Big crowd sways soccer skeptic
European soccer big deal in America
As many fans attended an exhibition match on a drizzly summer Saturday night between two European soccer teams than typically attend a regular-season UCF football game in the fall.
This, above all else, should prove to all of you stubborn soccer haters out there that the Beautiful Game has literally and figuratively established a major foothold in America.
You can continue to live in denial if you want, but this old football helmet has completely changed his stance on soccer. It started with the fervent fan base built by Orlando City since joining MLS three seasons ago, but Saturday night at Camping World Stadium really opened my eyes. The highly entertaining 4-2 victory for Tottenham Hotspur over Paris Saint-Germain in the International Champions Cup drew an announced crowd of 33,332.
That’s right, nearly 35,000 fans paid top dollar for a glorified scrimmage between two teams from 4,000 miles away. Don’t kid yourself any longer, soccer is blowing up in this country and the now-annual ICC is proof positive. For the unin-
formed, the ICC is billed as a tournament, but, really, it is a bunch of preseason exhibition matches featuring some of the top clubs from Europe. They come over to the States to train for their upcoming seasons while simultaneously stashing millions of dollars in their club coffers.
This tournament has become big business because sports promoters and European clubs have discovered there is a considerable appetite for soccer — elite soccer — in this country. With all due respect to MLS, it pales in comparison to the best leagues in the world. Tottenham Hotspur plays in the English Premier League and Paris Saint-Germain plays in France’s Ligue 1 — both considered among the top five leagues on the planet. MLS, by most accounts, doesn’t even crack the top 10.
Which is probably the reason why MLS isn’t crazy about the ICC invading its turf right in the middle of the American soccer season. I’m just guessing, but I’d be willing to bet Orlando City wasn’t happy about two world-class teams playing at Camping World Stadium on the same weekend the Lions returned to action at the Purple Palace after a twoweek layoff.
MLS is still trying to become relevant to American sports fans and some in MLS feel the vastly more popular and superior European game is siphoning away fans. One of the dirty little secrets of soccer TV ratings in this country is that English Premier League games typically get about twice the TV viewership of MLS games.
There are millions of European soccer fans in this country and they go ga-ga when their teams are playing in the States. Tottenham Hotspur has more than 60 supporter groups in the United States, including the Orlando Spurs, who this weekend hosted members of other supporter groups from New York, Chicago, Dallas and Alabama. Yes, you heard me … Alabama. Roll, damn Spurs! Paul Wise, who lives in Phoenix, planned a family vacation to Orlando around Saturday night’s game. Meanwhile, Gregg and Kristin Richard, a young married couple who live in Orlando, are Tottenham fans who set their alarm on weekend mornings to watch the Spurs’ EPL games. Kristin won a state championship as a prep player at Nease High School in Jacksonville and she converted Gregg into a European soccer fan.
“The quality of play in EPL is just so much better and more exciting,” Kristin says.
Believe it or not, these starving European fans are paying big money to see their favorite teams play in in these practice matches. They don’t seem to mind that teams like Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Manchester United, etc., are often filling their lineups with back-up players — much like NFL teams do during their preseason schedule..
“This tournament is getting bigger and bigger,” says Tottenham midfielder Christian Eriksen. “I’ve heard and read Premier League soccer is growing over here. All of our are on TV in America now. Everybody has their favorite team they can follow.”
Adds Tottenham teammate Josh Onomah: “The support is amazing. When I was younger, I didn’t care much about football in America, but now it’s become more respected. You can really see it growing.”
Earlier this week in a city 5,000 miles away from England, a crowd of 67,401 showed up in the heart of Texas to watch Manchester United play Manchester City at NRG Stadium. If you’re scoring at home, that crowd figure was better than the average attendance of 14 (nearly half ) NFL teams during the 2016 season.
Some of the teams in the ICC are reportedly being paid upward of $25 million appearance fees and other perks to fly over here and take part in the 11-day ICC. That’s more than ACC schools get per year in bowl and TV payouts. It’s more than the College Football Playoff pays out per team and five times more than the Citrus Bowl pays out.
Move over, American football. European soccer is here to stay.
Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on Twitter @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9 a.m. on FM 96.9 and AM 740.