When the Sounders take the field Saturday afternoon against Cascadia Cup rivals Vancouver Whitecaps, they’ll do so in front of a now-expected 50,000+ bodied crowd. But now in a three-year period of growth stagnation, the era of the Sounders sitting all alone at the top of Major League Soccer’s attendance charts may be coming to an end.
2015 was a massive coming-out party for the league. Average attendance went up by nearly 3,000 people a game to put MLS over 20,000 for the first time. The two newest clubs were second and third in attendance, with Orlando City boasting the highest inaugural attendance mark in league history.