if gillette weren't so darn far outside of boston i bet the crowd would have been bigger. and a lot of people forgot the other reason, even though it came after the game was over: mr. mia and friends.
Quater Finals double headers. 10/01 Match#25 in Foxboro.Att 25,103 10/01 Match#26 in Foxboro.Att 25,103 -------------- 10/02 Match#27 in Portland.Att 20,021 10/02 Match#28 in Portland.Att 20,021 --------------------------------------------
That is probably the single biggest factor in why Lilly is so under-appreciated compared to Hamm. I saw her live in Philly against Nigeria and it was because of not being constrained by the camera that I was able to grasp the range of her talents fully.
Attendance At Foxboro So how far away from Boston is Foxboro? I could understand how a baseball playoff game being played at Fenway during a quarterfinal match could have had a significant impact on the crowd size, but the Red Sox weren't playing at home and the first pitch of the game in Oakland wasn't scheduled until about 40 minutes after the soccer match was actually over. In any event, the crowd size at Gillette looked very disappointing on television.
Re: Attendance At Foxboro Boston is about 25 miles from Foxboro. However, the afternoon traffic can make that trip take more than an hour. That's why the USWNT stayed in Providence, RI, a similar distance from Foxboro without all the traffic hassles - not to mention the ease of flying in and out of T.F. Green. That said, I do not agree with dcajedi. A stadium closer to, or in, Boston would be a bigger problem due to the poor traffic conditions. I do wish that the MBTA had a special train for these matches. The lower bowl at Foxboro holds nearly 30,000. People were spread out into the second tier making the "crowd" look even worse. Lots of folks up from RI and CT. And down from ME, NH, and VT. And some NJ and NY plates in the lots, too. Regarding the Mr. Hamm and the Dead Sox - my friends were planning on heading to a nearby lounge to watch the the left coast game after the USA match.
Just got back from a weekend in Boston visiting family. The poor crowd for the US quarterfinal was caused mainly by the midweek, school night date (which cut down on the ability of traveling fans to go to the game), and secondarily by the total lack of focus on the WWC in the local media. The Red Sox have taken up all of the sports attention in New England, with little room left over for anything else, even the Patriots. It was probably a wise move to book the semis and final for 27,000-seaters that would be filled no matter what happened to the US Nats. Although as an East Coaster, I would have preferred if the tournament wound up in this part of the country (RFK perhaps), which is more densely populated.
-------------------------------------------- {SINGLE GAME ATTENDANCE} -------------------------------------------- 3rd Place Game 10/11 Match#31 in Carson.Att {Data to be available at 18:00 EST} --------------------------------------------
Great walk in crowd helped with ticket sales at HDC today, however it was not a sell out crowd. Also, reasonable tckets prices for the 3rd place game helped too ($20-$65).
RECAP: Attendance at WWC 2003 {Double Headers for group games} 09/20 Match#01 in Philadelphia.Att 13,486 09/20 Match#02 in Philadelphia.Att 24,347 ------------------------------------------------ 09/20 Match#03 in Columbus.Att 16,340 09/20 Match#04 in Columbus.Att 16,404 -------------------------------------------- 09/21 Match#05 in Washington D.C.Att 35,000 (ussoccer.com : Att 35,144) 09/21 Match#06 in Washington D.C.Att 34,144 ------------------------------------------- 09/21 Match#07 in Carson..Att 8,500 90/21 Match#08 in Carson.Att 10,027 ------------------------------------------ 09/24 Match#09 in Washington D.C.Att 15,490 09/24 Match#10 in Washington D.C.Att 16,316 -------------------------------------------------- 09/24 Match#11 in Columbus.Att 15,490 09/24 Match#12 in Columbus.Att 15,529 -------------------------------------------- 09/25 Match#13 in Philadelphia.Att 31,553 09/25 Match#14 in Philadelphia.Att 31,553 ------------------------------------------------ 09/25 Match#15 in Carson.Att 13,929 09/25 Match#16 in Carson.Att 13,929 ------------------------------------------ 09/27 Match#17 in Foxboro.Att 14,356 09/27 Match#18 in Foxboro.Att 14,356 ------------------------------------------- 09/27 Match#19 in Washington D.C.Att 17,618 09/27 Match#20 in Washington D.C.Att 17,618 -------------------------------------------------- 09/28 Match#21 in Columbus.Att 22,828 09/28 Match#22 in Columbus.Att 22,828(Sell Out) ------------------------------------------------- 09/28 Match#23 in Portland.Att 19,132 09/28 Match#24 in Portland.Att 19,132 -------------------------------------------- {Quater Finals Double Headers} 10/01 Match#25 in Foxboro.Att 25,103 10/01 Match#26 in Foxboro.Att 25,103 ------------------------------------------- 10/02 Match#27 in Portland.Att 20,021 10/02 Match#28 in Portland.Att 20,021 -------------------------------------------- {Semi-Final Double Header} 10/05 Match#29 in Portland.Att 27,623 10/05 Match#30 in Portland.Att 27,623 -------------------------------------------- {SINGLE GAME ATTENDANCE} -------------------------------------------- 3rd Place Game 10/11 Match#31 in Carson.Att 25,253 -------------------------------------------- Final Game 10/12 Match#32 in Carson.Att 26,137 -------------------------------------------- Sources: FIFA.COM and USSOCCER.COM
Reporting of Doubleheader Attendance I'm still wondering why they weren't consistent with the reporting of the attendance figures for the HDC doubleheaders?? I attended all four matches and there was no way that there was more than perhaps 7-8 thousand maximum for Match #15 between Russia and Ghana. Most of the crowd came during the second half and they were mainly Australia and China fans arriving early for the second match. My group arrived very early to beat the 405 traffic and there was probably less than 3 thousand fans there at the start of that first match. We actually got to the parking lot before the gates opened and were surprised to see the bicycle security crack down on two middle-aged Asian women for attemping to sit outside of their car in folding chairs and have something to eat in a parking lot that was 99% empty.
Even better, it was a larger crowd than for the USWNT match on Saturday. Although it would have been nice to sell out both games.
Well, I think part of the problem is that SCALPERS got ahold of a lot of tickets. I saw a TON of them on ebay, with a lot of them not selling. Especially the ones that were listed at ridiculous prices for the final. There were a couple of problems with this: 1) how many people went to ebay to look for the 3rd place game tickets? a lot of people buy last minute tickets and wouldn't have time to go the ebay route too. 2) the US was not in the final Most of the tickets that were not sold for the final - that I could tell anyway - were the $400 seats. Sorry, but I ain't paying that much to watch Germany and Sweden and I'm sure that a lot of other people felt the same way. Scalpers got stuck with a bunch of those, or sold them at a big loss. I paid $175 each for 2 tickets and thought that was a lot even if the US was in it. I think a lot of people had already bought final tickets only, which would explain the final drawing more without the US in it. However, I don't understand the 3rd place game not selling out, as the tickets were NOT that expensive - I got 5th row center stripe tix for $65 a piece. Again, scalper problem?? If they don't live in the LA area and couldn't go down and hawk them outside the stadium as I saw many do, then they were stuck. And of course, baseball playoffs and football did NOT help one bit. sigh...