On Wednesday, Sports Business Journal released its annual Major League Soccer attendance report.
With an average attendance of 26,868 fans in regular-season matches, Nashville SC has the fourth-highest average attendance and the best attendance of any team in a soccer-specific stadium.
MLS attendance by club, 2026
Average home attendance per game, ranked. Nashville SC are fourth in the league.
Despite hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico – an event that was touted as a chance to catapult the sport forward in North America – average attendance at MLS games increased by just 0.3% in 2026, a disappointing return to reality after the optimism heading into the tournament.
MLS, on the other hand, remains bullish. Its annual growth report, published November 11, highlighted that three of the 10 largest standalone crowds in MLS history came during the 2026 season (all three featured Inter Miami as the away team and were played in NFL or college football stadiums).
Per MLS, the league is on pace to be one of the top three first-division soccer leagues globally in total attendance, a fact that is enhanced by the sheer number of teams in MLS. 30 teams played in MLS in 2026, significantly more than the 18-20 team average of other top-flight leagues.
With all these numbers, it's important to remember that Major League Soccer's publicly available attendance numbers are always tickets sold, and don't always reflect the number of actual fans in attendance on a given matchday.
Nashville SC's attendance improved in 2026
Nashville SC's attendance saw a slight uptick from 2025, with the average crowd size for league matches increasing by an average of 620 fans per game in MLS play, a 2.4% increase from their 2025 numbers.
This attendance is bolstered by season ticket holders, which SixOneFive Soccer estimates to be close to 22,000, out of a stadium capacity of 30,109.
Overall, Nashville have seen positive growth in every season since joining MLS, aside from 2025, when attendance dropped 8.2% following their failure to qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs, a season in which head coach Gary Smith was fired.
Nashville had four sellout matches in MLS play at Geodis Park and a total of eight matches with at least 90% capacity in all competitions.
Nashville's attendance in all competitions dropped slightly in 2026, down to an average of 24,431. In large part this can be attributed to the sheer number of matches played – the 24 matches played at home are the second-most in club history.
Nashville's poor attendance during Leagues Cup significantly lowers their numbers, with an average of 14,402 fans (and a low of 11,887) in the building for their three group-stage matches. Their Concacaf Champions Cup attendance was significantly better, averaging 21,593 fans, and capped off by a quarterfinal crowd of 27,167 against Club América.
