Mexico turnout in US larger than US teams

The US fans heavily invested in the US-Mexico rivalry may want to avert their eyes. Ironically, when it comes to soccer in the US, Mexico is America’s team. However, this isn’t exactly groundbreaking news. Mexican game attendance in the US has long dwarfed both the USMNT and USWNT. This past year was no different.

Here’s how attendance in Mexico breaks down for games in the US.

Date	Competition	matchup	Stadium	Presence
April 27th	Friendly	Mexico vs Guatemala	Camping World stadium	37,311
the 28th of May	Friendly	Mexico vs Nigeria	AT&T stadium	56,872
June 2nd	Friendly	Mexico vs Uruguay	State Farm stadium	57,735
5 June	Friendly	Mexico vs Ecuador	Soldier field	61.104
August 31th	Friendly	Mexico vs Paraguay	Mercedes-Benz stadium	51,387
September 24	Friendly	Mexico vs Peru	Rose bowl	62,729
September 27	Friendly	Mexico vs Colombia	Levi’s Stadium	67.311

Mexico turnout in the US up from 2021

In 2022, El Tri’s U.S. attendance totaled 394,449 people over seven games, averaging 56,350 fans per game. That’s a 28% jump from 2021 when they averaged 44,213 over 15 games. However, it is a slight decrease from the previous World Cup year. They averaged 59,678 fans per game over six games in the US in 2018, yielding a 6% drop in 2022

Much higher turnout than USMNT and USWNT

Given the huge numbers of people from Mexico living in the US, it’s no surprise that the Mexican national team draws a large crowd. But it’s somewhat surprising that those crowds continue to dwarf the US national team crowds, despite the time and resources put into the game here.

Mexico’s turnout in 2022 was a whopping 164% higher than the USMNT’s this year. And, even more shockingly, it was a whopping 277% higher than the best USWNT attendance since 2019.

However, this is not a new development. Here’s a look at the past 10 years of presence for each of the three teams:

Year	Mexico	USMNT	USWNT
2022	56,350	21,383	14,967
2021	44,213	25,155	12,703
2020	N/A	5,836	14,559
2019	57,546	23,306	25.122
2018	59,678	24,163	14,064
2017	43,586	29,400	18,150
2016	51,200	29,707	15,973
2015	64,141	38,764	27,766
2014	58,597	34,374	10,791
2013	44,321	33,803	16,479

Overall takeaway

So at the end of the day, Mexico is the dominant soccer power in the US and it’s unlikely to change anytime soon. The Gold Cup is this summer. This puts American games in half-full soccer-specific stadiums. Meanwhile, Mexico games take place in fully packed NFL stadiums.

The only thing that could perhaps change is that Mexico plays fewer friendlies to grab money in the US, which even Mexican goalkeeper Memo Ochoa spoke about after El Tri’s departure from the World Cup in Qatar.

The Mexicans currently have no officially scheduled games in the US for 2022 (the USMNT has two and the USWNT has three). But history has shown that they draw very well and they come back sooner rather than later.

PHOTO: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire