Subject: MLS better than NHL and NBA???

i just red an italian article on the MLS soccer, and they said that with the season that just finished (still couple more of playoffs games), the average number of people that went to watch a MLS soccer game(17870) was higher than the average number of spectators per game in NBA (17319) and NHL.

So basically Football and Baseball are on top, then is soccer.

any official sources. This sound strange to me!

Well NBA and NHL arenas are usually pretty small, not sure what the exact capacities are but probably about 20k on average?

from my friend google, Verizon center here in DC:

20,173 (basketball) 18,277 (hockey)

And the soccer stadiums are generally bigger and the tickets probably cheaper, so not surprising about the attendance averages. I bet total income from tickets is a lot higher for the average NBA or NHL game than it is for MLS.

A better gauge of popularity would be tv ratings I think.

But all that said MLS is making strides, particularly in the big LA and New York markets and in the Northwest, (Portland and Seattle), and in Canada.

there's also a LOT fewer teams.

But yeah tv ratings is more important. You could have 30k fans, 20k of which show up and have high stadium attendance.

mls is hardly paid attention to - i don't even know for sure who the philadelphia team is (union perhaps?)

im watching mls playoffs on tv right now =D

Houston-Los Angeles final of play off :)