Nashville attendace to surpass Columbus??

[IncredibleStan1]

i was on soccernet and it said the attendance for the US/Mex game was 23,776. And i have seen comments and on the blogs that 17,000 tickets have been sold some are saying its over 20,000 allready and that is WITHOUT walkup numbers thats presold tickets. I think the numbers will be pretty close to columbus but might edge it possibly....just possibly...if so that would be an incredible turnout for us here in Tennessee and the south as well

so do you think here in Nashville we will see much larger numbers then in Columbus?

[thethinwhiteduke]

i was on soccernet and it said the attendance for the US/Mex game was 23,776. And i have seen comments and on the blogs that 17,000 tickets have been sold some are saying its over 20,000 allready and that is WITHOUT walkup numbers thats presold tickets. I think the numbers will be pretty close to columbus but might edge it possibly....just possibly...if so that would be an incredible turnout for us here in Tennessee and the south as well

so do you think here in Nashville we will see much larger numbers then in Columbus?

i think it is comparing apples to oranges.

Columbus Crew Stadium had 23,776 but it was a sold out match with tickets unavailable for a long time before the match began. it was also a big match against a big rival.

LP Field is a MUCH larger stadium, although i am not sure what the exact capacity is for soccer matches. the match, while still being a qualifier, is against a less desirable opponent and two days before the match tickets are still widely available.

i think the crowd will have some impressive numbers on Wednesday but i dont think a comparison between the two has much relevance. i think the key is getting a good crowd in Nashville both numbers wise and atmosphere wise.

[IncredibleStan1]

i think it is comparing apples to oranges.

Columbus Crew Stadium had 23,776 but it was a sold out match with tickets unavailable for a long time before the match began. it was also a big match against a big rival.

LP Field is a MUCH larger stadium, although i am not sure what the exact capacity is for soccer matches. the match, while still being a qualifier, is against a less desirable opponent and two days before the match tickets are still widely available.

i think the crowd will have some impressive numbers on Wednesday but i dont think a comparison between the two has much relevance. i think the key is getting a good crowd in Nashville both numbers wise and atmosphere wise.

well i morso took into consideration that trinidad and tobago isn't as much a rivalry as mexico is to the usa and i wasn't expecting the numbers to be that great to be honest. and that soccer isn't as popular here as it is in other places in the country. i'm not sure the exact numbers for a soccer match as well but you do have a point about the size of the venues since LP field can hold about 68,000 i believe and the crew venue can hold what? just under half of that?? so yes that does play a factor. but if the numbers are really large for LP field then it will greater our chances here for a club team somehwere in the south soon. so a large turnout would look good under our belts

[Atouk]

i think it is comparing apples to oranges. Exactly. Surpassing Columbus doesn't seem relevant -- Columbus couldn't sell any more tickets.

Some potentially relevant comparisons -- the two Wednesday games last cycle that mattered drew 25,685 and 31,624 in Hartford and Birmingham.

A Wednesday hex match against Costa Rica in Kansas City in '01 drew 37,319. Also on a Wednesday in the '01 hex, Foxboro drew 31,211 for Trinidad & Tobago.

Last cycle in the Hex:

Birmingham (Wednesday) -- Guatemala -- 31,624
Salt Lake City (Saturday) -- Costa Rica -- 40,586
Hartford (Wednesday) -- Trinidad & Tobago -- 25,488
Columbus (Saturday) -- Mexico -- 24,685 -- sellout
Foxboro (Wednesday) -- Panama -- 9,192 -- meaningless game, we'd already qualified and Panama was in last place

[metroflip73]

Glad that Nashville has 17k pre-sold. Well done. I guess if the weather doesn't screw things up, it could be 25k in there. Not bad. And it'll be mostly USA folks up in there.

[Nerazzuri]

In the last qualifying cycle, Birmingham AL drew 31,624 for US-Guatemala.

Having larger attendances for these games is nice, but hardly earth shattering.

And any comparison between this game and the Mexico game are pretty much worthless. As pointed out, the Mexico game sold out in no time, this one won't sell out. Capacity of Crew Stadium, even with temporary seats added, kept the crowd from being any larger than it was. If USSF wanted the money, they could easily put that game elsewhere and draw a lot more. Think about it, they drew over 70,000 to Houston last year and 62,000 to Phoenix the year before, for friendlies against Mexico, as well as 60,000 to Chicago for the Gold Cup final.

With regard to your suggestion that this could help get a club team in the south down the line, don't hold your breath. As already mentioned, this is not the first time that the US has gotten a good crowd for a WCQ game, and not even the first time they've done so in the south, for a lesser opponent. Two years ago, Tampa drew 31,000 for a friendly vs. Ecuador. Before that, Miami drew 27,000 vs Argentina, and 35,000 vs Brazil (the latter was Gold Cup). But the fact remains, there's a big difference between a one-off qualifier, which is more of an "event" which will bring US national team fans from further away, and the potential success of a franchise, playing more regularly, needing fans to come out all the time.

[Haig]

There were thousands of Guatemalans in Birmingham, so the attendance was a bit padded. That said, I understand the crowd was 2/3rds to 3/4ths US.

A lot of Trinis at the Hartford game as well, as there are a good number of them in NY and other east coast locations. I don't expect as many in Nashville.

If the number exceeds the 25,488 in Hartford, then Nashville will have been a huge success. If the current ticket sales reports are correct, as things stand it's still a damn good performance, though probably not enough to distinguish Nashville from plenty of other possible venues.

(USA - Mexico would probably sell out most NFL stadiums in the US, including LP Field, but there's a good reason why the federation doesn't play those games at huge stadiums. There's absolutely no reason for those games NOT to be played in Columbus.)

[SabreKhan]

Does anybody know what the lower bowl at LP Field holds?

[thethinwhiteduke]

Does anybody know what the lower bowl at LP Field holds?

26,504

http://www.nashville.gov/sports_authority/coliseum.htm

[Gioca]

There were thousands of Guatemalans in Birmingham, so the attendance was a bit padded. That said, I understand the crowd was 2/3rds to 3/4ths US.

A lot of Trinis at the Hartford game as well, as there are a good number of them in NY and other east coast locations. I don't expect as many in Nashville.

If the number exceeds the 25,488 in Hartford, then Nashville will have been a huge success. If the current ticket sales reports are correct, as things stand it's still a damn good performance, though probably not enough to distinguish Nashville from plenty of other possible venues.

(USA - Mexico would probably sell out most NFL stadiums in the US, including LP Field, but there's a good reason why the federation doesn't play those games at huge stadiums. There's absolutely no reason for those games NOT to be played in Columbus.)

There were hardly any obvious Trinidad supporters in Hartford. Just a few of them really.

[Wessoman]

26,504

http://www.nashville.gov/sports_authority/coliseum.htm

We may just bust the bowl and have to move em up.:D

[Haig]

There were hardly any obvious Trinidad supporters in Hartford. Just a few of them really.


Give me a break. Estimates at the time (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=233467) range from 15% to 30% Trini.

At 15%, that's over 3800 T&T fans. Sorry, that's more than a "few." The US support was way louder, but you could hear and see the Trinis, even on TV.

[Gioca]

Give me a break. Estimates at the time (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=233467) range from 15% to 30% Trini.

At 15%, that's over 3800 T&T fans. Sorry, that's more than a "few." The US support was way louder, but you could hear and see the Trinis, even on TV.

Estimates at the time LOL. There is no way in hell there were 3800 T&T fans. There is no way there 300 T&T fans. But whatever.

[Atouk]

Give me a break. Estimates at the time (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=233467) range from 15% to 30% Trini.

At 15%, that's over 3800 T&T fans. Sorry, that's more than a "few." The US support was way louder, but you could hear and see the Trinis, even on TV.If my memory serves, there were substantially fewer T&T fans in Hartford than there were for the same game in Foxboro in the '01 cycle. The numbers weren't great in Chicago last year. I'll be interested to see how many T&T fans make it for a mid-week hex match.

The only photo of their group in Hartford I could find, courtesy of our friends at YCJ:

http://www.ibiblio.org/footy/2005g/0817_usa_tri_sab/web_79_sab.jpg

[tab5g]

http://www.ussoccer.com/common/stContent.jsp_16-2009MNTSRL.html

http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_13631488.html

Columbus, Feb 11, 2009 -- Attendance 23,776

Nashville, April 1, 2009 -- Attendance 27,959