Why the Sounders need to change the venue for the USOC Semi
by CMC_Stags on Jul 14, 2011 11:22 AM PDT
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If the Sounders' primary goal is to win their semi-final match, they should host the August 30th match at Starfire.
If the Sounders' primary goal is to make sure that all matches between MLS squads played on the XBOX Pitch are sellouts, they should host the USOC semi-final at Starfire.
If the Sounders' primary goal is to highlight the importance of the United States Open Cub, respect the history of the tournament, and raise the visibility of the tournament, the game needs to be played in front of 30,000+ not 4,500.
Hosting the USOC semi-final at Starfire is like hosting the a NCAA Final 4 game at a Division III gym instead of a full arena. It's like allowing an NFL team to host a playoff game at a high school to have a better home-field advantage.
If the Sounders want to treat the US Open Cup as an major tournament, the last two rounds should be hosted at CenturyLink Field. The team deemed the CCL important enough to host the matches at Qwest last year so what does it say about the club's commitment to the USOC if only the Final would be hosted at CenturyLink?
Nothing says "we want our fans to be there to support us" like limiting the number that can attend it to less than one seventh the standard home attendance. I believe this is something that Real Salt Lake got right, bidding to host the match at Rio Tinto in front of their supporters. Hopefully it's not too late for the Sounders to change the venue for the match.
The Seahawks are scheduled to have a home pre-season game on Friday, September 2nd which would give the facilities/grounds crew 2 full days between the games to switch over to the NFL lines. The Sounders have a home match on August 27th so the field will already be set up and ready to go. There are no other events scheduled that week so there is no reason I can see that it can't be done.
As for ticket sales, there is a month and a half for the team to sell out CenturyLink. Offer STH their seats at a discount (say half off), then offer the remainder for sale at 60% of face value. Modify the discounts as appropriate, but I have no doubt the game would be a sellout.
Adrian, Joe, and Co., please make this happen.
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Haven't been paying attention to anything NFL...
…but they still don’t have an agreement yet, right? Isn’t it a little over-optimistic to expect they’ll actually play that game on September 2nd?
I think the primary goal should be to win
The rest of your post ends up meaningless to me after that point.
To be clear, I still think they'd be a favorite at CenturyLink
I’d assume a 75% chance to win at Starfire and something like a 70% chance at CenturyLink.
I'm up for moving to C-Link earlier next year
but this year I want the Three-peat!
Next year is the time to make it more challenging when we go for Four.
Agree too
That’s what SKC was doing before it imploded against Richmond.
I like Starfire
And i really dont think the Semi would be that popular since it is on a weeknight. I usualy have to buy tickets early but i dont ever seem to have problems geting tickets to games at Starfire.
The best will be when they expand Starfire to 7-8000 as was reported earlier this week. Then USOC games will be awesome. Just think some teams have problems finding one decent stadium to play in.
by MurrayD on Jul 14, 2011 1:23 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
Cool. Where did you read that MurrayD? Only 2-3K smaller than Buck Shaw...
for our backup arena!
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CCL a Clnk/Qwest not a choice
As per the regulations for this tournament they are required to host the CCL games at their home stadium. I think they would host them at starfire if they had a choice.
That's crazy as the CCL match attendance totals were 17,228 (prelim), 22,513 (Monterrey), 11,768 (Marathon), and 11,434 (Saprissa)
And by the last two it was clear that they wouldn’t be able to make it out of the group. Had they been in contention, they would have drawn at least 15,000 for each; 3x what Starfire can hold.
Hanauer wanted to host the prelim at Starfire
I don’t know if I could find a link, but last year, when asked about where the club would play it’s first CCL preliminary match, indicated a desire to play it at Starfire. It was changed when it was determined that Starfire did not comply with the CCL stadium requirements.
by Derek Markgraf on Jul 17, 2011 9:41 PM PDT up reply actions
Mariners conflict
I think that we are forgetting why the Sounders sought to play USOC games at Starfire in the first place. They cannot play at CLink when it would be at the same time as a Mariners game. The city won’t allow it, even though the combined attendance for both games would not exceed the attendance of a Seahawks match. The Mariners play 7pm on August 30, so CLink is out, and Starfire is in.
by Derek Markgraf on Jul 17, 2011 9:46 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
I had not considered the Mariners for conflicts
I’m not sure that a Mariners game in August is going to draw more than 10k at this point, but point taken.
I’d say that the Sounders could do a day-time game, but that then kills your attendance.
Can't Have 2 Major sports event at same time
Because of thier proximity to each other the USOC game on the 30th can’t be played at Century Link Field because there is a Mariners game at 7:10PM. Since this is a week day match there’s no way to give enough time in between like there is on a Saturday or Sunday. There’s always been some sort of rule in place that M’s and anything full stadium at CLink isn’t allowed to happen.
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