The Timbers Army

The Timbers Army

(Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian)

On Monday night, the Seattle Sounders and FC Dallas played to a scoreless draw in the Western Conference semifinals in front of an animated, neon green-clad crowd of 38,912 at CenturyLink Field.

Monday night's attendance was actually below average for the Sounders, who drew an MLS-leading average of 43,734 fans per game in 2014.

League-wide attendances are up. For the first time in league history, MLS averaged over 19,000 fans per game, with an average per game attendance of 19,148 in the 2014 season. MLS is drawing more fans per game on average than both the NBA and NHL.

And MLS is only continuing to grow.

"We're thrilled we saw a record turnout this year and we expect to continue to see similar growth next year," MLS executive Vice President of Communications Dan Courtemanche said. "The opportunity exists for us to set a new attendance record in 2015."

A decade ago, MLS was a fledgling league, struggling to simply survive. Now, all the statistics indicate that MLS has clearly become one of the five major sports in the United States.

MLS is even on the verge of surpassing other major sports in popularity.

In March, the ESPN Sports Poll found that 18 percent of 12-17 year olds considered themselves avid fans of MLS, the same percentage that considered themselves avid fans of MLB. While MLB has seen its popularity decrease in younger fans, MLS continues to become more and more popular to young supporters.

"I think the league and the clubs have done a really good job of building bridges with youth clubs around their regions," Portland Timbers president of business operations Mike Golub said. "Kids today are growing up playing the game and appreciating the game. That's been a positive thing for the league."

While league attendance has grown incrementally in the past, MLS has the opportunity to see big gains in attendance and fandom over the next few years as the league continues to expand.

New York City FC and Orlando City SC will enter the league next season in markets where Courtemanche said there is a serious demand for soccer.

Expansion franchise LAFC will then enter the league in 2017 with the support of its star-studded ownership group that includes NBA Hall-of-Famer Magic Johnson and former women's soccer star Mia Hamm. LAFC will replace Chivas USA, which averaged just 7,063 fans per game this year and ceased operations at the end of the 2014 season.

"Without Chivas this year, we would have averaged nearly 20,000 fans per game," Courtemanche said. "When it comes to attendance, it's one of our most significant revenue streams and will continue to be one of our top revenue streams for the near future."

In most MLS markets, teams are seeing fans return season after season. Only two teams – Chivas USA and the Montreal Impact – saw substantial decreases in attendance in 2014.

In Portland, the hunger for soccer is particularly evident.

The Timbers have sold out all 70 of their MLS games, including regular season and playoffs, since joining the league in 2011, even though they have made the playoffs just once during that time.

This year, the Timbers set an MLS record for season ticket renewals with an incredible 99 percent of season ticket holders renewing their season tickets for 2015. Many sports franchises are happy with renewal rates over 80 percent, and a 99 percent renewal rate is "unheard of in professional sports," Courtemanche said.

And the Timbers still have over 10,000 fans on the waiting list for season tickets.

"It's a pretty incredible number," Golub said. "We've had an over 95 percent renewal rate for all four years we've been in MLS, but this year we exceeded our own expectations. We have an amazing group of supporters that have demonstrated time and time again their loyalty to the club."

Four teams in MLS also saw their average attendances increase by more than ten percent in 2014 and expect to continue to see increases moving into next season.

The San Jose Earthquakes played one home game at Stanford Stadium and one home game at Levi's Stadium in 2014. The larger venues helped San Jose raise its average per game attendance by 17.1 percent in 2014 to 14,947 fans per game.

Next season, San Jose will move into a larger permanent stadium that will seat 18,000 fans and help the Earthquakes continue to bolster their attendance numbers.

Toronto FC increased its average per game attendance by 21.8 percent in 2014 after adding top players Michael Bradley and Jermain Defoe to its roster. D.C. United increased its average per game attendance by 24.8 percent after going from the worst team in MLS in 2013 to first place in the Eastern Conference in 2014.

The New England Revolution also increased its overall per game attendance by 12.4 percent to 16,681 fans per game in 2014.

Despite being outside an already heavily saturated Boston sports market, the Revolution have made a concerted effort to expand their marketing department over the last few years and have seen steady increases in attendance since 2011, when they averaged just 13,222 fans per game. They saw an added spike in attendance this season after signing U.S. national team star Jermaine Jones in August.

"I think the key to growth is making sure it's sustainable and you are growing in an organic way where you can continue to grow," New England Revolution President Brian Bilello said. "Around ten years ago, MLS would bring in a star player here and there and have a promotion here or there and fans would come for awhile. That wasn't sustainable."

While attendance numbers have continued to grow, television ratings have lagged behind for MLS. In 2014, MLS averaged 240,000 viewers per game on ESPN and ESPN 2 broadcasts and 141,000 viewers per game on NBC broadcasts.

Despite the poor TV numbers, MLS signed a new eight-year, $720 million deal with ESPN, Fox Sports and Spanish-language Univision this year.

"Television is incredibly important to the viability of all professional leagues," Courtemanche said. "It's been a big focus for us."

MLS is entering its 20th season in 2015. Many of its younger fans have been able to grow up following the league, Golub said.

And as new teams pop in new markets across the country – like next season in Orlando – the national attention on MLS will only continue to grow.

"The growth we have now is very sustainable," Bilello said. "It's not built on promotions. It's built on true passion and true fans and I expect we will have many more years of growth to come."

-- Jamie Goldberg | @jamiebgoldberg