Ok, lots of debate by people saying that they are loyal to the Metro's and MLS and that they weren't going to go to this match because they were screwing the Metro's, etc... However, this match drew 70,000 to it. The Metro die hards might be dismissing this because of the way it all panned out (which was pretty messed up to the Metros), but Champions whatever they are called were able to put together a match that drew a ton of people, and Metros should look and see how they did it. Some will say that its because it was Real Madrid & Roma, but its not like we've not had big clubs come before. AC Milan were here earlier this year, Bayern Munich were here last year (Champions League winners like Real now to boot). Rangers, Boca Juniors. Roma had even been here before. These are big clubs too. But their visits hardly registered a blip. What did the people who put together this event do to publicise it that the Metros should be doing for their games so they can get larger crowds? Instead of spending so much time complaining about this, more effort should be taken to see what it is that they did right.
I can tell you one thing that wasn't done right - logistics. I don't know if there was just miscommunication between Giants Stadium and NJ Transit or what, but if you saw or were in the line at Port Authority to get on a bus to Giants Stadium a little more than an hour before kickoff, then you know that NJ Transit did not seem to allocate nearly as many buses as necessary. The line weaved around the block at Port Authority, forcing myself and others to seek alternate means to get to the stadium. I don't know what time the last people in line got to the Meadowlands, but at the rate the line was moving it wouldn't surprise me if they missed the entire match. The attendance at this match was probably higher than your average New York Giants game during the regular season, but there simply weren't enough preparations made to transport so many people to the stadium from the city. This was also a problem on the way back. I stood in line for 45 minutes to get on a bus home, and there were definitely periods when everyone was waiting for buses to arrive. Bag check was a problem, for those like myself who mistakenly brought a bag with them (because they came directly from work, or whatever). Retrieving my bag at the end of the game took an hour and a half and was handled very ineptly for the first hour by the Giants Stadium staff. Otherwise, seems things went OK. Yes, the game lacked any scoring, but seeing Zidane wield total mastery over the ball and doing some of his best Houdini impressions is something I will never forget. Seeing Roberto Carlos take a couple free kicks was also memorable - the sheer power he strikes the ball with is incredible. The game was marked mostly by some highly skilled individual performances but a lack of fruitful attacking team play. I don't know how much this game was promoted aside from that big billboard near the Lincoln Tunnel, but I feel that the 70,000 in attendance were there primarily to see the stars - especially once word trickled out that the teams would be bringing their starters. And the stars were promoted highly, which was smart of Championsworld. Real Madrid is totally packed with great players, and AS Roma is no slouch either, so they are simply more of a draw than other international teams who have recently come over. AC Milan's game vs. Metrostars was their second team, with all their best players preparing for the World Cup. The best players on Rangers or River Plate are great, but not of the caliber of a Figo or a Zidane or a Batistuta (who didn't seem to do much last night anyway). So what should the Metros learn? Cultivate superstars of international caliber in order to draw more crowds, I guess. Maybe once Mathis is healthy again that will be more possible, but still, the players from the Real-Roma match are in an entirely different strata. Maybe the lesson is continue to grow the league until it's packed with world-class stars? It seems simply unrealistic to me to hope that any MLS team could draw more than, say, 25,000 average attendance given attitudes throughout the country about MLS and soccer in general. It really takes booking a match between the world's best to pack the stadium. And I mean the world's best - not their second teams. And we are talking about New York City, with the most diverse ethnic makeup of anywhere in the country. I would venture to say that, as far as most casual soccer fans are concerned, any club teams not from England, Spain, Italy, or Germany are just not world class (maybe toss in Ajax there too), and thus, not worth schlepping over to Giants Stadium, even if the teams are quite good on their own merits. MLS won't be able to overcome that, in the same way that, say, the Mexican league or even Argentina's Clausura will always be seen as "not as world class" as the European leagues. The European leagues are like the Major League Baseball of world soccer, while our leagues domestically will always be perceived more like the AAA circuit (maybe even AA). Unless, of course, we go even further in Germany 2006. Ugh, too many random thoughts....
Answer in two words Real Madrid In more than two words: I am a Man Utd fan, I will go and see the reserves playing this year as well. I am not going to the Boca vs Man Utd game because it doesn't grab the passion. There is a good chance the will not sell out Old Trafford. It wan't a full sell out for the Ryan Giggs testimonial against Celtic. However, you hold a Man Utd vs Real Madrid game (David Beckham testimonial perhaps) and people will flock to it. You could have told people the Zidane and crew would only be on the pitch for 5 mins at Giants and people would turn out. If the Mets played in London no-one would attend. If the Yankees turned up it would be a sell out. Some clubs will always have pulling power and Real have more than anyone else in football (with the possible exception of the Brazilian team) Personally, I can never get into these games. Its the battling for the result or points that makes football what it is. Sponge
I don't think Metros managment can really do/learn much from this, and it would be unfair to beat them up with comparisons. As Sponge noted, Real Madrid is simply one of the great draws in sport. And matched against Roma...well, right there you have a blockbuster in the making. Secondly, not only were there many of the so-called, "eurosnobs" in attendance, but many people came from outside NY/NJ to see this match. This also dovetails with that fact that it was a summer match, which also drew many Europeans who were in the city for vacation. Simply put, all the ingredients for a large turnout where there. The only fair question you can level at the MetroStars is whether or not the NJSEA claims about their incompetence re: actually getting these type of matches is true. I think the crowd would have been the same no matter who promoted the match-although Stillitano did a good job in getting the word out.
Don't forget, when Milan came in May, most of their top players did not play b/c they were training for the world cup.... this is preseason, a few weeks before their leagues kick-off, so they had to bring the big guns.... everyone knew that Real and Roma were bringing their top players unless they were injured....zidane, roberto carlos, batistuta, montella, etc.
For starters, close down Metro; move the team to Philly. Then simply rent the stadium once a month and bring in the Big Brand Clubs up for a NY holiday. Do you really think "Champions whatever" could pack the stadium every other week -- sometimes 3 weeks in a row -- for a genuine season? Pass me that pipe, please, I wanna dream too.
They did it by appealing to the Eurosnobs and their Southern Hemisphere counterparts, the Latinosnobs. Heck, I got calls from people who I hadn't seen at a Metro match ever asking if I wanted in for this one. I'd guess that three-fourths of those fans either never gave Metro a chance or gave up on them years ago. They wouldn't come back to watch an MLS match even if Metro won the World Club Championship. We cannot compare how Metro is marketed vs. the marketing for this match because the people who paid good money to go last night don't think of them as the same product.
Let's take a look at this from a different point of view.I don't think Championsworld or Stillitiano did anything all that great . Look at it this way: 1) With the high profile name value of the 2 clubs and the amount of stars each team brought this game would have drawn 50K anywhere on the east coast. (D.C. or New England). 2) Think about Stillitiano's Expenses, Rent For GS(80k) min., Travel and Hotel expense's for both teams and their traveling parties, Appereance fees 2 both teams (don't believe for a minute that Real or Roma didn't accept an Appearance fee), plus the donation to the U.N. Aids foundation. My point is after all is said and done all they accopmlished was bring an extra 20 K people more than what was expected or needed to cover expense's. How is this any different than when the Metros draw over 20K for a double header. So lets not go crazy heaping accolades on the marketing job Stillitiano did. The best part was at the start of the game was when the Head of the NJSEA welcomed the 2 teams to the " Best Stadium in the Country" then today in the Star -Ledger Zidane did nothing but blast the condition of the field.
Real Madrid and Roma in New York City, why does everyone go crazy that they got 70K? Of COURSE they got 70K. People come out to see stars for "big events." For NYC, this was a big event since it hasn't seen this type of exhibition in a while. That doesn't mean that people will come out every week to see stars or that you can fashion a league around the concept. But NYC as a soccer market is very underserved and it's good that Charlie & Co. are taking the initiative to address it. If they don't want to work with MLS, whatever. They're not being unpatriotic, they're doing what it takes to run their own business successfully. - Kevin
Your right, 3/4 of those fans wouldnt show up for a MLS game, cuz well its really not the same product. These people are used to watching the best football. Metros and MLS, as much as I'd hate to say are a world away from being the same product we saw last nite.
Only way to make it a better product is to go to games and hence invest money in the league. If Metros drew 70K or even 40K every game, you would see an improvement in our "international allocations"
Thankfully, some people had the chance to see Figo, Zidane, and other top notch players in a MEANINGFUL game. THe World Cup.
Attendence at Giants Stadium This game was highly attended cause most of the people were form Ny were most soccer fans like myself live. I'm not saying there are no soccer fans in NJ but I believe ther are much more in NY. Most of us don't go to NJ caus it's a painin the ass to get there. I really believe that if the Metrostars were playing in NY somewhere preferbly in Queens more People would attend games.
Think about Stillitiano's REVENUES: Parking: $15 x 20,000 cars = $350,000! Tickets: $35 x 70,635 = $2,462,775! Other: $10 x 70,635 = $ 706,350 Total: $3,519,125. Not bad for a Thursday night (and without all the hard-core Metro fans who boycotted the event {although noone noticed }) Go ahead, deduct the $80,000 in stadium rent
OK, its Real Madrid and Roma, and they're full of stars so they draw 70,000. Is that all it was? Did they do anything different in getting the word out that there was this match going on? Is Real Madrid that much bigger than Bayern Munich that so many people would come for Real, but not so many for Bayern? Was it only a matter of "If we get stars on the field then crowds will come", or did they do something more to get the word out than the Metros did for their internationals? A few years ago we had the Gotham Cup with Fiorentina (with Bati and Rui Costa), Ajax, Panathanikos and Aston Villa, and that was just before the season began (so teams played their full squads), and we didn't draw quite so many people (though the crowd was fairly good for that event). Was there anything more that was done for this?
CRS, I just came back from a 3 week vacation in Europe, and you would be absolutely amazed at how much they know about the NBA and the players. I spoke to people who NEVER attended their own local basketball teams home games, and yet they can rattle off the entire roster for the NJ Nets. Why? They said they would rather watch an NBA game at 2 a.m. (their time) than watch their own club teams because of the large difference in the quality of play. It's not uncommon for their games to draw as little as 500 fans to a match. Is it poor marketing? Should they call Charlie Stillitano for assistance? No. Whether it's the Eurosnobs, Latinosnobs or Americans, we ALL prefer spending money on a quality product and soccer is not any different. What did "they" do right that the Metros can learn from? It's been 24 hours since the game, and I can't think of a single thing. On Monday night, about 35K tickets were sold, the same number that attended the Bayern match last year. This obviously means more than half of the tickets were sold literally before kickoff. People aren't going to shell out $50 or more to watch Roma's and Real's second team, but as it became more apparent as Thursday approached that both teams were going to have nearly 95% of their starters, something none of the other big name teams you rattled off accomplished, then hordes of fans wanted to attend. I don't think the question should be what ChampionsWorld did right but instead it's what they DIDN'T do wrong. A lot of good points have been made by people here. You never told us what YOU think "the Metros should be doing for their games so they can get larger crowds"?
Well they didn't like the field too much http://www.soccer365.com/US_home/Latest_News/page_20_37027 "The pitch was terrible,” said Figo I guess Soccer365 got to Figo..
When you have Zidane, Figo and Roberto Carlos on the same team, that's pretty much all you need. You can't compare them with Craig Ziadie, Ross Paule and Rodrigo Faria. Yes. Also, people werent' going to shell out money to watch a bunch of drunken jet lagged guys play, especially with several big name starters out like Oliver Khan. When Bayern ran out of subs they put in an assistant coach late in the match. 1. Tickets were more pricier for that event. A seat behind the goal last night in Row 9 was only $30. In the Gotham Cup, $30 would have gotten you a seat in the boon docks. 2. The Gotham Cup was spread out on a Friday AND Sunday. A lot of people can't afford to shell out $250 bucks or more for 2 games in such a short span. If Fiorentina/Ajax was a "stand-alone" match and assuming realistic ticket prices, it would have drawn about 50K. 3. There were no "big name" stars for either Panathinaikos and Aston Villa that year. The biggest "name" for Ajax that year was Greek star Nikos Machlas, who is not a household name and isn't going to bring droves of fans to Giants Stadium.
Man, you must really want to impress us with that MBA you got. You've already made the same point two times.
One of the things that ChampsWorld did right was to buy ad time on WFAN. Zoffinger actually interviewed with the Mad Dog, about the game. The Metros have been wasting their $$ on local spots on ESPN Radio- a station that not many listen to. It's an easy media buy, b/c of the contract with ESPN/ABC/CapCities?Disney/whatever. We must reconsider the value of this contract after the All-Star fiasco (Bumped from ABC to ESPN for local news on a Saturday), just why the league wants to deal with them. There's still an ongoing lack of stories and highlights on SportsCenter. The deal really blows. I still maintain that the Metros lost lotsa mktg effort from their old sales team, who "lived" in local parks and bars like the real football playing fans they were. All-in-all, this game was a very easy sell.