I was wondering how US soccer and MLS teams look at this cup. I think the semi-finals should be held at much bigger stadiums and be treated as very high-profile games by USSF? The concept is great, but as an outsider I was just wondering how succesful this cup tournament is. I saw a headline on one of the Dutch newswires here on the DC United win, so it's definitely getting attention outside the US.
The USOC is a great tourney to watch. I went to it a few years ago (Pittsburgh at DCU), and watched Seattle-Houston on the web last night (that would have been an aceptable final, if you ask me). Both were excellent matches with great, albeit small crowds. But that's just the way it is in certain countries. Cups are way more important in certain countries. Here each individual division takes precedence. But I'll take a small crowd that knows what it's all about over a huge crowd that doesn't even watch the match but just drinks and yells.
The tournament is not anywhere near what it could be. Im genuinely surprised that it made news outside the states, as i doubt it made much news here. The final has a lot of potential though. Seattle has been drawing everybody's best games out of them all season and the Screaming Eagles and other DCU supporters will want to make a statement that Sounders fans are new players in a game DC has long been masters of. Fox Soccer is already promoting the final on Sept. 2nd and it should be good exposure for the cup to have two high profile, well supported, opposite coast teams in the game. Maybe this is the year that the open cup sticks in people's minds and next year gets the sponsorship, prestige, and notoriety we've all been hoping it would. Or it could just be another great game which no one notices.
if the final would have been at qwest, it would have been a sold out crowd of 32,000+. as it is, it's in d.c., where the crowd will be around 6-8000. there's the biggest problem. you couldn't have asked for a better promotion or advertisement of the tourny than to have it in a soldout stadium showing the rest of the country, that yes, this is a real tourny and there are teams that take it very seriously. as it is, it'll be in a stadium that'll be 2/3rds empty and the rest of the world will continue flip right on by it when they flip to it on the tv. imo, this "bidding" process if flawed. if you can't assure you'll fill up at least 3/4ths of your stadium and another team can, then the other team should get the match, regardless of the bid.
I think there are lots of Arsenal fans who will come to the game just to see Ljungberg in action. And I doubt it will be so low as 6-8000. Probably more in the 16-20K range. But it could be so much more than that. And there are teams in the league who have decent support other than the sounders. Its terrific what you guys have done at qwest but the league cant rest on one team.
I agree. Getting a sponsor name attached to it probably would be a step towards more recognition and prestige. The final is at RFK I see and shown live on Fox. I'm going to try and watch it.
The game in Seattle would have been at 1 in the afternoon on a work day. I know Seattle's done well this season, but pulling 32K in the middle of a work day would have been unlikely. Based off of what? Last year's final in DC had an attendance of 8,212 what's to think that this year will more than double last year's attendance?
correct me if i'm wrong, but didn't you guy only pull around 8,000 for last years final? that's where i got my prediciton from. it that is correct, i don't see why it would be much different this year.
not really. i think you underestimate how popular the sounders really are up here. and you add that with over a month for the team to advertise the game and the fact that it's a chance to seattle capture it's first trophy since coming to the mls, and it's more than fair to say it'd be a sellout.
He's not one of "you guys," he's a Harrisburg fan. His prediction of 20k at RFK is just about as likely as Adrian Hanauer's (sp?) and your prediction of a sold out Qwest. RFK will likely have more than last year, since this year the game won't be played on the Wednesday of Labor Day week, which is typically a week a lot of people take off work for that last summer vacation. I'm thinking attendance will be in the 10-12k range.
it costs more money to open a big stadium then they will earn off the match. Very few people in the U.S. including those that actually follow soccer give a rats ass about he U.S. open cup. I'll admit. I don't care. Not only that, I don't want to care. If people want to watch it great. I won't disparage them. I say go enjoy but deep down. I wish they'd end it just so i never have to read another article about why it doesn't get any attention or the myriad of other problems with the competition. I don't support a specific MLS team but the only competitions i care about are the Concacaf Champions league and MLS cup and definitely in that order. And i don't really care about MLS cup. It's means little to me. I understand some like the U.S. open cup but personally i'd love for it to be ended and never mentioned again.
It wasn't funny the first time. It's even less funny the second. Sounders fans really need to get over themselves.
http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/soccer/2009/07/22/sounders_made_very_aggressive_bid_to_hos If we did indeed bid several times the amount D.C. did for the final I'm very confused to how United won the bidding process. The only advantage to United's bid was the time slot. So U.S Soccer passed up more money and a much larger crowd so they could run the game in the evening? Does that make sense to any one? There are two ways to make the Cup more relevant: 1. Is to increase the payout to the teams and prize money so the players recognize the importance of the tournament. Its going to be hard to do that if you pass up bids that are substantially larger. 2. Is to increase the attendance at the games and the fans exposure to the tournament. Again really hard to do that when you pass up a bid that would potentially quadruple last years attendance. Yes as Sounders fans we can be a little homertastic, but I don't think you can make a rational argument as to why the tournament benefits from being in D.C over Seattle.
Ever heard of this thing called "time zones?" 1:00 PM on a weekday in Seattle is 10:00 AM on a weekday in DC. You do realize that the USOC has been around for nearly 100 years. Hosting the final in Seattle will not increase exposure for that tournament.
Are you speaking as a fan of US soccer? CONCACAF Champions League??!! Really??!! You're not a fan of any specific MLS team, but you prefer the MLS Cup over the US Open Cup?? I've a hard time figuring all this out.
Whoops. Of course, 1:00 PM in Seattle is 4:00 PM in DC. Which is still a craptacular time for a championship game on a week day.
The problem with your argument is that 7 PM DC time is 4pm Seattle time so either way you cut it one of the fan bases would be shown the game at a "craptacular" time.
Well, that shouldn't be a problem for you Seattle fans, right? I mean, you were going to sell out the game anyway. You should give us poor DC fans some slack. We're not as dedicated or hardcore as you. Is there a feature on BS where we can ignore people based on the club they support?
you Seattle fans honestly think you can sell out Qwest @ 1pm on a weekday? really? i think you've just crossed over from "obnoxious" to "ridiculous".