FC Dallas Makes Money, DC United Doesn’t: MLS Fan Cost Index

The eyes of the global soccer community have been on the World Cup in Qatar as the US’s top domestic league wrapped up its 27th season a month ago.

And while Major League Soccer is still struggling to turn a profit overall and remains in third place when it comes to soccer viewership on US television behind Mexico’s Liga MX and England’s Premier Leaguehas grown to surpass baseball when it comes to how expensive it is to take a family to a game.

That estimate is based on data released this week by Chicago-based sports business intelligence firm Team Marketing Report (TMR), which researches and publishes the Fan Cost Index (FCI) for many major US sports. An explanation of the math, along with a basic FCI table for each team, is at the bottom of this story.

The most recent Major League Soccer FCI shows it cost, on average, $300.72 to take a family or group of four to a game during the 2022 regular season. That’s more than the inaugural and last MLS FCI released at $250.40 from May 2019, when the league had 24 teams, four fewer than today.

The FCI of Major League Baseball 2022 was $256. Three years ago, when the last MLS FCI was calculated, baseball’s FCI was $234, meaning MLB rose 9.4 percent while MLS jumped 20 percent.

Here’s how the five major American leagues compare when it comes to fan costs:

As we’ve done with other fan cost indices, we plotted the numbers against each team’s final draw win-loss record to determine which clubs were the best and worst value for fans looking to see a contender

And as with all FCI analysis, it is important to note that people attend matches for many reasons, from cheering for a team they want or expect to fight, to watch a favorite player, to come to the stadium for a good time, part of a work or business trip, a meeting, family gathering, or maybe the tickets were free.

Another note: Teams with poor win-loss records can be fun, while some winners are boring. You also have 34 regular season games for MLS clubs while MLB teams play 162, NBA AND NHL teams play 82, and NFL clubs have a 17-match schedule – meaning games take on different levels of importance due to their fixtures.

Now, onto the best and worst values. And we’ll start with the new kids on the block.

The expansion team Charlotte FCThe league’s first year came at a cost: The club’s FCI of nearly $378 was the second highest among the 28 teams. only Los Angeles FC — which ended up winning it all — was pricier at $395. That’s up 11 percent from last year (TMR still collected data last year, though no report was released) and is likely to rise further next season to capitalize on the club’s first championship.

Philadelphia Unionthe MLS Cup runners-up, ranked sixth with an FCI of $336 after fan costs rose 22 percent, the most of any club this season.

The next largest year-over-year increase in fan cost was from Seattle Sounders to 21 percent to $297 — and the team missed the playoffs. They were not far behind Inter Miami to 17 percent to $348 for their third season, which ended with a first-round playoff loss.

The least expensive MLS team was FC Dallas at $201 – which was $50 cheaper than the next lowest team, Orlando City FC. And that was with Dallas raising prices for an overall 2 percent increase in FCI, which fans saw a team finish with 53 points in the standings – third best in the Western Conference.

Some of the worst deals for fans looking to watch a winner include Charlotte FC and DC United, both top five in fan spending, but not playoff teams. DC United, in particular, was a bad deal: They finished with a 7-21-6 record and a massive negative-35 goal differential, both worst in the league.

Overall, 24 teams raised prices to increase the overall MLS MCI by 7.2 percent. One club remained flat (New York Red Bulls), two had overall FCI declines, and Charlotte as an expansion team obviously made no difference.

What has driven up MLS fan prices, other than the normal rising costs of doing business?

Inflation, according to Team Marketing Report publisher Chris Hartweg.

“These gains track along with this summer’s inflation rate which reached 8 percent, but interestingly it is much higher than the growth of MLB FCI in 2022 and NFL FCI in 2022,” he said in his speech. ANALYSIS.

MLS increased non-premium ticket prices by an average of 7.2 percent during 2021. Baseball tickets increased by 3.6 percent and soccer tickets increased by an average of 4.8 percent year over year.

“MLS venues, which are not all controlled by teams, of course, were more aggressive in raising concession prices than their baseball and soccer counterparts,” Hartweg wrote.

Here’s how Team Marketing Report explains how it calculates the MLS fan cost index and how it’s slightly different from the other four major US leagues: “FCI uses the price of the four weighted average non-premium tickets combined with the lowest price of the stadium for four sodas, four hot dogs, two beers and two souvenirs (team scarves for MLS, adjustable team hats for other sports), along with a nearby parking spot.”

Another change in this year’s MLS FCI is the inclusion of fan costs for supporter sections/groups, which usually include discounted tickets. The FCI average of MLS supporters this season was $238, or more than $62 cheaper than traditional fan costs.

The full dataset from TMR, including a deeper look at supporter costs, is online (for a subscription) here.

How fan costs change next season will be interesting to monitor as Major League Soccer begins its 10-year, $2.5 billion global media rights deal that puts all games behind a streaming paywall via Apple TV, with some traditional non-exclusive TV deals still to come. .

Won’t MLS games be as readily available as they were on ESPN and Fox for personal attendance and revenue? Will it hurt the league’s profile as it battles for eyeballs and discretionary revenue dollars with other major leagues and rival soccer leagues?

We’ll know in a year or two.

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(Photo: Kevin Jairaj / USA Today)