As Major League Soccer celebrated its 20th season in 2015, the league set another attendance mark with an average of 21,574 fans per game across the league, an increase of 12.7 percent from 2014 (19,147).
The league was boosted by the introduction of expansion clubs Orlando City SC (32,847) and New York City FC (29,016), who finished with the second and third best attendance in the league, behind Seattle Sounders FC (44,245).
The Dynamo averaged 20,658 fans per game, the club’s second-best mark since BBVA Compass Stadium opened in 2012 (21,015), and a 2.7 percent increase from 2014 (20,117). Houston ranked eighth in MLS and has finished in the top eight in the league every year since 2012.
MLS’ 12.7 percent increase is the largest in American professional league sports since 1993, when Major League Baseball attendance increased 16.2 percent to 31,337 after 26,978 in 1992.
Other attendance notes from 2015:
- The league set a new record with 161 total sellouts, beating the previous record of 133 set last year.
- MLS’ average attendance has increased 42.8 percent since 2005 (15,108).
- MLS’ average attendance ranks seventh among global professional soccer leagues.
- The Dynamo rank third in average attendance among Houston professional sports teams, behind the Texans (71,766) and Astros (26,578) but ahead of the Rockets (18,229) and Dash (6,413).
