We don’t always remind folks that we track 2017 pro soccer attendance for MLS, NASL, NWSL and USL, so here we are. As a bonus: we’re reminding you after MLS notched its best week of the 2017 season.
We have pages devoted to weekly updates of each league:
It has been a fascinating year so far on the pro-soccer front, as every league had seen a bump in the numbers when compared to 2016. On the MLS front, the league had its best week of attendance last week, with Atlanta United (46,011), Seattle Sounders (43,230), Toronto FC (25,358), Orlando City (25,527, a sellout), LA Galaxy (25,008) and New York Red Bulls (22,814) all attracting big crowds. That made for a weekly total of 277,148 and an average of 25,195.
Although this past week’s numbers took a dip from previous weeks, USL’s move to Division II certainly seems to have helped the circuit draw more fans at the gate. There were plenty of bright sports: Rio Grande Valley FC notched its biggest tally of the season — 7,820 — and Louisville City FC continued a strong year with 8,282 at Louisville Slugger Field. The lower week of attendance also pushed the season average to 4,292. That’s still well above last year’s average attendance of 3,439.
After a rough offseason, NASL seems to be holding steady on the attendance front. The 2017 average of 4,820 is still at par with the 2016 average attendance of 4,684, despite the loss of Minnesota United, Ottawa Fury and Tampa Bay Rowdies. And we are still very early in the season; Indy Eleven will surely rise on the average attendance front, and we don’t see San Francisco in the cellar when the season ends.
Finally, we saw another strong weekend for 2017 NWSL attendance, with Sky Blue FC attracting 2,562 fans to the team’s home debut and Portland Thorns FC draw another big crowd to Providence Park. After three weeks the league is ahead of 2016’s numbers on the per-game side (5,663 vs. 5,585), with the best days of the season before us.
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Images courtesy Rio Grande Valley FC.