The USL Division 1 Playoffs started on September 14, with the top 8 of 12 teams making it. The most notable thing about this season's playoff attendances are Portland and Puerto Rico far exceeding their regular season crowds. Historically teams draw fewer fans in the post season, so kudos to the Timbers and Islanders for such impressive numbers. On the opposite end were new rivals Rochester and Carolina, who boast impressive numbers (Carolina esp. for being an expansion team), but who drew extremely poorly in their playoff games.
The final will be in Tukwila, Washington, where the Atlanta Silverbacks will play the Seattle Sounders. The venue, Starfire Sports Soccer Complex, boasts an attendance capacity of 2000, leaving this blogger puzzled how they were then able to announce a crowd of 3107 for their semifinal win there over the Islanders. I'm also more than a little disappointed (though not surprised) that the USL is going to have their Champtionship Final in a rec/youth soccer field. It is a decent venue, and I have enjoyed many Timbers vs Sounders matches there (overall it far exceeds Qwest Field), but it's embarrassing that the final will be held at a rec field in the suburbs in front of 2000 people.
Here are the attendance numbers through the semifinals on Sept 21 & 23:
| Team | Home Games | Total Att. | Avg. Att. |
| Montreal Impact | 1 | 10217 | 10217 |
| Portland Timbers | 2 | 20401 | 10201 |
| Puerto Rico Islanders | 2 | 18210 | 9105 |
| Vancouver Whitecaps | 1 | 4761 | 4761 |
| Rochester Raging Rhinos | 1 | 4294 | 4294 |
| Seattle Sounders | 2 | 6747 | 3374 |
| Atlanta Silverbacks | 2 | 4274 | 2137 |
| Carolina RailHawks | 1 | 923 | 923 |
**Regular Season Attendance**
The Timbers pulled 15833 to their final regular season game of the season, a 1-0 victory August 23 vs Charleston; it's the highest attendance in modern team history, highest in the league this season, and one of the highest in league history - to lift their average to a very respectable 6828.
The California Victory closed their inaugural season September 8 with a 2-0 loss to co-expansion Carolina RailHawks, handing the Cary, NC side the 8th spot in the playoffs. The attendance was announced at 1906, which is also the name of the loyal supporters group. Nice touch, I thought.
| Team | Home Games | Total Att. | Avg. Att. |
| Montreal Impact | 14 | 154497 | 11036 |
| Rochester Raging Rhinos | 14 | 130700 | 9336 |
| Portland Timbers | 14 | 95592 | 6828 |
| Vancouver Whitecaps | 14 | 72264 | 5162 |
| Carolina RailHawks | 14 | 71735 | 5124 |
| Puerto Rico Islanders | 14 | 66143 | 4725 |
| Charleston Battery | 14 | 55550 | 3968 |
| Seattle Sounders | 14 | 46545 | 3325 |
| Minnesota Thunder | 14 | 44110 | 3151 |
| Atlanta Silverbacks | 14 | 36003 | 2572 |
| California Victory | 14 | 15619 | 1116 |
| Miami FC | 14 | 12828 | 916 |
9 comments:
Thanks for doing this! I was looking for this everywhere and google led me to you. Appreciated.
Yes, this is a great service you are performing for everyone. Thanks for it!
More thanks from me.
How do these numbers compare to the 2006 season?
@anonymous re: 2006 figures: I'll refer you to this thread from BigSoccer.
Kenn Tomasch does some nice attendance analysis for MLS, and used to do so for USL too; he didn't last year and that's why I decided to take up the slack (also full disclosure: I'm a Timbers fan and wanted to brag about our spike in attendance last season).
I will almost certainly post numbers for 2008 as well.
omMontreal Impact has greater numbers than some top division club in countries where soccer is #1 sport.
@sport: Montreal Impact are also subsidized by the government of Quebec, and give away a large number of their game tickets gratis.
I don't dispute their attendance numbers, nor that they're a good club on and off the field; I would just like to see what kind of crowds they get without such a glut of freebies.
Are you planning on keeping 2008 numbers as well?
Yes I'm working on the 2008 page now; I was going to wait until each team had played at least one home game, but some like Seattle, Montreal and Rochester don't play at home until mid-May.
So probably after this weekend's round of matches I'll put something up.
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