Eh, I wouldn't go that far. The HOF being here will likely give us more national team games. Hopefully they're meaningful one because the difference in crowd between last night (granted, I couldn't make it) and the Gold Cup game are night/day. Ian Darke last night said "The attendance tonight will make US soccer rethink any future games here" but I think that was a little knee jerk as I don't see this game getting sold out many places. The quality of play made me glad I didn't fork over money to see it.
This was all USSF. It was whole responsible for every aspect of the event, from sales to operations. Just as a reference: last four USMNT friendlies USvCR - RedBullArena - 9214 USvICE - LA - 8803 USvCAN - LA - 9274 USvECU - Frisco - 9893 USMNT will most certainly return. It's part of how they got HSG to do the HoF deal.
I was at the last well attended USMNT friendly, which was in Foxboro. The only reason that game was well attended was because 3/4 of the crowd was there to see the opposition, which was Brazil. [For those that are't aware, there's a huge Brazilian and Portuguese-speaking population in New England.] There were probably less than 10k US fans at that game as well. The USSF should be asking themselves some serious questions about the lack of interest in the USMNT right now. Fans will travel & pay the ticket prices for games that matter. They're not doing so for friendlies at the moment.
Yes, every time I go to the sports page in the FW Star-Telegram and see Cowboys draft speculation or the latest player arrest report splattered across the front page and the FCD playoff game score buried next to the agate type at the back, I'm made very aware of soccer's relative importance in DFW. I've been painfully aware of this for many years, though it has improved considerably. There was a time when my wife would say, "Should we go to a bar to watch the US game?" I'd respond, "Now honey, what sport is this?" She'd respond sullenly, "Soccer." "And what country do we live in?" "The US. " "And what country hates soccer?" "The US." The worst was when we went to downtown FW to watch US v Mexico in a WC qualifier in a sports bar (no longer in business). This was probably 2008 or so on a Tuesday or Wednesday night. I checked all the local teams to see if anyone was playing - no. It was on ESPN so the bar would definitely have the channel. The bar put the game on one TV 5 minutes after it started, only after we nagged them. There was a group of about 12 of us, some Americans and some Mexicans crowded around the one TV that had it on. After 15 minutes, the game changed to Orlando Magic v Indiana Pacers (WTF?). The group screamed. The person in the TV control room said "Oh it just changed automatically at the half hour." After 10 minutes they put the game back on, but on a different smaller TV. I don't think I tried to watch another soccer game in a bar in the US for another 5 years.
A big "Thanks" to Kansas City who looked to have lower attendance on a Saturday than Frisco had on a Wednesday.
I think people are so into Frisco is a bad market they don't even try and be objective about it. No doubt that a Saturday night game should outdraw a Wednesday night game. Frisco also outdrew KC for the U23's. There are people who love and will watch soccer here. They just need the right marketing, awareness and treatment (they better not believe the front office think of the team as minor league).
For many years, I envied the bar / soccer situation in Dallas County. Things are much better in FW than they were 5 years ago. The AO has a home at a bar down the street from me. The Upper 90 on Magnolia Ave. shows soccer as their highest priority (even over TCU football).
Virtually every country that's lucky enough to have a good competitive attendance (fewer than you'd think) has the same problem. My birth country, Scotland, can sell its home AND away allowances for any games that come close to mastering. A midweek friendly against Trinidad & Tobago or even Australia (there's a decent Aussie population in the UK) will be lucky to shift 15,000. Other than making the games matter with this international league idea there's no real way to resolve it. People don't watch dead games unless there's a seriously big team involved (hence the summer club friendlies.)