The U.S. soccer market has grown more than 10 fold in revenue since before the 1994 World Cup, soccer officials say. Major League Soccer is set to expand from 10 to 12 teams next season and games in the United States involving foreign teams have grown 46 percent since 2000, from 89 to 130 last year.
Despite those encouraging figures, MLS lost $24 million to $25 million last year although the Los Angeles Galaxy was the first team in league history to declare a profit -- about $200,000.
The average is about half of Europe's top leagues, but significantly above the Argentine league (about 10,000) and Holland (about 12,500).
"The current business appears to be well past $100 million and there still seems to be room to grow,'' said Paul Swangard, the managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center and the University of Oregon.
This includes revenue generated by MLS, the Major Indoor Soccer League, the United Soccer Leagues, the U.S. national teams and foreign team exhibitions. But soccer revenue is still a pittance compared with the NFL, which generates more than $2 billion a year in TV rights fees alone.
Last year's Champions World Series, staged by former MetroStars general manager Charlie Stillitano, attracted 422,564 for eight games involving seven teams, including major European clubs Manchester United, Barcelona, Juventus and AC Milan.
