On Saturday night, the Seattle Sounders did something incredibly remarkable in Major League Soccer.
Seattle’s 1-0 loss to the L.A. Galaxy marked their fifth home loss of the season, making the Sounders the only team in MLS to have more losses than wins at home this season.
And when Sporting KC, the West’s fifth-place team, cruised past East-leading New York City FC 3-1 on Sunday, it wasn’t just some sign of conference superiority.
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Nope, that win was the 93rd home win of the season and 150th time in 182 games that the home team picked up a point.
This sort of home field advantage has pretty much always been the case in MLS, dating back to 1996, and a quick jaunt around the world of soccer shows it’s an anomaly.
Part of it is surely geography -- we live in a gigantic nation and the travel isn’t always luxurious -- and part is parity, but Las Vegas can’t like it. I crunched the numbers on the “Big Four” European leagues and MLS, but also took a quick glance at the leagues in Australia, the Netherlands and Russia.
Whether small in size or massive, no one’s touching Major League Soccer’s home field advantage.
Premier League
157W-107D-116L
1.54 points per game
Home sides take at least a point in 69 percent of games
Eight teams under .500 at home
Serie A
175W-95D-110L
1.67 points per game
Home sides take at least a point in 71 percent of games
Seven teams under .500 at home
Bundesliga
135W-71D-100L
1.65 points per game
Home sides take at least a point in 67 percent of games
Seven teams under .500 at home
La Liga
183W-92D-105L
1.72 points per game
Home sides take at least a point in 72 percent of games
Five teams under .500 at home
Major League Soccer
93W-57D-32L
1.85 points per game
Home sides take at least a point in 82 percent of games
One team under .500 at home