[SoCal Pubbie]

Citing average attendance is fine, but MLS has only 13 teams versus 29 in the NBA and 24 in the NHL. Check total attendance for all three league and you'll find that about SEVEN times more fans went to NBA and NHL games than did MLS fans.Those are facts too.

[Reaganez]

There are currently 14 MLS teams.

13 current MLS teams is not a fact.

1. Chicago Fire
2. Colorado Rapids
3 Columbus Crew
4. DC United
5. FC Dallas
6. Houston Dynamo
7. Kansas City Wizards
8. LA Galaxy
9. New England Revolution
10. New York Red Bulls
11. Real Salt Lake
12. San Jose Quakes
13 Chivas USA
14. Toronto FC
15. Seattle will enter in 2009 and has paid expansion fee
16. Philly will enter in 2010 and has paid expansion fee

In a year or so ST Louis will awarded a franchise starting in 2011. The finishing touches on a soccer specific stadium and government approval are just about done.

In 2020 MLS will surpass NHL.

The Hispanic percentage of the population will reach about 17% of the total by then.

[SoothingDave]

There are 30 NHL teams, believe it or not.

[frankiep]

The NBA and NHL have been around since the first part of the 20th century. MLS has been around for 12 years and has seen consistent growth in attendance and fan interest, and has seen the league expand from 10 teams in 1996 to 14 today. Of course the NBA and NHL bring in more total fans, that tends to happen when there are over twice as many teams in each of those leagues which is understandable since those leagues have been around so much longer. The fact is that the size of MLS has expanded by almost 50% in just 12 years; show me another league that can say that.

Saying that most Americans don’t like soccer or that it is not popular here is just plain wrong.

Here’s another fact. The record for total attendance in a World Cup was set 1994 when it was held in the US, despite the fact that there were fewer teams/games involved than there are today (24 qualifying teams as compared to 32 since 1998).