Major League Soccer (MLS) stadiums are reopening to nearly full attendance across the country.
To get a current snapshot of where fan attendance stood across the league, we compiled attendance stats for Week 8 (June 18-20, 2021) — about 23 percent through the 2021 season.
One caveat, local health policies continue to restrict attendance in some stadiums.
Takeaways for MLS attendance in Week 8:
- Atlanta United, which shares a stadium with NFL’s Falcons, led MLS attendance (42,523) in Week 8, with 17,000 more fans as FC Cincinnati (25,054), second highest in attendance and playing at its new TQL Stadium.
- Austin FC played for the first time in its new Q2 Stadium and reached full capacity (20,738) on opening night — good for 5th in league attendance.
- Columbus Crew closed out its old Historic (Mapfre) stadium with 20,064, before it moves into new Lower.com Stadium in early July.
- FC Dallas’ lackluster fan attendance (16,455) shows no sign of reaching full capacity in 2021.
- Both New York squads ranked at the very bottom in fan attendance in Week 8.
- Overall average attendance in Week 8 was 19,614, a significant jump compared to about 14,100 in Week 7, most likely due to removing capacity restrictions due to COVID-19.
A total of 13 matches were played in Week 8. MLS didn’t release final attendance stats for two of those matches.