Regardless of which team you supported this weekend (supah revs!), most of us can agree that MLS Cup 2002 was a success. 61,000 fans packed into Gillette stadium supporting the home team looked good on TV and sounded good in every news article written about the game. There's no doubt that large crowds at the league's marque event do much to improve the image of the league, draw sponsors, etc. However, as MLS moves into small 30k-max facilities, these kinds of crowds won't exist for obvious reasons. Does this do a disservice to the league? There's no doubt small venues help improve atmosphere and bring in fans during the season, but should the championship game still be held in a large stadium to maximize exposure?
aka...two california teams playing in columbus... if new england was not in the final you would have seen 25,000 in foxboro...
well, two cali teams again... but yeah two cali teams in columbus was about the worst thing that could have happened to that game... had the fire, crew, metros or united made it... things would have been vastly different... ESPECIALLY if the crew had made it ************, i was hanging out with a couple of rev fans that drove straight to columbus before the match last year
The final doesn't need to be held in a soccer-only venue. For example, if New Englad had built some 27,000 capacity soccer stadium, they could still have the MLS final in Gillette. Or when LA builds their new stadium, they could still have the final in the Rosebowl. It doesn't prevent the league from renting other facilities for the event.
i'd concur... but how much notice can the league have to switch it from LA's brand new stadium if LA makes it in... and wouldn't the league want to have it's brand new stadium being showcased on national tv? filled to the brim
Kind of like when a midwest team and an east coast team played in LA and they only managed to sell 51,000 tickets at the Rose Bowl. The Crew generally does a nice job of selling tickets, but just admit that they dropped the ball last year with the Cup. It shouldn't have mattered where the teams were from, you should have been able to sell 24,000 tickets to Columbusians for a championship game.