Well, isn't this interesting. It seems that a group is making a cup tournament and they have invited the Caps to be part of it and are paying the costs including renting BC Place. It was very nice of the Caps to say yes. However, this is a strange situation for the organizers. This is a Tuesday night, after a home MLS match on the Saturday, and a road game the following weekend. Which means, the Caps will be dressing a very minimal lineup... which means, how many people are going to pay to see this? Crystal Palace has an interesting history; however, their worldwide fan base is not very large so how many Palace fans are around here? Of the Caps fans, how many are going to want to come out on a Tuesday night to see a C level squad the the Caps will have to put out there due to league commitments and this game not even being of their own planning. If you remember the outrage last year at lineup they put out for the CCL game against Seattle, you can imagine what kind of lineup this will be given. With no financial risk in the game, the Caps are going to take minimal risk with their top players. If this thing hits 10,000 PAID I would be surprised. (they could likely paper 5 to 8 grand if they really tried so it may seem like more) . I don't think these organizers thought it through very well in terms of time of day and the type of lineup the Caps will have to send out there. They might take a bath. Unless, the financials are such that they can break even at 10,000 paid(which I doubt, even a lower level EPL team is going to cost a lot of money and a one night booking and costs for BC Place will be quite a lot) It would be sad to see a well meaning group of football enthusiasts have a negative experience. So I do wish them well and hope they planned the finances with realistic expectations and not projecting 22,000 at the game in order to cover their costs.
after last years disgusting mediocre amateur CCL soccer match vs seattle (the caps had 10 second string players, seattle 9), i certainly will not be going- i was fooled once when i though the game would inspire the teams and coaches- i wont be fooled twice- and i understand that the ticket price for the CP game will be much higher than a meaningful whitecap MLS game there will be a lot of free tickets going out just to pad the attendance at massive BC Place Stsadium- its deserves to be played at swangard which holds about 5 000-6 000
My first post said I would be surprised if they had 10,000 paid at full price... hearing the market today, the radio was ripping it and forums all over are not interested and will not buy, I would say 5,000 paid at full price will be a miracle. when it comes to late June they are either going to gut the prices on some seats or send out as many freebies to local soccer teams as they can. They are going to want to save some credibility and do anything to get it up to 15,000 butts in seats. I understand the Caps are getting paid and THEY think it is worth their while, and to maybe pick up some good will in the Chinese community; however, I would think they will be saying no next time. This match is not going over well with the fans and is leaving most people just concerned about it affecting the MLS matches before and after it. Hey, if you want to pay double your season ticket seat price to see young Canadians and reserves play some pre-season EPL club.. have at it. They would have been better off to have the Guangzhou club playing CP and leaving the Caps out of it. The costs would have been less (they are already paying the Chinese club to be here and wouldn't have to pay the Caps), and probably will get about the same number of tickets sold.
i am not sure that the chinese community in vancouver will find this worth the hype- if you could find even 10 Whitecap STHs excited about this, i would be surprised- whoever at whitecaps HQs thought this was a good idea is quickly finding out their involvement is a big mistake and a true embarrassment
The Caps are being paid for this but I am not sure if they really are losing their integrity by taking a friendly for a local community event. It seems like a nice idea for the Chinese community to host some amateur and former pro players from China for good times. To me the problem lies in the ticket pricing when we know the Caps will be playing a minimal lineup for most of the game. I would likely have gone for my season ticket price, but no way I am paying double for this. People are crapping on CP, but being a mid table EPL team means you are a very talented squad and certainly be worth a watch under the right circumstances. I am not one of those types that will refuse to watch anything except world class clubs. They probably should have had a league one club (bring back Millwall!!!) vs the Chinese community down at Swangard if the NIMBY mayor would be willing to give up his empty stadium for one night (which I would have loved to attend) More intimate and cost effective and perhaps they could have filled it up for fun with reasonable tickets with some of that clubs supporters and Caps fans missing the USL days mixing in with the Chinese community. They could have really made a festival atmosphere with it since this is supposed to be celebrating a bond between cities. I think if you want to put on a big event, this was not the way to do it and ill timed for the Caps to make a meaningful impact.