SUMmer of Soccer Continues
First let me apologize for the tardiness of this post. I Amtraked across America to visit family, go to a wedding, and I’m going to cram in a trip to Giants’ Stadium for the Gold Cup Final. Can you believe it, no Wi-Fi in any Amtrak station between Arizona and Chicago, nor between Chi-town and New York, so a ‘just the numbers’ abbreviated post before the weekend(actually very late Friday night). My normal ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’ post may also be a tad late, but we’ll see how things go. Now on to the footie news.
The ‘Summer of Soccer’ which began on June 20, rolls on. After this past weekend, 31 events, including 14 doubleheaders comprising 45 matches have drawn 416,259, for an average of 18,098.
Here’s how last week’s events fared …
| Summer of Soccer Attendances | ||||
| Opponents | Venue | Date | Event | Att |
| AC Milan v LA Galaxy | Home Depot Center, LA, CA | Sun, July 19 | Friendly | 27,000 |
| Inter Milan v Club America | Stanford Stadium Palo Alto, CA | Sun, July 19 | WFC | 31,026 |
| qtr-Guadeloupe v Costa Rica qtr-Mexico v Haiti | New Cowboy Stadium Dallas, TX | Sun, July 19 | Gold Cup | 82,252 |
| Chelsea v Seattle | Qwest Field, Seattle, WA | Sat, July 18 | Friendly | 65,289 |
| Cruz Azul v Tigres UANL | Myers Stadium, Austin, TX | Sat, July 18 | Copa Aztex | 7,044 |
| qtr-Hondura v Canada qtr-Panama v USA | Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia, PA | Sat, July 18 | Gold Cup | 31,087 |
| semi-New England v Chicago semi-Santos Laguna v Tigres UANL | Gillette Stadium Foxborough, MA | Wed, July 15 | SuperLiga | 7,215 |
| Rapids vs Club America | Dick’s Sporting Goods Park Denver, CO | Wed, July 15 | Friendly | 10,492 |
| total | 261,405 | |||
| average | 32,676 | |||
U of Texas Athletics teamed with USL-1 club Austin Aztex to bring international soccer to the Austin for the first time. This year’s Copa Aztex match, the first in a three-year engagement, pitted Mexico City’s Cruz Azul against Tigres of Monterrey.
Another ch-ching week for Soccer United Marketing(SUM).
What a great scene at Qwest Field as Seattle packed the house for the friendy vs Chelsea FC.
| USMNT Gold Cup | ||||
| MLS Same Day Attendance v Average | ||||
| Quarterfinal | 6/16/2007 | 07 Avg | 7/18/2009 | 09 Avg |
| Chivas USA | 10,490 | 14,305 | ||
| New England | 22,412 | 16,742 | ||
| DC United | 20,161 | 20,967 | 18,248 | 14,811 |
| Columbus | 12,922 | 13,056 | ||
| Chicago | 14,228 | 12,640 | ||
| Toronto | 20,172 | 20,228 | ||
| Semifinal | 6/20/2007 | 07 Avg | 7/23/2009 | |
| Columbus | 10,254 | 15,230 | ||
| Final | 6/24/2007 | 07 Avg | 7/26/2009 | |
| Kansas City | 8,091 | 11,586 | ||
| The 2009 matches at DCU, Columbus and Chicago were all played at the same time as the US Men. | ||||
For those of us that are looking for MLS to eliminate the scheduling conflicts with FIFA and CONCACAF, once again these numbers give the bean counters more reason to advise standing pat. For the most part, attendances on MLS match days that coincided with the USMNT match days were above 2009 seasonal averages.
Congestion Eases Significantly
| SuperLiga after Semifinals | |||
| Total | Game Dates | Average | |
| 2007 | 234,751 | 14 | 16,768 |
| 2008 | 186,148 | 14 | 13,296 |
| 2009 | 86,948 | 11 | 7,904 |
| 3 Doubleheaders in 2009 meant 3 fewer separate game dates | |||
| Chicago beat Revs on July 15 | |||
| Final on Wed, Aug 5 | |||
Sunday completed a 29 day run in which the Revs have played 8 matches(MLS, USOC, SuperLiga). Bounced from the tourneys, the New England will be able to focus entirely on league play.
Chicago has only the SuperLiga final to contend with, but will be hurting a bit more since learning of McBride’s extended absence due to surgery.
As I’ve mentioned before, expect changes to the SuperLiga after this year. If the tournament survives in 2010, a World Cup year, and remains essentially unchanged, it will be a sure indication that live attendance and wide distribution of English language coverage in the US are irrelevant. That will demonstrate where the real money comes from; sponsorships and Spanish language TV. SuperLiga in August or September next year?
==========
| US Open | |
| Sep 2 | |
| Final | |
| DCU vs Seattle | |
Seattle will play DC United in its bid to win its first trophy as an MLS club.
DCU played on July 18th, and both play on July 25th. DCU has a CONCACAF Champions league match on July 28. Seattle played Chelsea FC on the 18th.
==========
| CONCACAF Champions League | |
| Jul 28 – Jul 30 | Aug 4 – Aug 6 |
| Prelim First Leg | Prelim Second Leg |
| DCU, RBNY, TFC | |
DCU and TFC play MLS league games on Jul 25 and August 2. That means they will each play 4 times during the period Jul 25-Aug 6(13 days). RBNY play an MLS game on Jul 25, but are off the week of August 2.
All told, between July 18 and August 8, DCU has 4 MLS matches, 2 CONCACAF Champions league matches and 1 US Open Cup match. 7 matches in 22 days.
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Mitch Howard
July 25, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Thanks for the quick update Kartik.
Mitch Howard
July 25, 2009 at 8:06 pm
That’s what I thought, I saw the game on AFN, they didn’t show the Mex-CRC game.
Kartik Krishnaiyer
July 25, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Mitch- a TON of empty seats. Probably about 10k-15k there for the US game. It was more like 55k for the Mexico game, keep in mind it was a doubleheader. Actually, I saw few empty seats during MEX-CRC. It was basically full. Again this is all from TV, thank you Univision HD! 🙂
Mitch Howard
July 25, 2009 at 7:36 pm
I’m not sure if I understand the attendance # from Soldier Field for G.C. Semifinals. When I was watching the game, I thought I saw a lot of empty seats. Did anyone else see this, or am I remembering wrong. I was very busy working while the game was going on.
LI Matt
July 25, 2009 at 2:39 pm
DC is attempting to be the first back-to-back Open Cup winner since the New York Pancyprian Freedoms in 1982-83. This is the fifth time since then that the holder has reached the final: DC in 1997, the Galaxy in 2002, the Fire in 2004, and the Galaxy again in 2006.
Kartik Krishnaiyer
July 25, 2009 at 10:42 am
Here here Joey Clams. I am so tired of hearing these football stadiums were constructed with soccer in mind and seeing narrow pitches and turf. I think the case against the USA getting the 2018 or 2022 World Cup is growing with some of the venues we’ve seen in this Gold Cup and that sham international tournament I have tried not to watch on ESPN. (I have watched the CA games)
During halftime of last night’s USL game between Miami FC and Minnesota I switched briefly to ESPN and saw the narrow pitch and and sod that Chelsea and Milan were playing on and thus switched safely back to FSC and saw the USL halftime show which trust me is no great thrill.
Joey Clams
July 25, 2009 at 9:25 am
By the way, while it would be silly to say that it’s impossible, it appears that the playing surface at the gleaming Cowboys Stadium can be widened only with great difficulty. I don’t want to hear that it was constructed with soccer in mind. Sure, it will be adequate for the odd – or frequent – kickabout between Mexican teams. But it’s not a WC venue. That’s too bad.
Peter C
July 25, 2009 at 6:44 am
Mitch,
The semifinals doubleheader at Soldier Field in Chicago drew 55,173.
Mitch Howard
July 25, 2009 at 3:32 am
Peter C, great job, what was attendance at U.S. vs. Honduras Gold Cup game?