SUMmer of Soccer Rolls On

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 …

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.

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

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?

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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.

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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.