THE BIG RIP-OFF
Fans fed up paying sky-high prices to watch second-string teams on tour
IT IS a sight which, in America this summer, has been seen almost as often as a Jose Mourinho scowl. An exhibition match between European sides played out in front of banks of empty seats.
This is a relatively new phenomenon first spotted in the desert, when Mourinho’s men took on Mexicans Club America at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona. The vast venue, which has hosted a Super Bowl, has a capacity of 63,400. While United may boast of having 659 million fans worldwide, only 37,776 turned out to see a meandering 1-1 draw.
Four days later it continued. Levi’s Stadium, the ultra-high-tech Silicon Valley home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, has room for 68,500. But, for United’s 0-0 draw with MLS’s San Jose Earthquakes, only 32,549 were present.
Then came Thursday night’s fixture with AC Milan, United’s first in the International Champions Cup (ICC). As revealed by
Sportsmail, the fixture should have been played at the famous 91,000-capacity Pasadena Rose Bowl. Amid rumours of poor ticket sales, it was shifted to the LA Galaxy’s 27,000 StubHub Centre.
Those rumours appeared to be confirmed when an attendance of 21,742 was announced for another draw. On it went. On the same night, around 100 miles down the road in San Diego, Tottenham kicked off their ICC campaign with a 4-1 thrashing of Roma at the 70,000-capacity SDCCU Stadium.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men fared even worse, with only 18,865 rattling around the cavernous former home of the San Diego Chargers.
And that was not the smallest attendance of the evening. At Heinz Field, the 68,400 home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, 16,717 took in Borussia Dortmund versus Benfica.
Have Americans fallen out of love with European football? For San Francisco-based youth coach and United fan Benkay Kajihara, the reasons are aplenty. The ticket cost, which ranges from $50 to $250, does not help.
‘The ticket prices have always been a huge turn-off for me,’ he said. ‘I’ve gone to these games as I felt that the product was much better when a full squad is present for pre-season. However, even with that, I felt that I was being ripped off. This feeling is obviously resonating with others.’
Kajihara also thinks expectations are unrealistic. ‘The World Cup stadiums averaged 35,000 tickets per game,’ he added. ‘The stadiums here that are hosting these events are 60,000-plus and made for the NFL — it does not feel like a European experience.’
Fans are also unimpressed with the half-strength squads Premier League giants have been fielding.
Manchester City, weakened by players resting after the World Cup, did not use any of their recognised title-winning team against Liverpool on Thursday.
Mourinho has complained over the lack of players he has available and plenty of other star names are missing. Cristiano Ronaldo will not be appearing on the Juventus tour of the US at all.
Kajihara, however, fears there may be another, more worrying feature at play. ‘Participation in youth soccer in the United States has dropped 14 per cent,’ he said.
‘A major part of this is linked to the US not making the World Cup, but generally speaking, soccer may be losing interest for the first time in 20-plus years.’ The noise from ICC organisers Relevent Sports, however, is not one of panic.
Sportsmail understands that modest crowds were anticipated. They remain confident that tonight’s United versus Liverpool match in Michigan’s Big House will draw north of 90,000 and were encouraged by the 52,635 who saw Liverpool beat Manchester City at New York’s 82,500-capacity MetLife Stadium.
Last year, seven matches had crowds of more than 50,000, while this year they believe that figure will be eight. There is an old joke about statistics — the only problem with them is that 98 per cent of them are made up — but they can also point to a different conclusion. Last year, 900,000 tickets were sold compared to 1million this year; however, there have been five extra matches this time around.
On Thursday night I had the pleasure of attending LAFC versus LA Galaxy, the first derby match to be held at FC’s £267m Banc of California home.
There is a saying in the US — if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. This looked like a derby, felt like a derby and sounded like a derby. The impressive ground was full and buzzed with anticipation.
Behind one goal 3,252 blackshirted LAFC fans swayed, having paid $20 for a standing ticket and $4 for a beer.
The noise from a 22,000 sell-out was incessant for 90 minutes, a far cry from some of the sterile, corporate Premier League arenas.
The impressive home side raced into a 2-0 lead but, following the substitution of a below-par Ashley Cole, had to settle for a point thanks to a late comeback from their cross-city rivals which sparked delirium among the away support. It was a million miles away from the drab friendlies.
Maybe the Americans just prefer their own league.