by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Jul 21, 2015

After almost two-thirds of the 2015 season, Major League Soccer is averaging 21,142 fans a game, up 10.4 percent over last season's record average of 19,149.The increase is largely attributable to the arrival of expansion teams Orlando City and New York City FC, which are averaging 33,960 and 28,785, respectively, to rank second and third in MLS behind the Seattle Sounders, who have led the league in attendance in each of their seven seasons. Chivas USA which averaged only 7,063 fans a game in 2014, folded.The 18 returning teams are up 4 percent year-to-year after the same number of games. The San Jose Earthquakes, who moved into new Avaya Stadium and also played games at Levi's Stadium and Stanford Stadium, are up 59 percent. The New England Revolution is up 14 percent.The only teams with double-digit declines are the Montreal Impact (down 20 percent) and D.C United (down 13 percent). If you throw out D.C. United's 2014 match at FedEx Field that was played as part of a doubleheader with Spain-El Salvador and drew 53,267 fans, its average attendance is up 12 percent. Montreal opened this season with one, not two MLS games, at Olympic Stadium.Ten teams are averaging more than 20,000 fans a game. Never before has more than eight teams reached that mark.

Success on the field does not necessarily translate to success at the gate. FC Dallas and D.C. United, which share the overall league lead, rank 19th and 20th in average attendance.



2015 MLS Attendance Leaders:

(RANK) TEAM AVG. (+/-)

(1) Seattle 40,251 (-7%)

(2) Orlando City 33,960

(3) New York City 28,785

(4) San Jose 24,331 (+59%)

(5) Toronto FC 23,978 (+6%)

(6) LA Galaxy 21,889 (+8%)

(7) Portland 21,141 (+2%)

(8) Vancouver 20,752 (-1%)

(9) Houston 20,618 (+4%)

(10) Real Salt Lake 20,059 (-1%)

(11) Sporting KC 19,929 (-1%)

(12) NY Red Bulls 18,888 (+3%)

(13) Philadelphia 17,608 (-2%)

(14) New England 17,444 (+14%)

(15) Chicago 15,734 (+2%)

(16) Montreal 15,589 (-20%)

(17) Colorado 15,458 (+6%)

(18) Crew SC 15,439 (-2%)

(19) FC Dallas 15,368 (-9%)

(20) D.C. United 14,458 (-13%)

AVERAGE: 21,141

Note: Increase or decrease is in comparison to 2014 after the same number of games.