MLS's Brightest Star - Brief Article

Soccer Digest, Oct, 2000 by Scott Plagenhoef

ALL-STAR GAMES AND THE festivities that surround them are typically meaningless affairs. They are little more than cash-cow diversions, a chance marketing ploy, and an opportunity to allow fans to vote for their favorite players as starters. This year's version of the MLS All-Star Game, however, did offer the chance to spotlight one of American soccer's most prized assets. No, not Cobi Jones or Ben Olsen. Not a player, an official, a league sponsor, or a television outlet, but the site for the game itself: Columbus Crew Stadium.

The soccer-specific facility--the flint built specifically for an MLS club--was on display over that weekend. And, despite the exploits of players such as Mamadou Diallo and Ante Razor, was the star attraction.

Despite the rightful praise given to the league's play--and the improvements in television ratings in desirable demographics--attendance problems continue to be MLS's dirty little secret. Even with the push to schedule the vast majority of the league's games on the weekends rather than weekdays--which did contribute, according to league reports, to an 18% increase in walk-up sales--attendance will likely fall for the fifth consecutive year. The average MLS attendance has languished at just under 14,000 per game for most of this season, down from last year's 14,282, and way down from the impressive 17,406 mark the league posted in its inaugural season.

The overall drop is, in part, due to casual fans attending games and being unimpressed by a less-than ideal atmosphere. Clattering around in cavernous stadiums isn't the most appealing setting for fans, and the league's attempts at adjusting stadium capacities for soccer in large football stadiums may help on paper but do little to disguise the mass of empty seats behind the goal posts.

Crew Stadium and its intimate atmosphere are a different matter, however. It's a credit to owner Lamar Hunt and the Crew fans--among the best in the league. And it needs to be the model for the rest of the league. Crew Stadium features an attractive atmosphere, a wide, well-maintained pitch. It lends an air of credibility to the league, and, most importantly, it allows the Crew to control 100% of the revenue generated from their home games.

Other teams have thankfully taken notice. Plans are currently being made for soccer-specific facilities in Los Angeles, the New York metropolitan area, and Chicago. In each area, locations have been scouted, although not named. The Colorado Rapids, who languish in Mile High Stadium with one of the worst sight lines for soccer in MLS, are also looking to develop a stadium in the near future. (Not coincidentally, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Colorado all share the same principal owner, Philip Anschutz.)

With all American sporting public that is used to attending one meaningless regular-season game after another in the country's other major sports--professional basketball and hockey games are arguably just a prelude to the playoffs and, let's face it, when was the last time a franchise such as baseball's Milwaukee Brewers played a game that really, truly mattered?--creating a suitable event atmosphere is a necessity.

When Doug Logan left as MLS commissioner, so did most the misguided attempts at wooing the casual soccer fan, which resulted mainly in ignoring the true fans and seeing them spend their money on satellite television in order to watch games from England or Italy rather than pay to see MLS in person. Now that a new atmosphere has been created in the league office, that should be reflected on the fields as well. Small, intimate stadiums would be a reward for the soccer fan, an irresistible invitation to the non-fan, and the league's best shot at long-lasting success.