Feedback form for the US Soccer Federation write in and tell them to do something with the final... make it meaningful... especially when a team like chicago goes out of their way to make it a special event and then gets hosed so ussf can rent out giants stadium for 5000 people for those without a clue, the fire arranged for a special night... they set up a mexico-uruguay friendly to be a doubleheader for the usoc final ussf dropped the ball they are making a mockery of the us open cup think of it like this... there would have been more people at soldier field last night for the open cup title game than were at wrigley for the cubs 7th game of the national league championship series -jim
So you want everyone to write the USSF and tell them that the final of oldest soccer competition in this country should be the warm up act for some friendly match? I will agree that there's a lot more USSF can do for this competion, but your suggestion isn't one of them.
I am sure there would have been more Chicago fans watching the open cup final over the Cubs. Right. Only because Wrigley field is small and old.
hey, while you're at it, ask USSF if it can give me a class "A" license. I'm sure I could call handballs in the box better than some refs.
The goon is right, they would have had a better crowd, and I'm sure the friendly would have been before the Final. But is it so hard to advertise the damn games? Thats why no one comes, becuase Joe Blow only knows about the MLS season and what they have on their little schedule they don't know about the Open Cup, ADVERTISE THE DAMN THING, what is so hard about that? I mean at least the final, 5K, ridiculous.
it would have been twice the mockery to stage the finals of the Cup before a Mexico-Uruguay friendly. give it a rest. there are many things they should have done - largely, advertise the event given its importance - but playing it when you wanted to isn't one of them IMHO.
Bradley's Suggestion I personally like Bradley's suggestion that the cup final be held in Oneata, NY (or however its spelled).
Oh what a great sight that would of been.... lets have 40,000 chanting "MEXICO, MEXICO" during the USOC final.... yeah that would make it alot more meaningful having 40,000 Mexican fans making a mockery of american soccer!! bright idea.... really
The friendly had to be played at 8 p.m. central because of the contract with Telemundo. The contract with FSW called for a 7 p.m. central live telecast. http://www.socceramerica.com/article.asp?Art_ID=562133913
if you guys want the usoc to continue being played before crowds of 5000 people you already have that you have to think outside the lines, and the fire management thought outside the lines their intelligence and ingenuity was rewarded with ussf footing the bill for the most expensive stadium in mls/per game we would have had 40000 extra folks to market the game to already in the *#*#*#*#ing stadium... the fire knew exactly what they were doing ussf is ran by a bunch of morons... the atmosphere would have been electric... and the mexicans would have been hungry for a victory
I'm all for capping on the USSF, but in this case I don't know. It was reported in another thread that FSW PAID the USSF for the rights to televise the OC. I think the bogoeyman onus belongs to: FSW for refusing to change the time of the televised match, or Whatever donkey scheduled the match at Giants Stadium. Perhaps the OC match could have been billed with some other match somewhere else - such as a big college match or something.
i find it hard to believe that people have a problem with our attendance levels... yet always back doubleheaders (wusa, international & club friendlies)... but when someone attempts to do this to draw more attention, especially to a demographic that mls is desperately wanting to reach (cough mexicans, cough), for the rarely seen us open cup... it's completely bad news and not great work by the fire and stupidity on the part of the ussf
and leaving the second NY and Chi walked on the pitch well, I highly doubt anyone will argue that point.
let me put this another way if you have 40k+ at one game (without the fire being there... additional 5 to 15k most likely) and 5k+ at another which game is going to have more people to sell the game to? i thought this was about mls and soccer in this country becoming a viable business... not another star trek convention (and i'm talking old star trek here)... looks like a few people need to break out the vulcan ears and start searching for their klingon dictionaries... most of you want soccer to stay the path of never being noticed... you gotta do this smart... the fire were smart... did anyone else in the league have something planned for yesterday besides the fire? the rapids did... but i have no idea if that was a recent thing, or something they would have looked to do along with the title game (had they been there... not sure when they got knocked out and when their friendly was arranged) why weren't more teams planning something? that looks like idiot business if you ask me and i don't know about you... but i want this league to survive for the long haul... unlike star trek
sure... a significant portion would leave... as there always are those folks at any doubleheader... but there is also a significant portion that would stay (4 hours of soccer with a break between games is a lot of time at the stadium) and again... the mexicans would have been hungry for a victory... what better than to latch on with the local professional team playing right before your eyes
When El Tri has been double headed with the FIRE the Chicagoans who are Mexican have supported the FIRE. Without the benefit of a double header the FIRE had drawn 18k+ and 19k+ for their previous two Open Cup Finals. That being said, the word on the street is that FSW had a very heavy hand (strong arm?) in determining where the Final was to be played. P.S. - For those of you not from Chicago, the FIRE drew 30k+ on their first game back to Solder Field WHILE a Cubs game was on. There are plenty of people in this town that don't care/hate those bums.
This is the kind of bullcrap reasoning that the Rhinos fans used to justify that they got home games for almost every single Open Cup match. It was bullcrap then, and it's still bullcrap. Not that I'm too enamored with the reason that it was played at Giants Stadium, but hey, "We should host the game because we're a massive club who would've drawn 100,000 people" is a reasoning that belongs with BS friendly tournaments like Nike US Cup. The last time I checked, the FA Cup, the cup competition that the USOC aspires to be, doesn't place matches at the venues where the attendance would be highest. Manchester United doesn't get every single match at home and they occasionally have to go play matches at Cowdung FC's 500-seat "stadium." Quit your damn blubbering that your team actually had to play an Open Cup final on the road for once. You won, didn't you?
good for you. that's great! too bad the game's been played and you can't get over the fact that you had to watch it on FSW. . . nothing's going to change. as far as thinking out of the box, why not have the US open cup final played on a Saturday afternoon AFTER the MLS cup Final is played. oh, a week after or so. .. didn't they do that last year?? seemed to work pretty well.
you can't really compare the fa cup and the us open cup they are the same kind of tournament... but that's about it they clearly don't draw the same which is why things must be done and i wouldn't have been at the final... i would have been watching it via tape after the fact... just like i did
Let's get one thing straight. This is much less about attendance figures and much more about bitter Fire supporters who couldn't travel to the final. Don't think for one second that every non-Metro fan wanted this event to fail and fail miserably. So there, you got your Cup. But we got to see it.
And you know, attendance wouldn't have been any lower if we played the Open Cup final at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff.
You know, I thought if the Fire won the cup their fans would stop whining like a bunch of spoiled 6 year olds. I was so wrong. Sorry Fire fans, for underestimating you.
Hey, now THAT's an original idea! But one more time: as far as I'm concerned, I'm glad Metros got the chance to host it. This means that No one is going to say to the Fire "yeah, but you only won three because USSF -- which is in Chicago you know--[/conspiracy theory whisper] let you play the final at home every time." But I also think a lot of people are pissed off at Fire fans because it's pretty clear there would've been an un-embarrassing crowd at the game, unlike the last three finals. And they know it.
FIX THE USOC??????? am i the only one that sees the double meaning in that title. i thought this thread would be more trouble for the olympic committee.