Manchester City have headed west for a Major League Soccer tie-up with the New York Yankees. We look at some statistics that define the sport in the US.
18,807
The average attendance in Major League Soccer cited for the 2012 season, across 19 teams. That put the sport third in the list of best-attended professional sports in the United States, behind NFL and MLB but ahead of the NHL and NBA.
10
The first MLS season, in 1996, was competed by 10 different teams. Of those, only one, the Tampa Bay Mutiny, no longer exists, having folded in 2001. Four of the teams have changed names.
134
Jamaican-born American striker Jeff Cunningham is the MLS’s all-time scorer, with 134 goals for five different clubs across 13 years. He is one ahead of retired Bolivian striker Jaime Moreno, while Landon Donovan, still playing in the MLS, has 126.
32.5
The value in US dollars of David Beckham’s deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy when the now-retired English midfielder signed a five-year contract with the club in 2007. (It was wrongly reported to be worth $250m after a PR stunt by his media team).
4
Two teams – the LA Galaxy and DC United – have won a record number of MLS Cups, the trophy given the the winner of the end-of-season play-offs. Only nine teams have even won an MLS Cup, with 10 still waiting for the trophy.
