Hoover, AL Has Largest College Cup Crowd Since 2004

"I got involved bringing it here because I thought it could help grow the College Cup, and two years in a row, we've had crowds bigger than in recent years," UAB coach Mike Getman said. "I think we did what we set out to do. We got to show the whole country what Alabama is and what Birmingham is when it comes to this sport. This state supports it. I feel very gratified of what we were able to do."

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/12/hoover_draws_largest_ncaa_socc.html

http://xkcd.com/1102/

Hoover was the last place on earth that any sane soccer fan/committee member would chose to hold the Final Four. All I hear is how nice the people are and how it didn't rain... really? That's all it takes... Thankfully it's moving next year.

2004, aye? Funny...who won that year.


Coincidence? Not a chance.

Except it's kind of the perfect spot for it.
- South so it's warm
- Nice halfway between the midwest and northeast

Meh, who's scared of a little snow? Onward and upward to PA.

What a classless post. Pathetic.

Yeah, the weather was nice and it didn't rain.

Hoover sucks. Bring me Philly.

Richmond, VA says - pshaw!

Here was the attendance of the FINAL - just the final - the four years it was in Richmond

1995: Wisconsin 2, Duke 0 - 20,319
1996: St. John's 4, Florida Internationals 1 - 20, 874
1997: UCLA 2, Virginia 0 - 20,143
1998: Indiana 3, Stanford 1 - 15, 202

Richmond's worst attendance for the Final was the third-highest attended final in NCAA history outside of Richmond. The only two finals outside of Richmond to top the 1998 crowd were:

1977: Hartwick 2, San Francisco 1 - 16, 503, Berkeley, CA
1999: Indiana 1, Santa Clara 0 - 15, 439, Charlotte NC

The Friday attendances in Richmond for the SFs were also quite good. (Losing semifinalists in parenthesis)

1995 (Virginia, Portland) - 21, 319
1996 (Creighton, Charlotte) - 20, 269
1997 (Indiana, Saint Louis) - 18, 202
1998 (Maryland, Santa Clara) - 17, 616

That's 8 of the top 13 NCAA men's soccer crowds - EVER. Besides the two finals listed above, here are the other 3 attendances in the Top 13.

1. 22,512 saint Louis (5) vs. sIU edwardsville (1), Busch stadium, st. Louis, Oct. 30, 1980
7. 20,112 saint Louis (1) vs. sIU edwardsville (0), Busch stadium, st. Louis, nov. 9, 1973
11. 15,896 UC santa Barbara (2) vs. UCLA (0), santa Barbara, Calif., sept. 24, 2010

(This is before this year. I don't remember if UCSB got any 15K-plus crowds this year.)

Not sure why the city of Richmond, the NCAA and the soccer community haven't decided to get back together.

Maybe because U of R doesn't even want to field a team.

Based on their results, you could argue they haven't fielded much of a team in some time!

Dude, seriously? Hopefully, this was a beer-powered post, because I can't believe that you'd like to call out a kid (who knows he cost his team), but he continued to play with heart and tried to help them with every fiber in his body. I commend him. He's not a CB, but the team needed him to do it and he did the best he could.

Your post sounds like sour grapes that your team didn't advance against Creighton. I know many Akron players, staff, fans and parents. The post denigrates these fine people and I'm sure that they can't be happy to be associated with your comments.

I traveled down this year from Maryland. Loved the whole trip. Venue turned out a lot nicer than expected. I did however stay at a friends at the U of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) so I didn't have to experience Hoover which was kinda boring.

so long hoover will not miss you one bit.

games of this magnitude deserve to be in one of our SSS jewels

Your viewpoint seems to be a common one, but from what I've seen, I don't share it. From what I recall, those SSS jewels haven't done much for the College Cup in the past. When the final four was played in the Crew's Stadium, the weather was awful, and when it was played in Dallas' stadium, the place was a morgue.

If one or more of next year's finalists is local to Philly, there could be a big turnout. But if not?

I think another factor that hasn't been pointed out here yet was the pricing points NCAA choose for the Cup.

We all can agree that the four respective fan bases were not going to fill more than half the venue for any given match. Indiana from what I saw had the best showing. Maryland/Georgetown seems awfully far to arrange for student buses. In addition, it is hard for boosters & school athletics to coordinate a student fan bus and accommodations when you have no way of assuring your team will be around for Sunday. FWIW, our AD took care of player's family tickets which was very nice. I'm not sure of the other schools. I would never, not a chance, travel more than 2 hours or so to see the CC finals if I did not have a vested interest in one of the players or team. We all here know that the quality of these games can be lacking and just because it's the final is no guarantee of a great or even decent game.

Taking this into account, we'll assume the rest of the foot traffic is "local". What NCAA and their consultants deemed local? That'd be interesting to see. Assuming this though, how did they expect to fill 7k - 8k seats at a price point of 20 dollars for a single game match? Georgetown and Creighton are not by any means household names for athletics from the Southerners perspective. I cannot see the casual local supporter showing up for a Jackson.

I personally think that the event was misread by all the stakeholders. Would have been nice to see a price point of 5 dollars and a full stadium for the cameras.

I think NCAA needs to find different ways of getting these tickets into peoples hands a couple weeks before these games. It's hard to promote the event when you don't know the finalists a week before it takes place. We'll assume less than half capacity for combined team fans for any given game. Those fans are going to show no matter what. It's tough to "guess" regionally who will have an advantage given any venue for the event. Who's to say that next year all four teams are from a combination of the West/Midwest/South? It's pointless for them [NCAA] to try and see that these stars align. My point here is that they need to evaluate who their event is really for. If you are going to select a venue that knowingly has little support irrespective of the competitors, then you need to price it as such and get bodies in seats.

Sad that event organization has become so bureaucratic as I'm sure the man stakeholders do not want to give any ground.

Re next year, I would think that a lot of the pretty big numbers of soccer fans and youth players in the heavily populated greater Philly region might attend this game, e.g., for folks from, PA, NJ, MD, etc. are all easy day trips to Philly -- especially if there is a team from the area involved. But even if there is no team from the east coast, I would think you would get a significantly bigger turnout from soccer fans in the greater Philly and east coast region than you would in Hoover, Alabama ... After all, in addition to the game, Philly is the home of Rocky, Constitution Hall, and cheesesteaks (Pat's beats Gino's; the pork and broccoli rabe sub at Tony Luke's is great too). We'll see.

Yeah I don't get why they would not hold the cup in a major city every year. I mean what did people do on the off day in Hoover, Alabama? In general it seems to make sense to have it in a place people wouldn't mind visiting anyway and it also helps to have it at a place that's easy to fly to. I mean I get the desire for a warmer local, so why not LA, Houston, Atlanta, Tampa, Dallas, New Orleans, Miami, etc.

Georgetown organized a student bus for the final which I thought was impressive. If it had been in Philly there would've been tons of Georgetown and more so Maryland fans. I mean Georgetown is a small school so we'll only have so many fans no matter what.

My post was inappropriately harsh. I agree with your first paragraph, except the beer (I drink whiskey). I am not guilty of inaccuracy or insincerity. I am guilty of meanness, which is unacceptable. For that I want to apologize, especially to Nickolas Ribeiro. I am sorry. However, that does not indicate that my posting is entirely bereft of merit. Andrew is no longer a kid; he will be held accountable in the pros.
My attempt at black humor is absolutely rooted in sour grapes. 100%! That is the real point of my posting! Andrew Ribeiro was but a foil to that end. I am an admittedly sore loser. I am sad and bitter that tonight’s farewell gathering for Caleb Porter will not be a more celebratory occasion – hoisting the College Cup. (Indiana is running out of room to store these things!)
Consider my posting a back-handed compliment of the player. Andrew Ribeiro was instrumental in the match when Creighton bested Akron. BlueJays frustrated and prevented Zips midfield from linking with the front. Ribeiro’s masterful assist was the late equalizer, forcing OT. He continued this stellar play at Connecticut, stifling the UCONN midfield. After a great season, he played a real clunker vs. Indiana in the semi-final. One might even suspect an injury sustained at UCONN. We all know, especially in this sport, good players will have bad games. I lament that Ribeiro played his worst match vs. Indiana instead of vs. Akron. He deserves credit for playing out of position for the good of the team in the semi-final. He also must shoulder some of the blame for Hoosiers repeatedly marching up the middle of the pitch. The only mid-major school at the College Cup, I was rooting for Creighton, as I posted elsewhere.
Furthermore, I am an Andrew Ribeiro fan and I expect to see him in the MLS next spring. For me, Ribeiro is a more valuable asset than his more decorated BlueJays team mate, Jose Gomez.
I do not presume to speak for those “fine people” in the greater Akron soccer community, nor do they have my leave to represent me in any fashion.

Let me just tell everyone who may be flying into Philly to watch next year's College Cup...plan accordingly. There's a reason local travelers refer to the airport as Delay-A-Delphia.

Luckily there is a huge part of the population that will be driving. That is why the Philly convention is always the best attended. 75,000,000 people within a six-hour drive. Just have to hope that the record cold/ice/snow that occurred in the last few cold weather locations (Rutgers, Columbus, St. Louis) places doesn't happen. The College Cup needs to catch a weather break and if so I think next year's Cup will be one of the best attended in a long time.

Was there really 11,000+ people at the game on Friday ? It looked awful empty. Maybe they sold 11,000+ tickets to youth soccer players who didn't go.

I loath that airport.

You're better off flying into Newark or BWI and taking a train!

If I ran college soccer...

*The Cup would be held at the HDC after even seasons and at Lockhart Stadium after odd seasons. Switch it back and forth so there aren't cries of bias towards or against one coast over the other and so the event doesn't get stale in one market.

Like it or not, weather matters. The weather in Columbus and and St. Louis and SUCKED. It was even pretty brutal a couple of those weekends in Richmond. And the weather effects the crowd. The stadia in question are also the right size for the event as it currently stands.

Playing it in LA and South Florida also makes the Cup a destination. They may not be everyone's cup of team to live or vacation, but if you can't find enough to do for a fun long weekend in either place, you're either not trying or will never be happy, in which case, there ain't much we can do for you.

*Move the dates to the last weekend of the year. If college football can take multiple weeks off after the regular season and if the Frozen Four can take two weeks off after the QFs, soccer can take 3 weeks off after the QFs. The College Cup is just a pain in the ass in terms of its inconvenience for when it is.

It's short notice to go from one part of the country to another, it's in or near finals, kids are broke, families are prepping for Christmas and often times you learn on a Sunday that the team you follow is going to be playing several hours away on a Friday. Not a lot of time to arrange cheap flights, juggle work commitments, get a caravan or bus charter organized, etc...

Postpone it 3 weeks and its after Christmas, the college students are on winter break, most of them are working so they have a little pocket money, there's more advance time to get cheaper flights and certainly to arrange buses and caravans... plus instead of freezing your tits off in Philly or Ohio or St. Louis or being bored to tears in Alabama or Frisco, you've got the sun and fun of LA and South Florida!

New Year's on South Beach? Yes please!

Finally, get with MLS, which stands to benefit from the College Cup becoming a bigger deal, and hold the combine the same weekend as the College Cup. (Obviously the players from the Final Four teams wouldn't participate in the Combine, but they'd be getting scouted at their games that actually matter.) The Combine always gets more media coverage than the Cup so this would allow reporters who come to the Combine to also cover the Cup and that will raise its profile and give fans more reasons to come to the event. Now, if you're a soccer fan you get to see the Cup, see the Combine and get some nice weather and not have to worry about what you're doing for New Year's. (Always a bonus!)

Another plus is it would shorten the off-time for the Combine participants from the end of their respective seasons to the start of the Combine, this giving them less time to fall out of game shape - often a complaint among Combine participants - and allow them to be sharper and show better.

And please don't bring up TV and competing with college football. Ratings for the College Cup are irrelevant as it is. At least this way you have a chance to get bigger crowds and have more enjoyable experience.

At some point, college soccer has to recognize that the status quo isn't working and the season's biggest games aren't much of an event and don't draw well and create much enthusiasm and need to take steps to change this.

I doubt this happens because college soccer has a knack for doing the wrong things to help grow the sport, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't happen.

Touche'

Finally, get with MLS, which stands to benefit from the College Cup becoming a bigger deal, and hold the combine the same weekend as the College Cup. (Obviously the players from the Final Four teams wouldn't participate in the Combine, but they'd be getting scouted at their games that actually matter.) The Combine always gets more media coverage than the Cup so this would allow reporters who come to the Combine to also cover the Cup and that will raise its profile and give fans more reasons to come to the event. Now, if you're a soccer fan you get to see the Cup, see the Combine and get some nice weather and not have to worry about what you're doing for New Year's. (Always a bonus!)


These - IMHO - are great ideas...