Major League Soccer finished its 2014 regular season with gains in both attendance and TV ratings, and momentum for a 2015 that will bring changes on its team and broadcast fronts.
For the first time in MLS’s 19-year history, the league this year averaged more than 19,000 fans a game, finishing at 19,148 across its 19 clubs, up about 3 percent from last year. Seattle Sounders FC led all clubs for the sixth straight year, though its 43,734 mark is down slightly from 2013. Eight clubs averaged more than 20,000 fans per game, and 11 clubs posted a higher average this year than they did last year.
The biggest laggard was Chivas USA, the only team that averaged fewer than 15,000 fans per game. The club, which MLS last week announced would be contracted, averaged 7,063, down more than 15 percent from 2013 and the lowest attendance mark in MLS history.
The only other team with a double-digit decline was Montreal, whose average attendance also fell 15 percent, to 17,421. The drop for the Impact comes in a year that saw it post the league’s worst on-field record.
Looking ahead, the league could flirt with an average of 20,000 fans per game next year, with several developments on the horizon. The San Jose Earthquakes are moving into a new, soccer-specific stadium. Toronto FC, which averaged 22,086 fans per game, 102 percent capacity of BMO Field, is expanding the stadium to a capacity of 30,000. But perhaps the biggest impact could come from the debuts of franchises New York City FC and Orlando City SC.
Next year also will bring a change on the league’s TV front, as MLS coverage will move from NBC to Fox Sports as part of MLS’s new TV and media rights contracts signed in May.
In its farewell season, NBC Sports Network averaged 141,000 viewers across 38 MLS games this year, up 26 percent from last year. For those nine matches in which NBCSN was able to lead in with content related to the Barclays Premier League, the network averaged 186,000 viewers.
NBC’s MLS rights deal began in 2012. It added Premier League coverage last year.
“We only had MLS for three years and felt it was a long-term play from the get-go, but we’re very pleased with the results,” said Jon Miller, president of programming for NBC Sports and NBCSN. “The network really came to love it, and I felt we were doing a really good job with it, so a lot of people here are disappointed MLS isn’t coming back, but we understand.”
ESPN saw a bump in viewership this season as well, as the network began to build its schedule toward the emphasis on the Sunday coverage it will have next year.
“After the World Cup ended, we tried to establish that Sunday afternoon window, which we and Fox will further build out on next season,” said Scott Guglielmino, senior vice president of programming at ESPN. “The season cuts across several other sports calendars, and a lot of it is simply finding a spot where we could be consistent through the entire regular season.”
MLS coverage on ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 240,000 viewers this year, up 9 percent from last year.
