New York City FC attendance climbed slightly in 2025

Overall attendance in Major League Soccer fell slightly in 2025, dropping to 21,988 per game according to figures compiled by Sports Business Journal. That’s down 5% from the record high of 23,234 set in 2024, and the lowest average since 2022.

But average attendance at New York City FC games grew slightly in 2025 to 21,853* per game, up from 21,764 in 2024. That’s the highest number for the club since 2018, when games averaged 23,211 fans.

NYCFC were one of just seven clubs to see attendance rise in the second full year of the league’s Lionel Messi Era, bucking a trend that has the numbers shrinking even at Inter Miami CF, where the average crowd fell 2.7% to 20,410 per game.

Here are five observations about the 2025 MLS attendance figures, and where New York City fit in the league.

* Note that the average New York City attendance of 21,917 from Sports Business Journal above is slightly different from the 21,853 figure we use in the tables below. Hudson River Blue calculated 21,853 to be the season average based on the official attendance figures released after every game. You can see those numbers detailed below.

Because of that discrepancy, the Sports Business Journal has NYCFC attendance climbing 0.9%, while here at HRB we put it at 0.4%.

1) Just 7 clubs saw attendance rise

Only seven MLS clubs saw their attendance climb in 2025: San Jose Earthquakes (12.1%), Chicago Fire (9.9%), Houston Dynamo (3.8%), Colorado Rapids (1.3%), Red Bull New York (1.2%), NYCFC (0.9%), and Seattle Sounders (0.8%). Another two saw attendance remain unchanged – Austin FC and St. Louis City FC – while expansion side San Diego FC played their first season in the league.

The remaining 20 clubs experienced a decline in attendance. As expected, the numbers at FC Dallas fell 42.3% as large sections of Toyota Stadium were closed while the venue started a three-year renovation, drastically limiting capacity. But others on the list are more surprising: Supporters’ Shield-winning Philadelphia Union were down 2.7% despite the club’s strong relationship with their fanbase, a high-flying FC Cincinnati slid 2.3%, and MLS Cup runners-up Vancouver Whitecaps tumbled 16.5% even as they played attractive football that grabbed the attention of the nation.

MLS | 2026 Attendance by Club

Figures courtesy of Sports Business Journal

2) The waning of Messimania?

Is a sophomore slump for Messimania to blame for the league-wide decline? When Charlotte FC hosted Inter Miami in 2024, 47,218 fans were in the stands. In 2025, attendance fell to 35,607, a decline of 11,611. Even Inter Miami’s attendance at Chase Stadium fell 2.7%, declining slightly from an average of 20,979 in 2024 to 20,410 in 2025.

New York City’s home matchup against Miami at Citi Field was the best-attended game of the year, with an announced gate of 40,845 — that was the largest crowd to watch NYCFC play in Queens, and the fourth-largest crowd in team history. But that’s down from the 44,378 who packed into the stands at Yankee Stadium in 2024 for the second-largest crowd in club history — it trails only the 48,047 who came to the first-ever Hudson River Derby held in The Bronx on June 28, 2015.

New York City FC | Attendance by Year

3) The Hudson River Derby is now a reliable draw

Speaking of the Hudson River Derby, that game has reliably become one of the biggest draws of the season. Since joining the league in 20215, New York City played 18 home games that had a crowd of 30,000 or more; nine of those were against Red Bull New York. To look at that another way, out of the 14 Hudson River Derbies hosted by NYCFC, nine saw 30,000-plus crowds.

The 30,804 in attendance at Citi Field on May 15, 2025, to watch New York City beat the Red Bulls 2-0 was slightly larger than the 30,731 who watched NYCFC win 2-1 on May 18, 2024.

New York City FC | 2025 MLS Attendance

4) Midweek, Sunday games less popular

But if you zoom back, you can see that attendance at 13 of New York City’s 17 home games was smaller than the season average of 21,853. The attendance at the games against Inter Miami and the Red Bulls, plus the home opener against Orlando City on March 8 and the Decision Day matchup against Seattle Sounders on October 18, pulled up the season’s average.

Unsurprisingly, the lowest-attended matches were midweek games: Houston Dynamo on Wednesday, May 28; Columbus Crew on Wednesday, September 17; Atlanta United on Thursday, June 12. The next-lowest were Sunday afternoon games: Minnesota United on April 6 at 3 pm ET; Chicago Fire on May 25 at 3 pm ET. Only one Sunday afternoon game was well-attended, when 21,611 came to Citi Field to watch New York City beat FC Cincinnati 1-0 on Sunday, May 4.

New York City FC | Games with 30,000-plus in Attendance

5) No 2025 games in New Jersey

It could be that the deciding factor in NYCFC’s increase in attendance is due to what the club didn’t do: For the first time since 2020, no home games were held at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, NJ.

Last year, New York City played two games in Harrison, and both saw abysmal crowds: An announced 10,785 saw NYCFC beat FC Cincinnati 3-2 on October 2, 2024, then an announced 13,409 saw the team beat Nashville SC 3-1 four days later on October 6, 2024. Even then, those numbers seem generous – the 25,000-capacity stadium was mostly empty for both of those matches. Still, those two games dragged down the season average by about 1000 people per match.

But 2025 didn’t see any home games at the home of the Red Bulls, and New York City finished the year with an overall attendance of 371,502, up from 369,996 in 2024. That makes 2025 the fifth-best attended season in the ten-year history of the club.

New York City FC attendance returns to pre-pandemic levels

The season average of 21,764 per game is up 9.7% over last year — and the highest since 2018.

Hudson River BlueOliver Strand