Major League Soccer is out with some positive numbers about the league's early-season attendance and viewership.
The league says more than 4.8 million fans attended matches through the first three months of the season, an average of 22,109 fans per MLS match.
Viewership also jumped by 62%, as MLS says it now gets 7.9 million "live match viewers" per week across streaming (Apple TV) and linear TV platforms, at least through the the first three months of this season.
The early-season viewership jump seems straightforward to explain: MLS matches are now available to all existing Apple TV subscribers at no extra cost, after the league and Apple renegotiated their rights agreement and did away with the additional paywall that came with the annual MLS Season Pass subscription that previously got you access to every MLS match.
Attendance rising seems to be driven by some record-setting crowds assembling at nontraditional MLS venues. Three MLS matches drew over 72,000 fans, but each was held in a mega-sized NFL stadium and each featured Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF as the visiting opposition in Denver, Colorado, Los Angeles, California, and Baltimore, Maryland, respectively.
The Inter Miami Bump has been real early in 2026 and that remained true locally with New York City FC.
NYCFC's average home attendance is up 8.9% year-over-year so far through eight matches, but that's largely because the club drew its second-biggest home crowd ever when Miami played in front of an announced 45,845 at Yankee Stadium.
NYCFC Home Attendance
| Year | Average | Total | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 23,799 | 190,391 | 8.90% |
| 2025 | 21,853 | 371,502 | 0.40% |
| 2024 | 21,764 | 369,996 | 9.70% |
| 2023 | 19,842 | 337,306 | 15.50% |
| 2022 | 17,179 | 292,039 | 80.10% |
| 2021 | 9,541 | 152,659 | -54.40% |
| 2019 | 21,107 | 358,820 | -9.10% |
| 2018 | 23,211 | 394,583 | 4.00% |
| 2017 | 22,321 | 379,455 | -17.90% |
| 2016 | 27,196 | 462,336 | -6.30% |
| 2015 | 29,021 | 493,358 |
If you removed the Miami match from the equation, New York City has been averaging 20,649 fans across its other seven home matches, not too far off from their overall 2025 average of 21,853 fans per home match.
