Mark this under who gives a shit. Not exactly a team with any sort of cache, but perhaps this was part of the Blas deal?
Most other teams who got friendlies get at least Stoke City or Swansea type quality. We are pitiful with getting friendlies in general with one great exception (Inter Milan). Too cheap/too hot what gives? Inter sold out in 100 degree heat at 8pm.
It's actually a little bit clever by the front office, a large percentage of the Mexican immigrants in Dallas are from the state of Guanajuato which is where Leon is located. People call into ESPN Deportes radio all the time talking about Leon even when they were in the second division. They certainly have more fans than Jaguares or Pachuca, and they have never come to town unlike Club America, so I'd suspect a pretty good turnout. But I can't say it really excites me.
Yeah a group of fans that have no interest in FCDallas, and a team that FCDallas fans dont care about. Everyone wins!!!!
Thanks for posting this. I was just about to type something like "c'mon guys, it's better than nothing." I was actually kind of hoping we'd have a friendly with UANL, but what can ya do?
This. Sure, you may get a lot of Club Leon fans come out for this game, but we already know from the experience of every other Mexican club that's been here, they won't come back. I think you have a better chance of holding the Europosers' attention than that of the Mexiposers, or at least it's an experiment we don't have much data on yet anyway.
You know, some fans of this team remember when 40% of the fans at the games were Latinos who were primarily Mexican. So given that, I find your last sentence to be extremely silly.
And honestly, this friendly will be no more or less a waste of time than that one we had against Inter Milan a couple years ago.
I had heard of a few of the players on Inter. Can't think of a single one who plays for Leon. Also weren't most of the Latino fans back then of Central American Heritage and not Mexican?
Given that Dallas' Latino population is overwhelmingly Mexican (moreso than Houston, for example), I'd be more than a little surprised if the Latino fans in those crowds at the Cotton Bowl weren't also predominantly Mexican.
And yet, in practice at PHP/FCDS, it's true, or at least for fans of Chivas, CA, Atlas, Morelia, Pumas, Tigres and whoever else played in those Interliga games a few years back.
But it's not because of some sort of intransigence on the part of D/FW's Latino population about going to FCD games, it's because there's different people running the team with different levels of interest and competence in attracting those fans to FCD games.
I'm surprised you're surprised. I would say the majority were Salvadoran. The only three Hispanic supporter's groups at the Cotton Bowl that I know of were all Salvadoran - El Cuervo, La Raza Latina and La Mata Loca. Don't remember any Mexican supporter's groups.
What percentage of fans do you think are in a SG? I doubt it's ever been enough to truly swing the numbers. Also, it is completely possible for the other nationalities to have embraced MLS more enthusiastically (which would make sense as their "other" team would be farther away than Mexico, not as good as Mexican teams, and not on TV as much as Mexican teams) and still be the minority. Just to throw out some random numbers, if DFW's Hispanic population is 80% Mexican, and the Hispanic portion of the crowd only around 60% Mexican, you'd certainly see a more Central American flavor, but those of Mexican descent would still outnumber everyone else combined, and that by a good margin.
That's good history but I can say that nowadays it's probably say 40% hispanic at FCD games this year and building imo. Most of them would rather a Swansea game I bet. Sigh.
Attendance at the Cotton Bowl was at least 60% Spanish as a first language. When the sides were labeled "Family Side" and "Festive Side", I sat on the Festive Side (opposite the press box side). Festive Side was at least 80% Spanish as a first language. Based on conversations I heard and jerseys I saw from other teams, I thought at least half of those were Mexican. FCD lost a lot of the Festive Side fans when they moved to Frisco, but it seems like every game I attend now, I hear more and more Spanish spoken in the stands. I see that as a good thing, and no I'm not Spanish as a first language. Yeah, I'm not planning to haul myself to Frisco to watch a borderline Liga MX team play a friendly game, even though it's part of my season ticket package.