Does anyone know what the attendance is shaping up to be for the friendly against on the 17th. I will be there in full support. Thanks.
25,000 ELS fans 20,000 US fans 45,000 fans this is what I heard was expected so we'll see. SUPAH REVOLUTION!!
How can anyone at ticketbastard know who is a fan of which team? [accent] I'd like to buy some teeeckets! [/accent]
Anyone know if the USSF has opened the upper deck yet? The lower bowl capacity is 26,000 give or take a few hundered. Sachin
I wouldn't be surprised if it is over 40k. I have my tickets, in the Mezzanine section so i'll be immune from anything being thrown about.... I learned last time.
nancyb has correctly predicted the attendance at previous RFK Nats matches. 25-30k is pretty bad, but I am not surprised. There have been so many USMNT games in DC that the novelty wore off a long time ago.
I think you people are under estimating the Sallies big time. They haven't had a game on the east coast in a really long time. don't base all your predictions on pre-gameday sales either because there will be a crap load of walk-ups.
The weather may play a role in this one. The long range forecast calls for a 40% chance of rain with a high of around 50. http://www.weather.com/weather/local/20019 The Salvadorans will show up. DC United had a 8,000 person walk-up for Aguila and that was primarily from the DC community. You can expect Salvadorans from all over the East Coast to show up for this one. I'd say between 30 and 35K assuming the weather holds. Sachin
1K vocal (drunk and/or disorderly) US support. 5K quiet US support. 25K well-behaved Salvadoran support. 5K vocal (drunk and/or disorderly) Salvadoran support. 50 or so serious Salvadoran troublemakers. 50 or so CSC Security goons. 36,050 paid attendance. Leave the kids at home unless you've got mezzanine seats. My estimate of 6K US fans is generous. People who would ordinarily go to RFK to see the Nats play will be staying away from this one in droves. Nothing to do with any "novelty" wearing off - just with a history of problems with a very small, very troublesome minority of Salvadoran fans. There may well be more than 30,000 Salvadoran fans at this one, too - that estimate is on the conservative side. For those watching on TV: you'll see two ponds of red - one behind the goal, one at midfield - in a sea of blue and white. Those of us in La Norte and BB/SE will make ourselves heard, but we'll look like away fans at a match in San Salvador.
I just checked ticketmaster and there were seats all over -- Section 234, 305, mezzanine -- to choose from. This doesn't seem like a hot ticket to me. ES games have so much baggage a lot people around DC may not be up for the trip to San Miguel Norte.
That's the solution. BarraBrava, Screaming Beagles, and La Norte should pitch in and hire their own security staff at the games. They'd have to occupy seats in the section, but they'd have responsibility for intercepting CSC staff until DCU personal could be summoned.
"There have been so many USMNT games in DC that the novelty wore off a long time ago." 100% untrue and irrelevant. (I don't think any USMNT game in DC has ever been viewed as a novelty--whatever that's supposed to mean). Slow ticket sales are because of the opponent. The Salvadoran community typically buys tickets on gameday. The local US fan-base is turned off by the draw. The reaction is usually one of two: 1. "El Suckador? why would I want to see the US crush them?" or 2. "El Salvador, I don't want to get harassed/mugged/raped/pissed on/etc. by their fans." Both assessments are perhaps unfair, but not unwarranted conclusions considering recent history. This game is a tough sell. My non-Salvadoran Hispanic friends plan on watching the game, but from the safety of their living rooms. They are Bolivians, Hondurans, Ecuadorans, and Argentines; and they all indicate that they do not want someone to confuse them for fans of El Salvador. I have been trying to gather a group to go, and so far it is just me and my two roommates. I have been successful in getting between 12-20 to go to previous US games. All of that being said, if it doesn't rain, there should be at least 30K attending--granted 75% of them will be cheering for El Salvador.
40-45,000 Hard to believe attendance could be LESS THAN 30k. Don't know much about the attitude re: El Salvador fans in the DC area, but it can't be much better than the reputation of Guatemalan fans in the recent past. I attended the US Men v. Guatemala WC qualifier in Sept. of 2000 (was it that long ago?) and att. was something like 63,000. True it was a WC qualifier - but only 1st round I believe. If it doesn't rain all morning, I estimate 40-45,000. I'll be watching to see if LD grows into that withdrawn fwd role and if Pablo M. continues his good decision-making and assertion of strength.
FYI, The guatamala qualifier didn't sell out. Plus, RFK has a maximum capacity of 54,000 or somethin.