This season we've had average attendances of 5,000 so where have the other 35,000 gone?
In a nation where top-flight matches often only attract attendances of 5,000, that is an achievement in itself.
WUSA is hoping for average attendances of about 7,000 people per game (roughly half what the male game gets).
They played in France's second division until promotion last season, with average attendances of just 4,600.
In a city with 470 live music venues and annual attendances of 14.4 million, legislators realised they were alienating a large constituency by sticking to a hard line.
The Bourne plans were announced as Sadler's Wells published its annual report showing a year of considerable success with record attendances of 705,971.
This modesty meant that MLS set itself the reasonable target of having average attendances of around 12,000 across its inaugural season.
Only two games broke attendances of 1,500: Chelsea's win and Luton's game against Millwall, which attracted 2,251 to Kenilworth Road.
At least 16 of the 24 games drew attendances of fewer than 1,000, with a couple of clubs setting records for their lowest attendances.
Swansea are a well-run club with a fine team who are a credit to the elite division, but with attendances of barely 20,000 and no billionaire benefactor they are never going to win the league.
Over in New York, theatres have been doing boffo business (as they say) with box-office returns for the 2011/12 season clocking in at an impressive $1.139bn from attendances of 12.33 million.
