Well, first we need to see who will be playing the game. Right now we have the Semi's of: Galaxy Vs. Burn in Fullerton, CA and Crew Vs. KC/Milwaukee the venue is TBA, but I'm thinking it will be in Columbus.
oh see I thought they use to randomly pick somewhere, that would explain some of the weird places the final has been before. Well the only one that comes to mind was when the Burn won it in 1997 )) and we played DC in like Indiannapolis or soemthing. so its all about the teams now huh? well tell me this, how do they determine who hostes between 2 teams playing?
I would assume that a team would have to put together some kind of bid to host the final, but ya know, we are dealing with US Soccer and MLS, so they may just give it to whomever they choose. As of right now I would venture to say that if C-bus makes the final they will host regardless. If KC makes the final then I would think the winner of LA/Dallas would host, not that I'm discounting Milwaukee's chances. Actually I think it would be pretty cool if the Rampage made the final and were able to host, that is unless they play on turf.
That always seemed random to me. DC United (back in the day when we played in the Open Cup) would play A-L teams both at home and the road, which always made me think it was a coin flip (or something similar). Somebody correct me if you can...I hate not knowing for sure.
I believe that US Soccer offers the higher team seeded team the option of hosting the game. For example, two years ago when DCU played the Battery they chose not to host and not pay the RFK 50K rental.
Here's my take on it. They tried to pick a neutral site for it. For a couple years. That's why one year the final was played in Columbus, between Rochester and Colorado. But the poor attendance of a match like that one made it so they've changed to having one team host it. Not really fair. But I guess it's better to have it not be as bad a money loser for a few years. Hopefully one day it'll mean enough that they can go back to a neutral site approach.
The final was in Columbus because they thought Columbus would beat Rochester in the semis and get a huge home game. The Crew vs. KC/Rampage venue is based on the result of the KC game this week. If the Rampage win, they host the game, while the Crew will host the game if KC wins.
Don't forget about the one year they tried to have the Cup final at a neutral site (Virginia Beach, right?) only to have a hurricane come through and wash out two days in a row. With no other option, they had one of the two teams host the final (Chicago), who won it.
In the MLS news letter they stated that the KC or Milwaukee will host the game. FYI: According to David Litterer of the US Soccer History Archive (http://www.sover.net/~spectrum/usopen.html), there has been a USOC for the Woman’s game for the past 5 years. The WUSA has not participated, I am glad that the MLS does and hope that the WUSA re-thinks this for next year.
They should've hosted that game in Indy (grumble grumble), since that would've nicely split the distance between Chicago and Columbus.
http://www.mlsnet.com/content/02/weekly0820.html Scroll down a bit, Columbus will host the game if KC wins.
Thanks, this was a different report that I had read ... it did not make sense to have KC host when the Crew faithful will show up ;-)
Ah yes. Plus from what someone who is in with the team has said, let us know that if the Wizards pull off the win vs. the Crew, then the final will be in KC. If the Crew win, I'm not sure what happens, won't crew stadium be accounting for football in Oct.?
So if the Burn win and put out the Galaxy, then the winner of KC vs. Crew will either host, or be hosted. Hmm. The Cotton Bowl for a USOC final...sounds good. I cannot tell if the Burn is the higher seeded team or not. If they did it by how the teams were sitting in MLS at the time, Burn was higher than either. How cool would a nice KC vs. Burn final be, with their fans coming down to Texas.
I agree. BTW, read something this morning (sorry, can't remember where) that the final will be in LA if KC beat Cowlumbus....at Hunt Stadium if the Cowtown make the final. (not too sure about LA playing another final in Cowlumbus....mmm....do I wanna fly out there again?)