MLS: Atlanta United, Seattle Sounders prove global competition possible
Atlanta United and Seattle Sounders both rank in the top 30 for average attendances by a recent study. They prove that MLS can be a globally competitive league.
Major League Soccer has always wanted to establish itself as a global league. While the epicentre of the football world will always be Europe, specifically the Premier League and Champions League, the growth of the sport Stateside offers terrific opportunity for MLS to rival its continental counterparts as a truly global league.
There will always be questions regarding its quality. The lack of Champions League inclusion will always stent the ability of the league to rival its Spanish, British and German rivals. But the commercial potential of MLS is tremendous. And it is only growing.
A recent study by The CIES Football Observatory delved into the attendance statistics of fans attending football matches live around the world. Some of the statistics they uncovered, during the 2003-2018 period, were extremely interesting — and very positive for the future of MLS.
First and foremost, MLS sits eighth in average league attendances from 2003 – 2018 across the world, just behind the French first division and marginally ahead of the Eredivisie. 21,358 fans, on average, have attended an MLS match over that 15-year period.
But what is more important is that MLS is the second-fastest growing league in the world. MLS has seen as a 34% growth in attendances when comparing the period of 2003-2008 to the period 2013-2018. Only the Polish first division has a greater percentage increase when comparing the two periods.
And on an individual basis, there are some clubs that are beginning to challenge the biggest teams in world football. Atlanta United rank an incredible tenth for average attendance between 2003 and 2018. Now, the study only accounted for their first season, 2017, but it is still an extremely impressive achievement. They have higher attendance figures than Manchester City, Liverpool, and Ajax!
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It is not just Atlanta either. The Seattle Sounders, with 42,797 attending fans on average, rank 29th in the world. They get more fans than AC Milan and Chelsea! And for the Sounders, that figure is skewed by the early years in which football was a far less popular sport in the U.S. In 2009, their first season, Seattle averaged just 31,203, over 10,000 less than their 2003-2018 average.
The other positive for the league is that it ranks 50th for the proportion of league attendance comprised by the three biggest clubs. That means that not only are Atlanta and Seattle getting lots of attending fans, but the whole league is. And given the explosive growth of the league, it is easy to see the potential moving forward. MLS can be a globally considered and competitive league.
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There is obviously a long way to go. And to gain European respect, there is plenty of growth that Major League Soccer must undertake. But the potential is there, and these attendances figures, led by Atlanta United and the Seattle Sounders, are proof of that.