Do we know for sure this game will be at CCS? The advantage of drawing a pro-American crowd is talked about a lot. And they've won here twice in a row. But there are more facilities to compete with these days. And don't forget that Columbus has been labeled as a "tired market".
It was in 2004 when the All-Star game was moved to Columbus somewhat last minute, if I remember correctly. CCS had allegedly hosted lots of big matches lately. In the prior five years there were a couple of all star games, an MLS cup final, Women's World Cup matches, a couple US friendlies, 2 USA Mexico, and a couple things I'm probably leaving out. But it's been a while since any of that. We've had more SSS's open, but I think Columbus is still a good option in this instance since its 1) Not Chicago, 2) Not Dallas and 3) Not Colorado. LTA aside, the CO is still pretty latino free. Not so those other places. And it will cold. Edit: Besides, we surprisingly sold out that All Star game. I don't think USA Mexico will be a problem.
from here. I'd certainly hope that US Soccer isn't even considering somewhere besides here for the opener. I doubt Mexico is sitting there, wondering if they should really play the US is Azteca, or if there's somewhere else to go...
DC area fans should scoop up airline tickets. Flying from Baltimore on Tuesday and returning on Thursday for $140 round trip.
We had a full stadium for the All Star Game. Word on the street was heavy papering. Regardless, USA Mexico ticket sales will not be an issue. Plus, a nice preseason bonus to season tix purchasers/holders - first dibs on the seats?
In the past season tix holders have had first dibs. I thought about buying extra seats this year just for this game. If they play elsewhere you know the soccer gods will frown on the USA.
1999 US-South Korea WNT friendly 2000 MLS All-Star Game 2000 US-Costa Rica MNT WCQ 2000 US-Canda WNT friendly 2001 US-Mexico MNT WCQ 2001 US-Ecuador MNT friendly 2001 MLS Cup 2001 Men's College Cup 2002 US-Scotland WNT friendly 2003 US-Paraguay MNT friendly 2003 Women's World Cup Group Stage 2003 Men's College Cup 2004 US-Grenada MNT WCQ 2004 US-Jamaica MNT WCQ 2005 MLS All-Star Game 2005 US-Mexico MNT WCQ *point being, we went through a period where, basically, we were the only game in town, and everything landed here. Not sure it was a 'tired' market, but certainly a saturated market. But, we haven't had anything beyond club friendlies (and Rascal Flatts concerts) since 2005. A note for the MNT in 09...there are 2 qualifiers in early June, followed up with a trip to South Africa in mid-late June for the Conf Cup, followed up by the Gold Cup in early July. That's a hellaciously busy 2 months, with an early August match in Mexico to follow. I'd guess Bradley to dip deep in the pool to cover all those matches, so Dude, Rogers, Gaven, Marshall, Hesmer and maybe even Carroll (if they're all still here) could miss significant time next summer.
We also had a match with the U-17's against El Salvador. There was a point where we had a lot of games, but we haven't had much of any significance lately. It's time. Getting a ticket probably won't be as hard as you think. I'm sure there'll be a presale for Crew season ticket holders, a presale for "Friends of US Soccer" which i'm sure will include Mexico fans. There may also be a Visa cardholder presale, etc.
Already been e-mailed by some out of town friends about hosting traveling Nats fans in Feb. US-Mex in Columbus: It ain't broke. That, and with the explosive growth of the Nordecke this season, CCS will be rocking in the USSF makes the right - and obvious - choice regarding where to place this match. Think the Mexican team needs another shipment of orange soccer balls, like the Fed sent them in '01? Seriously, though, my mind's so overheated with thoughts of tomorrow's match, contemplating a US-Mex match here in a few months is just more than I can absorb.
Put the Nordeckers in, well, Nordecke. And put the Sammers in the Northwest corner. That's one hell of an end zone. We have the first soccer-specific stadium in this country. So as a nod to that, we got a lot of those events here. The smaller, more intimate venue is good for atmosphere, and looks better on television. But now, with more such venues, the wealth has been spread around a bit. Which is fine. Knowing that these kinds of events will follow makes it a little more attractive of an idea to get one of these things built. But U.S. / Mexico has worked out pretty well here, and the idea behind it was that it was a place where we knew the U.S. would get home field advantage. That hasn't changed, so keep it here.
Good idea. Even without La Turbina, there's still enough Nordeckians to fill the entire Nordecke. It'd be nice to have a unified cheering section and coordinate chants, but combining SA with the Nordecke (and having it spill over into the sideline sections), you're probably not going to have unified cheers. If it was me making the decision, it'd probably be best to have it in two different corners.
Does the new stage/fewer seats to sell hurt our chances of getting this and future games? Also, outside of buying season tickets (which is how I got USvMex tickets previously, but dang--pricey) what's my best bet for scoring tickets for this one?
I'm sure they'll add temp seats of some sort in the stage area, along (of course) with the temp bleachers on the south end. May not get us up to pre-stage numbers, but it'll be fairly close. Basically, though, the USSF loses a lot of money by not playing this game in, say, southern CA in a 100K seat stadium. What's a thousand fewer fans in the whole scheme of things if we beat Mexico again in a qualifier?
IMHO, some of that was due to a Women's WC team friendly that was a flop. The tickets were higher priced than the Men's Nats qualifier and it was a WWC team "Victory tour" "game" with no significance. We didn't get big demand from Mom's and daughters at the wildy high px. and nobody else cared about a WWC team friendly... Crappy product at a high price and it surprised some that CCS soccer fans didn't tithe... go figure.
Just to throw it out there, we got Italy, Brazil and Egypt in the Confed Cup draw today. Work to be done the next 10-12 months, for sure.
All the talk of marketing factors aside, name another venue in North America where the USA would enjoy a home crowd against Mexico.
Well, with no real knowledge, I'd guess maybe Denver or Salt Lake City. But both of those places would probably be unplayable on the date in question.
The 2000 Census lists 120,664 Mexicans in the population of Denver and 25,430 Mexicans in SLC. 2005 stats list 15,616 Mexicans in Columbus. Nashville has 16,082. KC has 24,042. Portland has 25,136. Seattle has 29,719. You can pull 2000 census data for any city using the website http://www.hello!!!!!.com/census.cfm (the exclamation points are where the city name goes). Interesting to look at.