Thursday, July 29, 2010
Sports Culture shock inside the Georgia Dome
Posted by Ben Bussard on Thu, Jul 29, 2010 at 2:51 PM
- Alejandro A. Leal
- Club America fans came out in droves last night
The scene inside and outside of the Georgia Dome last night was unique, to say the least.
As the more than 33,000 fans poured into the home of American football for the Aaron's International Soccer Challenge on Wednesday night, it was blatantly clear that something different was taking place inside of Atlanta's largest sporting facility.
Fans wearing wrestling masks and waving Mexican flags waited outside the Dome entrance more than two hours before kickoff between Club America—Mexico's most popular soccer squad—and English Premier League power, Manchester City.
Unfortunately, the fervor and enthusiasm stemming from the largely Hispanic crowd wasn't quite enough to counteract the overall disappointing fan turnout—which was far less than the 50,000-plus that showed up for last year's match between A.C. Milan and Club America.
For a city vying for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup, Atlanta needed a strong showing from local fans last night in order to demonstrate the community's support of hosting international soccer competition.
But the amount of empty seats was simply too great to suggest anything other than the city's collective passivity towards soccer.
Despite the incessant drumbeats and vuvuzela whines during last night's match—won by Manchester City in penalties—it appears that Atlanta has a long way to go before it can truly be called, in the words of Mayor Kasim Reed, "a soccer town".
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I was there, and while it was a bit disappointing with the turnout, I'd like to see the game played on a Friday night, or Saturday or Sunday afternoon. 33,000 on a Wednesday night for two visiting teams isn't that bad of a start. Also, the marketing was kind of week. I follow most of the soccer sites and only found out about the match two weeks ago.
note to future soccer match organizers in astlanta:
don't the play the game on a wednesday night and expect many people to turn out for manchester city vs club americas.
Manchester City has played at 2 other 'friendly' games so far. Both in New York City (I think some might call that a soccer town), and one of those games was against the NY Red Bulls (the hometown team).
Atlanta outdrew both of those games by over 10,000. (Neither game at Red Bull Arena)
Drawing 33,000 fans to game that neither side is the 'home team' is excellent. It isn't the blowout number that Inter Milan brought out last year, but it is outstanding in it's own right.
I guess if you want to prove Atlanta isn't a viable candidate for the World Cup based on only 33,000+ in attendance at last nights game, that makes NYC even less of a candidate.
Meant to say 'neither game at Red Bull Arena sold out'
Another point -- last night's ticket prices were drastically higher than the previous club friendly that took place last summer. If anything, the only thing you can really say is that a surprising number of people shelled out $100 to sit on the bottom tier of the Dome to watch what could only be described as a half-hearted, pre-season match between two clubs. Maybe not such a poor showing after all, huh, chief?
i was there as well....first off, Man city isnt the same as an AC Milan for one. How many champions league titles has Man city won....lets just set significantly less than AC Milan.
#2: i agree with several posts that the cost was higher than last year....in a time when concerts are being cut, 33,000 was actually pretty solid. Remember, the GA dome is a mammoth of a stadium anyway.....
#3: i think a friday or saturday evening game would be significantly better than a wednesday night.
At the end of the day, id love to see more teams like this come to atlanta to play....maybe a Man United or a Liverpool (more storied tradition)
I honestly say that whoever was running the marketing for this event did a very poor job. It is not the cities fault for not showing up, it is the organizers.
1) The world cup was just on for an entire month. Were there any banner ads, handouts, window flyers, coupons or any presence at any of the major soccer bars that housed thousands of people each day.....NO. They could have put ads in the menus at Fados or Cypress St. or Brewhouse. They could have worked out some giveaways or contests.
2) Atlanta Silverbacks park has thousands of Atlanta players each week come out to the fields. Was there any presence, awareness, marketing at Atlanta's largest and most well known adult league.....NO. They should have made a 15% off deal for all players at Silverbacks. A little incentive for people who already care about soccer and would be great fans and have a great potential to be repeat customers.
3) Last AC MILAN game I bought 150 tickets for friends and family and fans of my company ESPERANZA and we sat right behind the goal. They had my contact info bc I worked with the Dome to get that block. Did they try to get some repeat business and contact me for this game....NO. I sold those tickets in 7 days last summer.
4) I drive by the Dome all the time. Was there any banners flying around the dome about this game during the World Cup when soccer is on everyone's mind....NO.
Overall the city missed a easy opportunity to just put a little effort into a soccer match and failed. All eyes and ears of many in the city were seeing and hearing soccer for 4 weeks straight during the world cup. I heard nothing of this game until 2 weeks prior after the world cup. If consistent, inviting and smart advertising was done they would have hit 50K. It is just another example of a large entity thinking they have a pulse on the city when in fact the have absolutely no clue.
Agree that the marketing was weak. Why not a special deal on upper level sets for kids wearing their youth soccer uniforms?
At least glad to read something about the match in CL. Hardly a peep anywhere else. Keep up the good work!
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