Atlanta United FC is more than just the reigning MLS champion, it is also the most popular soccer team in the U.S. And one of the most tech savvy.
Playing at the innovative Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which is also home to the NFL’s Falcons, the two-year-old soccer team has consistently set attendance records. The franchise averaged 53,002 people per game—an MLS record—during its 2018 title run and set a league record for total home attendance of 901,033 fans across 17 games.
When the upper section of the stadium was open for major games, such as for Atlanta United’s regular-season home closer against the Chicago Fire, it sold out Mercedes-Benz. There were 71,812 fans at that game, which was only the fifth-highest home attendance in 2018. Atlanta’s match up against the Seattle Sounders on Jul. 15, 2018 leads the MLS in all-time regular season attendance at 72,243. The 2018 MLS Cup final against the Portland Timbers set an MLS playoff match record of 73,019.
This comes as the team has been able to carve out a massive following on social media. Atlanta United currently has 970,000 Twitter followers, more than any other MLS franchise. The fact that Atlanta United is both popular and innovative, might not be coincidental, according to Kore Software. Kore supplies sports business management software and counts the NBA, the PGA Tour, and MLS among its list of clients. The recent soccer fever in the U.S., evidenced by historic MLS attendance, has been fueled in part by the embrace of technology by both the league and its franchises.
“Beyond the underlying growth in popularity of soccer in the United States, Major League Soccer and its member clubs are some of the most progressive when it comes to levering business intelligence to drive their business forward,” said Russell Scibetti, KORE Software’s chief marketing officer and president of planning and insights. “We’ve seen a significant increase in adoption of everything from data warehousing and visualization to more sophisticated retention modeling and CRM implementations, all of which have a very direct impact on sales and ticket utilization.”
MLS attendance is now rivaling some of the world’s biggest soccer markets. Average attendance was 21,875 last season, while Italy’s Serie A, established nearly 100 years prior in 1898, averaged 24,967, according to data provided by KORE. While Atlanta United has been the clear MLS leader in drawing in fans, the Seattle Sounders have sustained six straight years averaging more than 40,000 fans per match, the second highest rate in the league.
Toronto FC has seen attendance improve in reflection of recent team performance, bringing in over 26,000 per match the last three years, well up from 18,000 per match in 2012 and 2013. The Vancouver Whitecaps have sustained more than 20,000 per match since launching in 2011. The Montreal Impact has averaged between 18,000 to 20,000 per match since its first game in 2012. Last year, Minnesota United FC sold out season tickets through 2019 at its new Allianz Field, attributing that to an overhaul of its digital ticketing platform. Minnesota sold a maximum of 14,500 season tickets for the 2019 season at its new 19,400-capacity stadium in St. Paul, and has even started a waitlist.
Attendance growth comes as the league itself has taken measures to leverage technology in an attempt to engage younger generations of sports fans. The league’s audience on social channels has grown nearly 1,000 percent over the past five years. In 2018, MLS reached 613 million video views across all platforms, representing a 75 percent increase from the prior season. Video has become a priority at the league, and MLS has partnered with WSC Sports to grow that initiative at scale with automated highlights.
Part of the league’s strategy has been reaching new audiences via a spectrum of streaming services that have ranged from Twitter to ESPN+. Three franchises (the Seattle Sounders, LAFC, and Orlando City SC) have broadcast rights deals with YouTube TV, while the Chicago Fire and the MLS Live out-of-market package can be found on ESPN+. MLS Live in Canada is available on DAZN. D.C. United and FC Cincinnati struck deals with FloSports earlier this year. And MLS and Twitter have a three-year partnership to livestream weekly matches.
Recent announcements have further cemented MLS’s commitment to technology for the years to come. The league partnered with R/GA Ventures last year on a soccer technology accelerator focused on innovative products that will support the league. Last week, MLS announced an official gaming partnership with MGM that makes Roar Digital, a joint venture between MGM and GVC, the exclusive official sports betting partner of MLS. The deal provides MGM Resorts and Roar access to enhanced MLS data for fans and sports betting customers.
Efforts to innovate, from sports betting to video and streaming, are being echoed by other professional sports leagues and teams across the world. But MLS, which has the youngest-tilting audience of the major U.S. sports leagues, is perhaps leading the rest in leveraging technology to build its fan base.