Barcelona 2 - Juventus 1 at Metlife Stadium, 82,104 (that's a lot) PSG 2 - Tottenham 4 in Orlando 33,322 (11 away from being a curious number)
For comparison, 45,516 saw the USA - Costa Rica game, putting the continental semifinal game on par with one of the lesser club friendlies, and not even close to the big club friendlies.
North Carolina 0 - Swansea 0 7,268 New York Cosmos 2 - Valencia 0 in Saskatchewan, because why not... 15,000
Not quite apples to apples though, given the relative lead times involved. Also of note, one is televised, the other is not, reflecting the interest of the rest of the country.
The amount of time between when the teams are set and the games are held. And I guess it's largely my perspective that I don't think about which friendlies are broadcast, since I can't see how anyone would be interested in that... I see how someone would want to see certain teams or players in person, but if it's just on TV, there's no benefit to seeing an event held in the U.S. compared with actual league matches.
And yet, the '94 World Cup was far more popular on TV than any other World Cup until recent times. People like seeing events held in their "back yards".
Manchester United 1 - Real Madrid 1 in one of the worst matches you will ever see. 65,109 in Santa Clara, site of Wednesday's Gold Cup final.
PSG 2 - Juventus 3 44,444 in Miami Barcelona 1 - Manchester United 0 80,162 (Neymar can't stop scoring in preseason, and rumor is he is on his way to PSG.)
The International Champion’s Cup Sets Unbreakable Attendance Record at 93,098 With 93,098 tickets purchased for last nights international soccer match between Manchester City and Real Madrid FC at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, not only was it the largest crowd to witness a soccer match in the 94-year history of the stadium, it establishes a record that may never be broken. January 2018 the Coliseum is scheduled to undergo a $270M renovation which will ultimately reduce capacity to approximately 78,500. Manchester City defeated Real Madrid with a final score of 4-1. The previous attendance record for a Coliseum soccer match was 92,650 for the Aug. 6, 2006 doubleheader featuring Chivas de Guadalajara vs. FC Barcelona and Chivas USA vs New England Revolution.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/darren...or-stephen-ross-soccer-business/#3a6ccb081a05 One of the most euro-snobby articles of all time.
Ross wasn't interested in MLS before Beckham chose Miami, when a team would've been cheap, but carried some risk of loss. He isn't interested in owning a team elsewhere. He isn't interested in becoming a minority partner. Each of these reasons to not be in MLS are understandable. But it's inexpensive and low-risk to host meaningless friendlies for superclubs. It's that simple. Presenting it as if it's some sort of bold venture rather than a cash grab by someone with a nice stadium in a nice city is outright disingenuous.
Barcelona - Real Madrid is quickly becoming the most ooverhyped event outside of the wwe. The ticket prices, people saying it's bigger than the super bowl, sports center from the site of the game, and at the end of the day it's all for a training session. Shame on espn and the promoters.
A few years ago somebody said the Champions League Final passed the Super Bowl in worldwide viewers. Imagine if they played in the Champions League Final. Would it be the most watched soccer club game ever going by worldwide viewers?
Going into the final weekend, the ICC is averaging 47,646 attending per game. And that's with the slightly lower attendance in Asia.