Honduras vs. Guatemala in Atlanta

[BigKahuna]

Guys, lets ALL show up to this in hopes that it will be beyond a sellout:

Honduras vs. Guatemala are playing a friendly this Tuesday right here in Atlanta on October 10th.

http://www.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20061005&content_id=74735&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp

Saturday's match will actually be played in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., at Lockhart Stadium while Tuesday's affair will be at Herndon Stadium on the campus of Morris Brown College in Atlanta.

In Tuesday's match, Nunez will face off against one of his fellow Hoops as forward and leading scorer Carlos "Fish" Ruiz will be suiting up for Guatemala.

[BigKahuna]

More:

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=416219

[BigKahuna]

Also featuring the Fire's Ivan Guerrero

[BigKahuna]

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=419851

5. What is the status of expansion?

COMMISSIONER ANSWER: We received many questions about expansion so we decided to answer all of them with a status update on a market-by-market basis. I will tell everyone that the interest in MLS expansion is at an all-time high. This is very different from even just a few years ago when we had to solicit potential expansion markets and owners. MLS President Mark Abbott leads our expansion efforts and discussions. The list is in alphabetical order:


ATLANTA – We’ve had recent discussions with two different potential ownership groups and we plan to spend more time focusing on this key Southeast market. . We would like to have a presence south of Washington, D.C. and Atlanta has many of the attributes we look for in a new market. Unfortunately, at this time, Atlanta does not have an appropriate facility for an MLS team. The stadium that was home to the WUSA’s Atlanta Beat, Herndon Stadium, is too small and does not have the modern amenities needed for an MLS team. We are interested to see how the Honduras versus Guatemala match does next Tuesday in Atlanta. Two FC Dallas players – Ramon Nunez and Carlos Ruiz – will be playing against each other for their respective national teams.


I don't think you can understate the importance of this game to increasing our chances of getting a team. We absolutely must show up strong...even if you couldn't give a shit about the Guats or Honduras. International soccer doesn't come round these parts very often...I mean...it NEVER come around these parts so lets take advantage of this. Spread the word.

[Eleven Bravo]

what kind of advertisement has there been for this game?

[BigKahuna]

what kind of advertisement has there been for this game?

Only in the Spanish media...haven't seen ANYTHING about it anywhere else.

[Eleven Bravo]

how did the attendance turn out? I'll be the first to say that this attendance shouldn't make or break Atlanta. I could see a US game with poor attendance maybe making owner cautious of investing in the area, but not Honduras vs. Guatemala.

[Reignking]

WTF? This got absolutely no pub. I just found out about it today!

Maybe this is what a governor should be venting about :)

[BigKahuna]

how did the attendance turn out? I'll be the first to say that this attendance shouldn't make or break Atlanta. I could see a US game with poor attendance maybe making owner cautious of investing in the area, but not Honduras vs. Guatemala.

There were probably about 10,000 there by my very rough estimates. It wasn't sold out but I'd say it was a very good crowd for a Tuesday night with absolutely ZERO promotion or advertising except in the Hispanic media. I will say that I was one of FOUR gringos in the entire stadium. Seriously.........4!! If this had been advertised to everybody and held on the weekend, we might have filled the GA Dome (ok, exageration, but...you know). Hopefully this will impress MLS and any potential local investors to the point where we can consider expansion here even more.

But it was a 2-1 win for Honduras who actually looked pretty good. I got the impression that Guatemala brought a yound team as some of them looked like teenagers. But I was pretty impressed with some of the Honduran players...#8, and #9 (David Souza, I think) were very strong...I'd like to see some of them in MLS.

[Eleven Bravo]

There were probably about 10,000 there by my very rough estimates. It wasn't sold out but I'd say it was a very good crowd for a Tuesday night with absolutely ZERO promotion or advertising except in the Hispanic media. I will say that I was one of FOUR gringos in the entire stadium. Seriously.........4!! If this had been advertised to everybody and held on the weekend, we might have filled the GA Dome (ok, exageration, but...you know). Hopefully this will impress MLS and any potential local investors to the point where we can consider expansion here even more.

But it was a 2-1 win for Honduras who actually looked pretty good. I got the impression that Guatemala brought a yound team as some of them looked like teenagers. But I was pretty impressed with some of the Honduran players...#8, and #9 (David Souza, I think) were very strong...I'd like to see some of them in MLS.

One thing this brings up is that the team should look towards signing Guatemalan and Honduran internationals. As far as Souza, i remember that guy was supposed to be compared to Ronaldo like 6 years ago. I think he's playing in the Serie-A now and was linked for a move to some big clubs like Man U, Milan, Inter, and Sevilla offered something like 10 million euros for him.

Still, 10,000 for a game that had ZERO publicity and wasn't exactly the Champions League final is pretty impressive.

[AtlantaFan]

Glad there was a good crowd - hopefully those 2 potential investor groups and Commish Garber noticed.

I was going to try and hook up with some of you that were going, but I am stuck on the Left coast this week.

[BigKahuna]

Here are some good pictures:

http://digital-diva.smugmug.com/gallery/1992711/1/101740082

[Eleven Bravo]

Here are some good pictures:

http://digital-diva.smugmug.com/gallery/1992711/1/101740082

the stadium appears to be a really nice stadium for an MLS team. I would be really happy with that as the home venue. hopefully, sponsors will take notice. the only thing i would like to see is the field goals taken out.

did there seem to be any problems with it being too small like previously mentioned?

[Reignking]

GRR! So that's why the lights were on!!!! I can see the stadium from my office, and couldn't fathom why they were on...I assumed that they would use Silverbacks park...

[Trellis]

Kahuna, if you were one of 4 gringos, my wife and I made up 50%!

Seriously though, we enjoyed the game very much. Actually drove in from Athens to watch and I'm glad we did. The neighborhood was admittedly sketchy, but we eventually found a place to park and walked to the stadium. The crowd was very into the game from the very beginning. The game was entertaining, but the crowd really made the game for us.

We were both very impressed with Herndon Stadium. Seems to me it might be the perfect size for a MLS team. There's no luxury suites, and no real parking, but the MARTA station was only a stone's throw away. If the capacity is 15,000, there is plenty of room to add 5-7K in the end with the scoreboard. Maybe another 2K in the other end.

If Morris Brown is in such financial crisis as it seems they are, a sale of the stadium might be a wise decision. It was renovated for the Olympics right?

Anyway, we enjoyed the game very much and will go back the next chance we get.

[BigKahuna]

the stadium appears to be a really nice stadium for an MLS team. I would be really happy with that as the home venue. hopefully, sponsors will take notice. the only thing i would like to see is the field goals taken out.

did there seem to be any problems with it being too small like previously mentioned?

It would be a perfect temporary home for a team until they got their own stadium. But as was mentioned, it is in a run down part of town and it is lacking in Garber's "modern ammenities."

[BigKahuna]

We were both very impressed with Herndon Stadium. Seems to me it might be the perfect size for a MLS team. There's no luxury suites, and no real parking, but the MARTA station was only a stone's throw away. If the capacity is 15,000, there is plenty of room to add 5-7K in the end with the scoreboard. Maybe another 2K in the other end.

Thats true....with significant renovation, it could be perfect...especially since it is so close to Vine City Station. I'd say with $50 million...they could turn it into a fantastic facility. And thats like 1/3 of what a new stadium would cost.

The problem is that the field is quite narrow...they can't quite fit a full size pitch between the two sides of the stadium unless they took out the first 4 or 5 rows from one side. And would suburbinite soccer fans be scared away by the...shall we say, "low rent" neighborhood?

[Eleven Bravo]

It would be a perfect temporary home for a team until they got their own stadium. But as was mentioned, it is in a run down part of town and it is lacking in Garber's "modern ammenities."

What are these "modern ammenities"?

[BigKahuna]

What are these "modern ammenities"?

Not quite sure, but luxury boxes is probably one of the things he has in mind. Also, I don' know how accomodating Herndon would be to big television crews.