David Beckham helped kick up Major League Soccer attendances and TV ratings in 2007, but the league couldn’t build on that growth in 2008, reports Tripp Mickle. “This season the league suffered its first decline in average regular-season attendance and television viewership on ESPN2 in three years,” he reports.
Half the teams in MLS saw attendance decline in 2008, dragging the league’s average gate down by 1.8 percent to 16,459 a game. He quoted MLS officials as saying that the Kansas City Wizards’ decision to play in a 10,385-seat minor league baseball stadium played a role, “but excluding Kansas City from both years still results in a slight drop in attendance for 2008.”
“You always want to do better,” said MLS President Mark Abbott, “but we feel good, particularly in light of the current economic climate. A lot of people wondered what was going to happen with Beckham the second time around.” But he said there had been growth in L.A.’s road attendance, with the team attracting a record average 28,132 for its away games, slightly above the 28,035 figure from last year. Although it should be noted that Beckham was here for a whole season in 2008, not half a season as in 2007.
Toronto remained strong, selling out every home game, while crowds were up at the Houston Dynamo, Chivas USA and the New England Revolution. “But those increases were offset by declines in two key markets — Colorado and Dallas,” writes Mickle. “FC Dallas had a league-worst 14 percent drop in average attendance to 13,024. The Colorado Rapids, which are playing in a new MLS stadium that opened in 2007, saw average attendance drop 7.4 percent to 13,659.” Dallas blamed a reduction on the number of free tickets given out, as well as the televising of all home games for the first time.
MLS games on ESPN2 averaged a 0.2 cable rating for the third consecutive year, but total average viewers per game fell to 253,000 — down from 289,000 viewers in 2007 and 263,000 in 2006. On Fox Soccer Channel, which garnered its first ratings in October, MLS averaged a 0.1 cable rating. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” said David Sternberg, Fox Soccer Channel’s general manager.