanta Silverbacks NASL 6 28,516 4,753 4,727 5,511 3,841 32 Tulsa Roughnecks FC USL 11 52,028 4,730 4,210 8,335 3,189 33 Saint Louis FC USL 10 47,140 4,714 4,763 5,304 4,004 34 Carolina Railhawks NASL 9 42,302 4,700 4,489 7,217 3,055 35 Ottawa Fury NASL 9 41,042 4,560 5,064 6,150 3,023 36 OKC Energy FC USL 10 43,750 4,375 4,337 6,797 3,133 37 Charleston Battery USL 11 44,449 4,041 4,188 5,638 3,026 38 Real Monarchs SLC USL 9 35,639 3,960 3,012 11,003 1,001 39 Richmond Kickers USL 10 33,722 3,372 3,059 5,580 1,632 40 Arizona United SC USL 9 30,014 3,335 3,144 6,108 1,884 41 Austin Aztex USL 11 33,190 3,017 2,880 5,146 1,439 42 Portland Timbers 2 USL 9 26,616 2,957 2,728 4,944 1,734 43 Wilmington Hammerheads FC USL 9 26,003 2,889 2,781 4,265 1,789 44 Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC USL 10 26,665 2,667 2,519 3,726 2,012 45 FC Edmonton NASL 8 20,791 2,599 2,422 4,232 1,112 46 Pittsburgh Riverhounds USL 11 27,822 2,529 2,274 3,801 995 47 Harrisburg City Islanders USL 8 19,554 2,444 2,435 3,024 2,022 48 Seattle Sounders FC 2 USL 10 22,357 2,236 2,142 2,951 1,789 49 Charlotte Independence USL 10 17,728 1,773 1,768 2,241 1,271 50 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 USL 11 19,307 1,755 1,453 3,208 1,106 51 Orange County Blues FC USL 10 11,567 1,157 907 3,000 674 52 LA Galaxy II USL 11 9,729 884 727 1,352 507 53 New York Red Bulls II USL 11 6,103 555 538 1,028 191 54 Toronto FC II USL 8 4,138 517 510 986 50 55 FC Montreal USL 10 3,565 357 262 1,301 112

The highest-scoring day in MLS history was also a good one at the turnstiles, as the eight games averaged 25,421 in attendance, led by Seattle’s 53,125. New York City (27,645), Orlando (26,586) and New England (21,362) all cracked 20k. Fully half the league (with Sporting KC and the New York Red Bulls right on the cusp) are averaging 20,000 per game in MLS’ 20th season.

The NASL’s five weekend matches averaged 5,760. Indianapolis’ crowd of 9,632 marked the second time in three home games they’ve failed to crack 10k, though they’re still leading the league by almost a thousand a game over Minnesota. Edmonton (which can’t be long for this world, or at least this division) played another game in the remote outpost of Fort McMurray, six hours north of Edmonton, and drew 1,626. The NASL is still on pace to draw over a million for its fifth season. Average league attendance in the second half of its split season is down just less than a thousand a game from the spring part.

For its 13 games from Friday to Sunday, the USL drew 54,838 fans, an average of 4,218. The third tier is also on pace to draw a million, which has never happened in the third division, either. Sacramento continues to lead the way, but first-year clubs in Louisville, Tulsa and Saint Louis have drawn well. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s USL team had a season-high (for their temporary venue, at least) crowd of 2,145 on Saturday night, a week after Chelsea and PSG drew 62k across town. I’m not sure – as at least one local exec seems to think – that MLS is “pretty realistic” for Charlotte (they’re behind a lot of other folks), but we’ll give them time to see how they continue to build their organization and fan base.

on pace to draw a million, which has never happened in the third division, either. Sacramento continues to lead the way, but first-year clubs in Louisville, Tulsa and Saint Louis have drawn well. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s USL team had a season-high (for their temporary venue, at least) crowd of 2,145 on Saturday night, a week after Chelsea and PSG drew 62k across town. I’m not sure – as at least one local exec seems to think – that MLS is “pretty realistic” for Charlotte (they’re behind a lot of other folks), but we’ll give them time to see how they continue to build their organization and fan base. Combined, the three leagues have drawn just under six million people to this point, with MLS averaging 21,256, the NASL averaging 6,196 and the USL bringing in 3,222 per game.

EDIT to add the chart above. If anyone needs another indication of the rising popularity of outdoor club soccer in this country, show them this. The three professional levels have seen crowds rising dramatically since 2000 (when the combined average was just under 17k), and even more so in recent seasons. You can also see from this chart that the second division (which has gone by many names and masters over the years) still has a wide gap to close between itself and MLS. (In fact, the gap between the second and third divisions is far smaller. Pro/rel that.)

the chart above. If anyone needs another indication of the rising popularity of outdoor club soccer in this country, show them this. The three professional levels have seen crowds rising dramatically since 2000 (when the combined average was just under 17k), and even more so in recent seasons. You can also see from this chart that the second division (which has gone by many names and masters over the years) still has a wide gap to close between itself and MLS. (In fact, the gap between the second and third divisions is far smaller. Pro/rel that.) EDIT to add : The Portland Thorns of the NWSL would rank 21st on this list, if it included pro women’s teams. It does not. But a future list (like one I did last year, which is still the most-trafficked post on this site) will include everybody. Sit tight.

: The Portland Thorns of the NWSL would rank 21st on this list, if it included pro women’s teams. It does not. But a future list (like one I did last year, which is still the most-trafficked post on this site) will include everybody. Sit tight. EDIT to add: Chattanooga FC of the NPSL broke the league’s attendance record with a playoff crowd of 9,236 over the weekend. While they are not a pro team and the NPSL’s attendance numbers are notoriously hard to come by, Chattanooga has done really well on and off the field and could be a candidate for a move to the pros. (Along with Detroit City FC, which averaged 3,527 at home this season.)

EDIT TO ADD: There were 59 professional teams between the three levels in 2000. Here’s what a similar chart would have looked like then:



Rk Team League G Total Avg. 1 Los Angeles Galaxy MLS 16 326,392 20,400 2 DC United MLS 16 297,279 18,580 3 MetroStars MLS 16 281,938 17,621 4 New England Revolution MLS 16 247,409 15,463 5 Columbus Crew MLS 16 247,220 15,451 6 Chicago Fire MLS 16 214,189 13,387 7 Dallas Burn MLS 16 209,637 13,102 8 Colorado Rapids MLS 16 201,281 12,580 9 San Jose Earthquakes MLS 16 199,364 12,460 10 Rochester Raging Rhinos A-League 15 174,426 11,628 11 Tampa Bay Mutiny MLS 16 151,232 9,452 12 Kansas City Wizards MLS 16 145,793 9,112 13 Miami Fusion MLS 16 119,352 7,460 14 New Jersey Stallions D3 Pro 10 41,203 4,120 15 Vancouver 86ers A-League 15 59,378 3,959 16 Pittsburgh Riverhounds A-League 14 53,308 3,808 17 Milwaukee Rampage A-League 15 54,816 3,654 18 Minnesota Thunder A-League 15 53,813 3,588 19 Charleston Battery A-League 14 48,795 3,485 20 Atlanta Silverbacks A-League 12 39,925 3,327 21 El Paso Patriots A-League 15 49,230 3,282 22 Utah Blitzz D3 Pro 10 29,965 2,997 23 San Diego Flash A-League 15 41,802 2,787 24 Toronto Lynx A-League 14 36,681 2,620 25 Hampton Roads Mariners A-League 14 35,749 2,554 26 Montreal Impact A-League 15 35,069 2,338 27 Western Mass Pioneers D3 Pro 10 23,129 2,313 28 Hershey Wildcats A-League 15 33,211 2,214 29 Richmond Kickers A-League 15 32,874 2,192 30 Seattle Sounders A-League 14 29,997 2,143 31 Long Island Rough Riders A-League 13 25,648 1,973 32 New Hampshire Phantoms D3 Pro 10 18,450 1,845 33 Indiana Blast A-League 14 25,147 1,796 34 Chico Rooks D3 Pro 9 14,516 1,613 35 Wilmington Hammerheads D3 Pro 9 13,556 1,506 36 Connecticut Wolves A-League 14 18,555 1,325 37 South Jersey Barons D3 Pro 10 13,181 1,318 38 Charlotte Eagles D3 Pro 10 12,317 1,232 39 Houston Hurricanes D3 Pro 10 11,581 1,158 40 Orange County Waves A-League 13 13,777 1,060 41 Riverside County Elite D3 Pro 10 9,908 991 42 Bay Area Seals A-League 15 14,687 979 43 Arizona Sahuaros D3 Pro 10 8,679 868 44 Stanislaus United Cruisers D3 Pro 10 8,499 850 45 Raleigh Capital Express A-League 14 11,872 848 46 Carolina Dynamo D3 Pro 10 8,393 839 47 Tennessee Rhythm A-League 14 10,896 778 48 Reading Rage D3 Pro 10 7,514 751 49 Boston Bulldogs A-League 14 9,269 662 50 Rhode Island Stingrays D3 Pro 10 6,237 624 51 Tucson Fireballs D3 Pro 10 5,617 562 52 Cape Cod Crusaders D3 Pro 9 4,982 554 53 Cincinnati Riverhawks A-League 13 6,321 486 54 Austin Lone Stars D3 Pro 10 4,470 447 55 Northern Virginia Royals D3 Pro 7 2,973 425 56 Delaware Wizards D3 Pro 10 3,818 382 57 Roanoke Wrath D3 Pro 9 3,355 373 58 Texas Rattlers D3 Pro 8 2,525 316

Then, the 30th-ranked pro team in terms of average attendance (Seattle, then in the A-League) averaged 2,143. The 30th-ranked club at the moment (Ft. Lauderdale) averages 5,550. The 50th-ranked in 2000 averaged 624. Today the 50th-ranked is at 1,755. Only one team (the Galaxy) averaged 20k in 2000. Today, ten clubs are at or above that figure. Back then, 15 of the top 55 were averaging under 1,000. Today, four clubs are.