Soccer Attendance Surpasses Basketball, Hockey

Soccer attendance in stadiums across the U.S. has surpassed that of either the NBA or the NHL, a change that comes partially because soccer stadiums just are larger and have room for more people, according to BNET. But, there’s also the fact that the sport is becoming more popular, at least recent deals to broadcast the World Cup next year.

BNET broke it down:

Nonetheless, it appears that soccer is well on the road to becoming America’s third favorite sport, after…American football and baseball. That will have a major impact on sports sponsorship and advertising budgets…

Here’s how the most recent attendance numbers break down:

1. NFL: 66,960
2. MLB: 30,352
3. MLS: 17,872
4. NBA: 17,319
5. NHL: 17,126

We’ve written about how the NBA, NFL and MLB are serious about reaching out to Latino audiences, and it’s widely recognized that soccer is a more popular sport outside the U.S. — such as Latin America. It would be interesting to see if and how soccer leagues are reaching out to Latinos and whether their attendance played any part in boosting these attendance numbers.