trying to carve out time to go to the uswnt game tonight at ford field. anyone see a problem with just going up and buying tix at the gate?
There really shouldn't be a problem, but check on Ticketmaster later today I suppose before you leave. One ticket seems pretty easy to find but anything more than 3 together is getting pretty tough surprisingly which means there should be a good sized crowd for the game.
US Women's post-Beijing Olympics tour attendances: Philly was their big welcome-home match after winning the gold, and Philly obviously also has an energized soccer base thats just waiting for them to join MLS in 2010. Other than that, it's a whole lot of similar looking numbers. Sat, Sep 13 PHILADELPHIA: 13,176 Wed, Sep 17 GIANTS STADIUM: 4,227 Sat, Sep 20 CHICAGO: 5,390 Sat, Nov 1 RICHMOND: 3,387 Wed, Nov 5 CINCINNATI: 5,877 Sat, Nov 8 TAMPA: 4,263 Sat, Dec 13 LOS ANGELES: 3,619 Wed, Dec 17 DETROIT: 11,933 pretty damn good for a Wednesday night!
"Almost 12,000 fans came out to watch the WNT in the Motor City..." http://www.ussoccer.com/ Not bad for a cold, snow covered, midweek game. Now bring onthe USMNT! Paul.
That was pretty darn good! An excellent good game, and hopefully a great time was had by all. Way to represent!
That was a very cool experience. Some good singing from the boys in 135. You started to get some others to join in during the second half. The concession lines were crazy long though. What the hell was up with that? They could of easily opened double the stands that they did. That was easily as good as the experience that I had at a Revs game at Gillette this summer. There is no reason that Ford Field could not be used as a temporary home for a MLS team until a SSS could be built.
I think we personally as a group may be a little bit disappointed that we didn't get quite the amount of people joining us for singing in 135 but the seating arrangement was kinda a mess. I heard rumors just before the game that the Free Press estimated 8,000 for the game on Wednesday morning, so to have nearly 12,000 show up is incredible. I think we all realized that MCS lacked a bit tonight but the whole city of Detroit made a statement. I'm really excited to see what the USMT could draw in Detroit, the city is so starved for good top level soccer, maybe the higher ups will begin to realize that. Also Ford Field wasn't that bad for hosting a game, I had some SERIOUS doubts about how well it could handle soccer, but if they were able to get rid of the football lines (like they will do in Seattle), it was pretty nice. Having the Elwood right across the street was a nice plus...only negative is they didn't allow us to bring in our drums
Will say you guys were heard from the press box and the US Match Tracker is a reflection of that. In the future it would be important to make sure appropriate channels are taken through US Soccer or the Stadium authorities for approval for drums or whatever... This is the first soccer game ever played there, they'll work out the kinks in the future. I'm sure I'll hear from you all soon. Very needless to say BUT I was proud to be a Detroit soccer fan tonight. Great job guys.
hey everyone, greetings from windsor. couldnt agree more, MLS needs to look at detroit for a team. granted, that might never happen due to various factors but it would be great to have an SSS in downtown along with a club.
I found it interesting that they did green out the Lions logo's in the end zone's and at center field, but didn't attempt to green out any of the lines. I imagine with a Lions game in town this weekend that that may have been all that they had time for, but still, it would of been nice to see it all gone.
Outstanding crowd last night. Detroit really stepped up and showed that we deserve a team in town. Obviously MCS seemed a little lacking, but that was because Ford Field wouldn't let us bring anything in (drums, cowbells, etc.). That should change should we get another soccer match down there. Compuware will be much more forgiving in that aspect on Saturday; I already can't wait for that. On a side note, Jeff, how come you guys continue to disregard the fact that the Herd is only for the Bucks season and we're a different entity the rest of the year? You're really not helping us out in that regard. EDIT: More research out of me. At 11,933, Detroit drew the biggest weeknight crowd for a Women's game since December 2004, when the team consistently averaged ~15K.
I think Detroit proved to a lot of higher ups that maybe they should have been considered more in depth for an MLS team...but seeing as expansion may stop for a while after the teams being for 2012, I firmly believe other cities that have soccer passion may turn to a USL-1 team seeing as its much easier to obtain...if MLS stops expansion you may see the USL-1 turn into a very good and diverse (location wise) league...if that would be the case I wouldn't be opposed to that. And where is this argument about the Herd and MCS? Shouldn't we be happy with some acknowledgement regardless, I mean if people know about the Herd, they will hear about MCS as well.
WTF?!! What was wrong with those people? Wern't they briefed on what a soccer crowd bring to the game in atmosphere? Especially considering that it was an international event involving the host country. THEIR COUNTRY! Someone needs to unload some shame on these clowns!
I actually emailed and called them multiple times to see what they would and would not allow into the stadium and to see if it would be possible to bend the rules...I never got a response back. I think it goes back to the whole thing with the concession stands too...the Ford Field staff really didn't care about the atmosphere of the game, they wanted to make it as simple as possible for everyone working. And why would they really care about this one time event? It made me pretty mad, considering we had our drums and everything in our cars ready to go.
The event as a whole was very poorly managed by Ford field. The lines cause major problems for both teams, notably the Chinese goalkeeper. I thought there would be less room on the sidelines for spectators and teams but it was not bad. There were only 2 concession stands open in the WHOLE stadium! I only had one beer cause that one took 45 minutes. They also only had 2 merchandise stands and they close at like the 80th minute. It was very poorly done by Ford field staff, I even called and emailed too with no response. All in all we are very proud of the Detroit soccer community. See everyone again at Ford Field again for a future USMNT game. Also, a quote from the coach for our egos! "After everything we’ve done this year and listening to this crowd today, it was fantastic."
I'm glad that last night went well. I wish it was on TV so I could see you guys doing your thing. Also, have fun this weekend at the first Ignition game. Shifting gears for a second, now that the USA-Mexico match is in Columbus, are you guys getting a group to go down? I'm definitely heading over from DC (leaving work that day at noon, driving to the stadium like a bat out of hell, hopefully watching another 2-0 victory, driving to my parents' house an hour away in Mansfield, getting up the next morning to drive back to DC and go to work...dedication), so whenever you guys figure out ticket costs and stuff, definitely include me in the mix!
The facility people quite obviously expected a smaller crowd. But they're only following what they've been told to expect by USSF. So that tells me that USSF only expected 5 to 7 thousand. Even though our supporters section was small, we may have given quite a few people, especially the youngsters, their first taste of live soccer game day culture. I think we did good.
If only there was some way they could have anticipated to number of people that were going to attend? Oh wait they did! It's called ticket sales.
I think they knew 12,000 tickets were sold but they were hoping that because of the inch of snow the night before some people wouldn't come. Its obvious that Ford Field tried to max out their profit off this game, only opening 2 concession stands all game means you only have to pay for 2 sets of employees while you still get 12,000 buying something.
Well, if they wanted to save money they could have done what they do for every other event that they have there. Usually volunteers from various organizations staff the front end of those booths. I'm sure that many of the various soccer clubs in the area would have loved to staff those booths and make a couple extra bucks and save the stadium some money at the same time.
We WILL be going as a group to the game in c-bus. We are already taking requests for people who want to join us. Here is the list I have so far. Me+4 Tav Dan Marc Zaid+4 BlazinDW Alan+1 My guess is that we will have close to 25 in the group attending the game. At that point it is a question of do we want to rent a minibus w/refreshment for the drive or all go seperate? Also, who is coming out tomorrow night for the Ignition game? Short notice but it should be easy to out-yell the red wave.
Andrew - count Nancy out for Cbus. She doesn't do CCS in February. I called her a part-time supporter and gave her some "who are ya who are ya"s but she wouldn't budge. Too bad we can't get a few more people to go so we could get a motor coach. I think we'd need about 50 for it to be affordable, it would probably run $2,000 - $2,500 for a trip like this, plus hotel room for the driver. How is everybody liking their snow day!