Why was the Richmond attendance so lousy?

A) The USSF can't market themselves out of a wet paper bag
B) the USSF is run by incompetent morons, most of whom don't even know much about the sport
C) It was New Zealand
D) It was USA C+
E) It was Richmond
F) It was Sunday in the Bible Belt

I can't bother to think of others...

 

I was suprised at the attendance announcement. I was at the game and it sure seemed like more. That place holds 24 thousand and it seemed half-filled at least.
Oh well... someone says this about evey match I guess.

 

E. The fish were biting in the Pamunky and South Anna rivers?

F. Elvis was sighted in Petersburg?

 

Fixed my post.

 

Absolutely no promotion. Total of 3 articles in the 3 weeks running up to the match in the local paper.

Plus, I think there was a NASCAR race on.

 

You sound like somebody who doesn't know the area very well. First, Richmond has a very big soccer community and has generally drawn well there. They have an A-League team that does well, lots of DC United exhibitions, hosted the NCAA championships several times, and hosted a WCQ against TNT a few years back.

Richmond is not in the Bible Belt. I'm curious why you or anyone would consider Richmond part of the Bible Belt.

I would think the game drew poorly because of the weather and the USSF, probably, didn't do well to advertise this game.

 

It also took two hours to get from the off ramp to the parking lot...I was only able to see the second half and there were cars lined up for a mile behind me when I got in. It was extremely disappointing. Also, having to sit in the "beer garden" sucked too.

 

Richmond is close to DC and DC has gotten so many USMNT games that there is a burnout factor. People figure they can pass on this one as there will be another one along pretty soon. It really is too bad because soccer is more popular than that and the game could have sold out any number of places around the country

 

I can't imagine what the traffic would have been like if 20,000 showed up...
It wasn't a two-hour off ramp trip when I got there.
I waited in line from about 12:15 to 12:50 to creep through the line.

I have to agree with the other poster that if Richmond really is a 24,000 seat stadium there had to have been at least 12,000 people there. But I doubt the ticket people would have undercounted.
As far as the weather being a problem I don't see how it could have been. It was 75 degrees and partly cloudy.

 

I hit the on-ramp at 12:20. I eventually gave up on the parking lot and found parking in the neighborhood. I didn't get in the stadium until half-time.

It was pretty ridiculous. One woman told me "we aren't used to big events like this down here".

 

Bullcrap. They have NASCAR down there twice a year -- 100,000 people or more. There are plenty of logistical helpings if the USSF wants them.

 

Exactly...I think my arm would need twisting to go to another match in Richmond...of course that won't be for another 7 years.

 

Yeah, actually I do..I went to university in the South, and know Virginia quite well...While it may not be Eastern Alabama or South Carolina, its still considered Bible Belt...

Besides...if you took letters E and F on my list seriously, you need to turn you sarcasm meter on

 

I also went to school in the area...
That part of Virginia is definitely on the fringes of the bible belt.
I assume what the person meant about big events is at the Richmond Stadium. Its a good thing U of R football isn't too good. I really don't know what they would do with 3 times the number of cars coming to that exit. Maybe they could have had a few more police officers directing traffic.

Despite the small crowd one nice thing about the small stadium is you could really hear the players and really see them up close. That was a nice bonus. It seemed like it took away from the intensity of the game though...
My amateur league games seem to have more intense action and fight in them. Not that there weren't some hard tackles but it just seemed more like a scrimmage than a national team friendly.

 

The 7 Year Plan

Hey, that's 3 years more often than Chicago, which is now working on a decade-long drought.

Of course, Chicago ain't a big city like Richmond, and the Fire have been notoriously poorly supported, so Chicago isn't much of a soccer town either. So it's only fair that Chicago gets one game per decade while D.C./Richmond hosts a game every couple of months or so.

 

Re: The 7 Year Plan

You get da Bruce to move to Lake Forest (cause he sure as hell can afford it), and things will change.

 

yeah I was in that traffic tie up as well and got into my seats shortly before Klein's goal. I'm sure some people just gave up and left. If I hadn't already paid for my tickets I would have turned around. I was actually 4 cars back when they closed the last parking lot at the stadium. Whomever was in charge of parking should be beaten. Ridiculously inept.
but it was pretty nice to be that close to the players.

 

It looked on TV like there was another team taking the field after the US played (they were in the background when US players were being interviewed on TV after the game). Was the US game a double header with the Richmond Kickers? If so, the attendance is even worse than I thought.

 

Yes, it was a doubleheader with the Kickers.
I don't know if many stayed for the second match. A lot of people left after the first game. I certainly did.
I don't know why that makes much difference with the attendance. Its not like they have thousands of season ticket holders or something that would boost the numbers.

As far as Chicago goes, i'm not sure why they haven't gotten a game in a while... That's an interesting question.

Another place that I can't remember having a USMNT game recently is the Meadowlands... although maybe there was on the "Road to Korea"
It seems like LA, DC, and Boston are the main cities that consistently get games.

Richmond should never get another Mens National Team game.

 

yeah, it was a double header.

I went to the game and had absolutely no trouble. We drove right into the area without a wait and parked in the neighborhood about 200 yards away from the stadium. We were there early enough to see all the players come out and warm up.

I think the staff undercounted some of the tickets. The side of the stadium that was not shown on t.v. was completely full, and the end that had Sam's Army was pretty full as well. The opposite end was not so full. The side of the stadium that was shown on t.v. was over half full. It looked to me like it was somewhere in the early teens. Just my observations.

 

I was surprised at the turnout as well. The 9000 figure seemed low, since the west end was almost full and the east end was about half full. I would have estimated about 10-11 thousand. As for why there was not more? The lame marketing is one answer. Despite the sarcasim, the fact that it was on a Sunday is actually another legitimate point. Still, the main reason is that it was a friendly with out B- team against, of all folks, the Kiwis. Richmond packed the placed, sold out, a few years ago for a WC qualifying match against T&T. And, before anyone complains that this friendly would have been sold out in THEIR home town, let me note that the USNT played a friendly last year against El Salvador in RFK that only brought in 13,000 some people. And, of course, DC is a much larger metropolitan area than Richmond with a large Salvadoran community. Still disappointed, but in comparison its not as bad as it could be...

 

Last May US played Jamaica and won 5-0. 2 years before that they pummeled a Mexico B team 3-0. The team seems to get results there. However, I suspect we won't see too many more games there since they play on the field turf now.

 

Rob, I think DC had a lousy crowd for El Salvador for some of the same reasons Richmond had a lousy crowd; game fatigue. You put so many games in the same area and the novelty wears off. But it is bad so soccer to see that kind of crowd on national television.

 

Agreed, but at least the Bud people had some non-standard Bud product named 'Amber Bock' or some such. (And it was cheap too!)

On a more general note, I too was surprised at the announced crowd. I would have said 11K or so. Regardless of the actual attendence, it was good crowd, knowledgeble, appreciative, and obviously enjoying itself. That's not so bad for a B game against New Zealand.

perc