Hall of Fame Game Cancelled Induction Weekend Schedule Remains Unchanged; Highlighted By Alexi Lalas & Carla Overbeck Induction Ceremony on Monday at 10 a.m. at National Soccer Hall of Fame ONEONTA, NY (August 23, 2006) – After consultation with Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer, the National Soccer Hall of Fame has released the New York Red Bulls and Columbus Crew from their obligations to play in the 2006 Hall of Fame Game exhibition that had been scheduled for Monday afternoon in Oneonta, N.Y. The remaining schedule of events during Induction Weekend at the National Soccer Hall of Fame from Aug. 26-28 will go on as scheduled, including the Induction Ceremony scheduled for Monday, August 28 at 10 a.m. in the National Soccer Hall of Fame Museum. The annual Induction Ceremony is free and open to the public and this year features former U.S. National Team stars Alexi Lalas and two-time Women’s World Cup champion and Olympic Gold Medalist Carla Overbeck. The “veteran inductee,” Al Trost, was a U.S. National Team captain in the 1970s and an NASL All-Star, while “builder inductee” Philip Anschutz is a key visionary and investor/operator in Major League Soccer. President/CEO Will Lunn stated: “With both teams being hit by a rash of injuries and facing a crowded schedule of games across the next week, Major League Soccer asked that we release the teams from their commitment. The league and its teams have been tremendously supportive of the Hall of Fame over the years and we know they did not make this request lightly. We have staged international and professional Hall of Fame Games since the mid-nineties and regret not bringing a game to Oneonta this year but it was the right decision.” Major League Soccer released the following statement from Deputy Commissioner Ivan Gazidis: “Given the unfortunate injury circumstances, we are grateful that the Hall has given the Crew and the Red Bulls an opportunity to recover and prepare for this very important final stretch of the regular season. We fully support the National Soccer Hall of Fame in its endeavors and we are eager to attend the induction ceremonies on Monday.” Ticket holders who purchased tickets for the Hall of Fame Game through Ticketmaster.com or Ticketmaster Phone-Charge will automatically receive a refund to their credit card. Ticket holders who purchased tickets at a Ticketmaster outlet will need to return to the original point of purchase with the tickets and credit card used to receive a full refund. Any ticket holder who purchased tickets directly through the National Soccer Hall of Fame can contact them directly at (607) 432-3351 ext. 207. The Hall of Fame will refund ticket purchases promptly. Credit Card orders will receive an automatic refund and those who purchased their tickets with a check or cash will receive a check for the full amount in the mail. New York Red Bulls have invited Hall of Fame Game ticket holders to one of their remaining home games free of charge. Interested ticket holders should contact the Hall of Fame by Sept 12th at 607/432=3351 x207 for details The National Soccer Hall of Fame located in Oneonta, N.Y., celebrates the history, honors the heroes and preserves the legacy of soccer in the United States. For more information, log on to soccerhall.org.
Why they schedule this stuff during the middle of the season in the first place is beyond me. They should do it a week before the season starts and use the game as a tune up. I know, I know. Its New York and it might be chilly. Who gives a damn? Why does it seem like everything MLS does turn goofy at some point?
It's not really an MLS thing, is it? The Hall sets when it does its inductions and they do them when they do them for reasons that make sense to them. There's always the danger of something like this with two MLS teams, I guess. Surprised it hasn't happened before.
Why can't this match be like a farewell match for someone? Either the Hall of Famers or someone else.
Since the Hall people are stuck on relying on an MLS exhibition game to make their weekend complete and MLS agrees to this then it really is an MLS thing, at least at present. The thing is this game could be so much more. It could be a game where MLS teams (or USL-1 teams) could look forward to playing in. There are many ways the Hall could go to make this game meaningful. Maybe the Hall poo-bahs have explored some or all possible scenarios to make the game meaningful, to have it match the rest of the weekend. My strong guess is that they haven't just like if the game were actually meaningful to Sigi and Arena that somehow (gasp) they'd find the players to compete in it. As it stands now having an MLS exhibition game in late August is one of the stupidest ideas possible.
Here's an idea. I haven't fully thought this through (but, hey, this IS BigSoccer) but what if the HofF game was a USOC quarterfinal. They could bill it as a USOC event and wouldn't need to get team commitments in advance. The venue would show in the brackets, so teams would be set after the octafinal matches. And I bet that the Oneonta organization could put together a package including this game that would draw way more than we see in the stands at the typical quarter-final anyway. Any one of the games from this last weekend could have been delayed to next Monday.
The quarterfinals have actually done pretty well, and I'm not sure how many At-A-Glance Field seats. My guess is it's not as much as the 4,000 that Houston drew last night, which was the smallest of the four quarterfinal crowds. In any case, Oneonta is what you might call out of the way, and it's not that simple to just "put together a package," given the state of air travel in this country today. The HOF struggles just to get by doing what it does, much less being a travel agent. If the Hall was in, say, St.Louis (where it probably should be), the USOC Final being there every year would make a lot more sense. Oneonta's just tough to get to. The last weekend, or last night?
Last night. With the two overtimes I didn't get home until after my bed time and I am even less competant than usual. And while I abhor the "it didn't look like that many on TV" posts, I am floored to hear that there was a crowd reported excess of 4K at HDC last night.
No TV. Here's my guess, and its just speculation. The team did designate the USOC quarter final as "Bonus Game C" for season ticket holders. Having done that, I guess they could "count" those as sold tickets. Full season holders (like me) have actually paid for those bonus games, so I guess I "bought" 4 tickets to the game. However, unlike virtually all the other season ticket holders in my row, I showed up with three other fans.
MLS should take Labor Day weekend off. The USOC semis should be the Friday of LB weekend in Oneonta. The Hall of Fame inductions should be Sunday and the USOC final, also in Oneonta, should be Monday afternoon. It's a quick turnaround, I realize, for the players but two days off is the same as they get when the play Wednesday-Saturday. Make the USOC and the Hall of Fame induction an event and folks can plan to go knowing if they do so they'll get three good games, all the HOF ceremonies and the games themselves should boost interest in the induction. Also, a fixed date on the calendar for the USOC wouldn't be bad and giving it a permament place for the final, a poor man's Wembley if you will, wouldn't be bad either. Also, putting the whole thing together might make it a tad easier to get a nice corporate sponsor for the USOC.
Wow. Seriously....we have enough trouble getting people to go to the USOC Final when it's in their back yard (well, Chicago doesn't, but that's neither here nor there). You're going to tell me that people are going to plan a trip to Oneonta, New York over Labor Day Weekend when they find out like two weeks or so in advance that their team is in the semis and there's no guarantee they'll be playing in the final on Monday? What do people do on Labor Day in this country? How many really really hardcore people do you think we have who would do this? People will go to Canton to see Dan Marino get inducted. They will go to Cooperstown to see Ryne Sandberg get inducted. No offense to Alexi Lalas or Carla Overbeck, but I don't see a lot of people from LA or Carolina saying, "I have to be in Oneonta to see that moment." We're not there yet. We may never be there. But to think you could take the tournament nobody much cares about and make it that much harder (and expensive) for them to get to just because you think the Hall of Fame inductions are some big draw just baffles me.
Re: Wow. I'm a big fan of having the USOC final in a fixed location, but it would have to be somewhere more accessible than Oneonta. Some place with an airport would be a nice. Labor Day weekend won't work because it's always an international weekend. So 2 years out of every 4 there's going to be a WCQ.
Why not take a page from the NFL and the EPL. As the last weekend of the MLS pre-season, have a day with the induction ceremonies in the early part of the day, leading up to a Hall of Fame Game in the evening. Pit the MLS Cup Champ vs. the US Open Cup champ sort of like an American version of the Charity Shield. If someone pulls off the double, invite the Supporters' Shield winners to the match. Have all these events in one day, and people really might make it a destination. In the pre-season, a lot of us are starving to see some top level soccer and getting to see Hall of Famers would make it worth the weekend for many.
I think this is a good idea. The objection would probably be that in upstate NY in late March it might be snowing. Do the HOF festivities draw that many people from outside the area? If the field seats less than 4K, that sounds like a high school football stadium. If the attendees are mostly locals anyway the weather probably isn't a worry.