Mid-season? / Pre-season? Friendly 2010

Discussion in 'Colorado Rapids' started by Jimmydinho, Apr 12, 2010.

  1. Jimmydinho

    Jimmydinho Member+

    Jul 6, 2007
    Denver, CO, USA
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well, on the heels of DC United announcing their May 26th friendly with AC Milan what are your thoughts about the Rapids and their chances of hosting even one quality friendly this year?

    I would prefer European based opposition and I am sure most of you would too. But I also understand the combinations of a tiny stadium, the evaporating attendance, the lack of any honors and a do it on the cheap philosophy (that may or may not be a root cause of the above handicaps) may prevent anything other than a struggling Mexican side in bad need of a busstop break from playing here this summer.

    Sure, if ManU is coming we can rent Invesco and probably do a good job filling it. And I dont hold the "tiny" stadium agianst anyone, if anything, it was probably too optimistic in its scope judging from the empty seats lately. It's only tiny in contrast to the quality of the sides we'd all like to see play here.

    I heard rumors from the staff last year that never materialized, and served only to take what little joy in seeing Club America there was and diminishing it slightly. They (CA) played some great fast attacking ball, and were a joy to see, not to mention a great soccer loving crowd. However I dont watch much Primera, unless I am in Mexico and I go see it live, there.
     
  2. JasonMa

    JasonMa Member+

    Mar 20, 2000
    Arvada, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    2007 - MLS All-Star Game w/Celtic, Chinese National Team, were there any other friendlies?
    2008 - Tigris and Everton
    2009 - Club America
    2010 - ?

    Looking at the schedule we play every weekend except 5/8 (too early for teams to be available, plus we would have heard something by now) and during the World Cup break (What team is going to want to come to Colorado for a game during the group stages)? So the only way to get a friendly in is mid-week between two league matches. In that case we won't be running out our starters, so bringing in even a decent high-level European team would mean a probable butt-kicking.

    My bet? We see a Mexican team that's not CA/Chivas that's in the States for Superliga or another friendly stop by mid-week to play our reserves and once again, despite the advertising of two friendlies, we're told we can use both our bonus tickets for it.

    Other possibilities:
    No friendlies involving the Rapids, but we host a Superliga game between two Mexican teams, or a friendly between a couple of teams.
    No friendlies, but we actually progress to the point of hosting a USOC match or tow and those become our bonus ticket games.

    Personally I'm very disappointed that on the heels of this new stadium the only significant non-Mexican team we've seen is Everton. I'm not expecting ManU or Chelsea to stop by, but how can Kroenke not get Arsenal to come over (Wenger's objections aside) or some less notable top teams from South America (River Plate) or smaller European countries like Denmark (Feynoord)?
     
  3. Totoro

    Totoro Member+

    Dec 3, 2009
    Colorado

    I know what you mean, but the phrasing here is kind of funny.

    Edit:

    How has attendance been for the other friendlies? According to the match report, attendance for the Everton match was only 10,278. Everton is no big 4, but they're a solid EPL side with a lot of history. Maybe the FO is afraid to try to bring in a bigger draw out of fears they'll lose money?
     
  4. j710

    j710 New Member

    Mar 19, 2010
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    Paraguay
    Arsenal should come over. but i wonder if they actually like the rapids...
     
  5. JasonMa

    JasonMa Member+

    Mar 20, 2000
    Arvada, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I was told by sales people at that game that because it was the 3rd game of 4 straight weekends of home games that they didn't really push the sales of that game very much. They were concerned about people getting burned out by coming to the stadium for 4 straight weeks and figured the friendly was a good break between back-to-back league games and another league game the next week.
     
  6. jayd8888

    jayd8888 Member+

    Aug 22, 2006
    Denver CO
    Just speaking for myself. I know Id rather see the league game any time.
     
  7. Quinn 33

    Quinn 33 Member+

    Apr 25, 2003
    Denver, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Feyenoord is Dutch, not Danish.
     
  8. DavidJames

    DavidJames Member+

    May 11, 2003
    Longmont
    I agree and as much as I rag on the USOC, I'll go to one of those before a friendly as well.
     
  9. JasonMa

    JasonMa Member+

    Mar 20, 2000
    Arvada, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yeah I know that, I don't know why my fingers typed Danish. :D
     
  10. deron

    deron New Member

    Jul 25, 2006
    Centennial, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Perhaps you were hungry?
     
  11. fhnkeeper03

    fhnkeeper03 Member

    Jan 27, 2006
    Denver
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    that just made my day!!!
     
  12. f_chelsea

    f_chelsea Member

    Jan 16, 2009
    Denver, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  13. Jimmydinho

    Jimmydinho Member+

    Jul 6, 2007
    Denver, CO, USA
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This makes me vomit with chunky rage and watery envy. What does this club need to do indeed?

    I understand Montreal. It's building hype for soccer in an about to launch MLS franchise town, I get that. But what about long suffering Denverites? Can we get some sort of love? Just a reach around would be nice at this point.
     
  14. JasonMa

    JasonMa Member+

    Mar 20, 2000
    Arvada, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Me three. Up to this point I could kind of justify the lack of really big names with the whole "center of the country, small market, etc.". But if a NASL team can get AC Milan and Fiorentina there's no excuse for the Rapids not getting some sort of decent European or South American team. Just another friendly against a MFL club won't cut it.
     
  15. DavidJames

    DavidJames Member+

    May 11, 2003
    Longmont
    My guess is Montreal will fill the stadium. DSG would probably be half empty.
     
  16. GoRapids

    GoRapids Member

    Sep 1, 1999
    Boulder CO
    From Wiki:

    Montreal's Italian community is one of the largest in Canada, second only to Toronto. With 250,000 Montrealers with Italian ancestry, Montreal has many Italian districts, such as Little Italy, Saint-Leonard (Citta Italiana), R.D.P., and LaSalle. Italian is the 3rd most spoken language in Montreal and in the province of Québec. There is such a large number of Italian Canadians in Montreal that when Italy won the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the number of Italian Montrealers taking to the streets to celebrate en masse resulted in the closure of many major streets, such as Saint Lawrence Boulevard.
     
  17. deron

    deron New Member

    Jul 25, 2006
    Centennial, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I don't think those teams care if it's NASL or MLS. They care that Montreal is Canada's second biggest city.
     
  18. Centennial

    Centennial Member+

    Apr 4, 2003
    Centennial
  19. W.J. Marx

    W.J. Marx Member

    Apr 5, 1999
    Boulder, Colorado
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States


    Basically, outside of the USA Denver is unknown. The world knows Vail & Aspen but not Denver! Denver has never done anything to create legend. The Rapids have no remarkable history. Even within the USA, Denver is geographically undesirable, it is vanilla, it is uninteresting.




    Thanks to GoRapids & Deron you have the answer. Moreover, Montreal is an exciting, cosmopolitan city. It is culturally diverse. It prides itself on the quality & quantity of its great food and great ethnic food. It is architectually interresting. It is easily accessed from Europe. Although 2nd largest, it is the most well known Canadian city.

    I know Montreal & Denver is not Montreal!!!
     
  20. pace8

    pace8 Member

    Aug 17, 2006
    Miami and Montreal
    Club:
    Montreal Impact
    Nat'l Team:
    Haiti
    With or without the italian community, montreal would draw 50 000+ for a game against a side like AC Milan. The Concacaf champion's league game against Santos Laguna drew over 55 000...its not like Montreal has a huge Mexican community. This is a soccer town my friends, probably top 3-4 in North America.
     
  21. GoRapids

    GoRapids Member

    Sep 1, 1999
    Boulder CO
    That's good - cuz your hockey in Montreal sucks! ;)
     
  22. f_chelsea

    f_chelsea Member

    Jan 16, 2009
    Denver, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Please don't ruin a perfect opportunity to illicit disdain for ownership or an expression of jealousy. :)
     
  23. JasonMa

    JasonMa Member+

    Mar 20, 2000
    Arvada, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    PArt of this goes back to the attendance/ticket price discussion as well. Part of the promotion for the season tickets is that you get two tickets to the friendly matches. If the friendly matches suck then you start to wonder if paying for season tickets makes sense. In theory those tickets could be used for friendlies, playoff games, or USOC games. Of course in the last 2 seasons that's amounted to Everton, Tigres, and Club America friendless. If, like me, you have no interest in the MFL then that's really one game in two years "extra" beyond the normal set of 15 home league games.
     
  24. W.J. Marx

    W.J. Marx Member

    Apr 5, 1999
    Boulder, Colorado
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    IMO eitehr the Rapids offer value for your entertainment dollars or they don't. They "Bonus" games are just that bonuses they should not determine the Rapids worth. If the Rapids offer too little entertainment or are too expensive then one should choose not to attend matches until such time as the Rapids offer real value for the dollar.

    To me it is simple. In 2009 I purchased a total of 37 tickets, in 2010 I will purchase tickets selectively based on the quality of the visiting side. The total will be far fewer then those purchased in 2009. TV including Direct Kick will replace Dick's for me. Overall it is a better value and just as exciting/raucus as Deathly Dick's!
     
  25. pace8

    pace8 Member

    Aug 17, 2006
    Miami and Montreal
    Club:
    Montreal Impact
    Nat'l Team:
    Haiti

    I don't know, we looked pretty good last night against the ''best team in the league'' hehe!;)
     

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