Major League Soccer attendance

Major League Soccer is the premier professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. Competition began in 1996 and attendance has been increasing rapidly since the early 2000s, making it one of the fastest-growing sports leagues in the world. On average, MLS draws to its games the third largest crowds of any professional sports league in North America, ranking behind the National Football League and Major League Baseball. Similar to the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball, attendance is based on the number of tickets distributed.^[1]

The total attendance of 11,454,205 spectators for the 2024 regular season is a league record. This is more than five times that of 2,214,978 in 2002 (the lowest in MLS history). Back then, MLS had only 12 teams. The previous total attendance record was from 2023 with 10,900,804 spectators.

The average attendance in 2024 is 23,234 spectators,^[2] another league record. This is a 69% increase over the 13,756 average in 2000 (the lowest in MLS history). The previous average attendance record was 22,111,^[3] set one year earlier during the 2023 regular season. Atlanta United FC has the highest average attendance of any MLS team, at 46,831, and is followed by Charlotte FC and Seattle Sounders FC. The highest increases in average attendance since 2023 are those seen by Vancouver Whitecaps FC (56%) and New England Revolution (22.2%).

On July 4 2023, the largest standalone attendance in MLS history for a single match (82,110 spectators)^[4] was reached at the Rose Bowl where LA Galaxy defeated Los Angeles FC 2-1. The highest average attendance during a regular season was reached in 2018 when Atlanta United matches were attended by an average of 53,002 spectators.