The Copa America quarter-final between the USA and Ecuador was undoubtedly one of the games of the year. It was also played out against a backdrop of empty seats.
There’s an interesting article in this month’s World Soccer magazine about the Copa America Centenario, in which United States officials make bullish predictions about the big crowds the tournament will generate.
“We have the facilities, the infrastructure and the support to ensure a fantastic experience,” US Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati boldly proclaims.
It’s not certain who Gulati thought would enjoy the tournament the most, although it’s safe to assume paying spectators were somewhere towards the back of his mind.
Just over 47,000 fans turned out in Seattle for the knock-out clash between hosts USA and Ecuador, leaving more than 20,000 seats empty at CenturyLink Field.
And there is only one reason to blame for the poor attendances that blighted the early stages of this most curious of Copa Americas – ticket prices.
In an article for Vice published shortly after the tournament kicked off, New York-based journalist Aaron Gordon details the astronomical sums fans were expected to pay to attend Copa America matches.
In one example, he points out that a decent seat for the Group B clash between Haiti and Ecuador in East Rutherford would have cost $AU905, while the annual per capita income for Haiti is a mere $AU1,110.
According to Gordon, even the cheapest get-in price at the least attractive matches would set the average punter back more than $AU135.
So why does any of this matter?
It matters because tin-eared and tone-deaf football officials are increasingly turning their backs on the one demographic they most take for granted – paying spectators.
To understand why organisers seemed so hell-bent on pricing out fans, it’s worth asking why the tournament is being played in the first place.
The first Copa America – which, it’s crucial to remember, is the continental championship of South America – took place in 1916.
That explains the Centenario aspect. But why on earth is this Copa America being staged in the United States?
The answer, as always in football, is money.
With the South American Football Confederation forever looking to expand its TV market and the United States boasting both the stadia and migrant populations to fill them, the US organising committee took on the hosting rights in exchange for – crucially – revenue from ticket sales.
“This will be the biggest soccer event (in the US) since the 1994 FIFA World Cup,” said president of Soccer United Marketing, Kathy Carter.
She was half right. Whoever progresses to the final will no doubt try to win a tournament that was squeezed incongruously between two normal Copa Americas and played out of sync with the regular four-year South American cycle.
Organisers will invariably point to big crowds in East Rutherford and Santa Clara this weekend, where huge swathes of local Colombian and Mexican expatriates turned out to support their teams.
But even those attendances are problematic. If tournaments are geared towards only attracting crowds from the knock-out stages onward, then what is the point of the group stage?
And if the US Soccer Federation genuinely cared about the game in North America, why has Major League Soccer continued unabated throughout the duration of the Copa America?
There’s an absorbing US-based Twitter account called Empty Seats Galore which tweets nothing but photos of empty seats at sporting events.
It’s more interesting than it sounds, and needless to say they’ve tweeted plenty from this sparsely-attended Copa America.
In a nation which boasts several secondary ticket re-selling markets and which has a habit of counting ‘tickets sold’ as a key metric regardless of whether anyone actually sits in those seats, US Soccer perhaps doesn’t care how many fans ultimately turned up.
But there’s a bigger issue at play here.
If officials are actively engaged in pricing fans out of attending, are we one day doomed to watch football only on TV?
Casper
Guest
Punter - I am being nice. I'll take the Essendon compliment, especially this year. it's an interesting proposition. If all of a sudden, all of the best players in the world gravitated to the A League then what would be the effect? Big spike in attendances and ratings initially as fans get to see their heroes live, but what about 5 or 10 years down the track. By then, people would be used to seeing the best players in the world. Do they become diehard A League fans and abandon their European teams? I guess it comes down to what you follow, the club or the players.
Punter
Guest
Casper, I thought you may be nice to me calling Essendon one of the top AFL sides in the world. You are confusing me. Are you talking crowd attendances or ratings? I didn't mention fullhouses???? I said if Messi Ronney, Suarez or Neyar (who all play for Barcelona or Man U) played A-League clubs every week, yes I expect the ratings to be huge & big crowds. But then it would be boring because they would win every game quite easy. However, if A-League had the best players every week like AFL does, yes the game would be far bigger then now. Football fans in this country is much bigger then just the A-League fans.
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
Hey Mike, its not that we don't love you man, you are a respected football writer in my eyes. Its just the reality of the capitalist society we live in. We can't afford to buy a house or send our kids to Uni anymore either. That's an even bigger problem.
Casper
Guest
That's not what you said though is it. People have still got to have an interest in watching the sport though. If they aren't into soccer then it won't matter who is out on the pitch. On a week by week basis at least. Are you suggesting that there would be full houses all over the country?
Punter
Guest
Casper, do you really think if Australia had the best teams in the world every week that the novelty would wear off. WOW!!! Are you for real, if we had Messi, Ronney, Suarez, Neymar, playing every week, it would go off,
Casper
Guest
Punter - would the ratings really go through the roof? I'm not so sure about that. I guess you are talking about a one off game situation. If either of those teams played A League clubs every week, then the novelty would soon wear off.
josh
Guest
I remember that night marron, I had to sit on a towel to drive home, soaked head to toe but those are always the best nights.
Punter
Guest
Hey Bondy, isn't Essendon, one of the most famous AFL teams in the world, top 2 or 3. Imagine the ratings WSW would get if they played Man U or Barcelona in a real match, the ratings would go thru the roof!!!! Even the most ardent A-League fan would know that most would be watching Barcelona & Man U, simple logic that sometimes evades MF & BigAl.
Bondy
Guest
Post hoc Everybody knows that GWS's ratings come from Melbourne at about 85 - 90% of the market against 10 -15% of GWS's rating comes from a Sydney audience but dont tell Mr Football he likes to think its the other way around ... AFL is a semi professional sport ...
Post hoc
Guest
29,000 Sydney siders appear to be interested in watching them on fox, are some folk yes, but hardly record breaking. sorry i know you guys love talking about AFL TV ratings, except it appears when we want to take a closer look at those ratings. The simple fact is, there appears to be little interest in AFL outside the south and west.
BigAl
Guest
Well then! It appears that GWS is delivering a big fat pudding to Fox & the AFL - much to the chagrin of the slicing and dicing cohort...
marron
Guest
the 20s plenty campaign is about away tickets it should be noted. "one day the bottom a-go drop out", the question is, when? While many fans are deserting to go and enjoy themselves in lower league football, there's plenty to take their place still. I think we've got it pretty lucky here... I don't know about other clubs but my season ticket is great value for mine.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
At the moment GWS would be very close to having the highest Fox rating of any AFL club in the season to date, they are routinely amongst the highest rating games. Fox has already stated that NSW ratings on Fox Footy are at historic highs, so put the two pieces of info together, and you would have to conclude that at least some good folk from ol' Sydney town are tuning in. But hey, Sydney is a big city, and for at least the next 10 years or so, it will remain the largest city in Australia - I'm sure there is enough to go around for all sports.
BigAl
Guest
You slice and dice! I'm interested in the rating.
Ian
Guest
The people that watched are Essendon fans. Not too hard to figure it out that people didn't tune in for GWS slice and dice that up.
Post hoc
Guest
Appears we go to the same Wanderers games, the hail storm will live in memory for a long time. We do have a different weather related issue than poor Stoke. I sit (or more correctly sat, RIP Wanderland) in the civilised Bay 66 so no flags or drums but beer showers is normal
Post hoc
Guest
which is, very few people in Sydney care about GWS, not sure how it can be interpreted any other way.
Agent11
Guest
Roosters vs Warriors was simulcast on FTA channel 9, solid effort there.
marron
Guest
Stoke? Pfft.. Can it replicate a wild sydney evening with lightning strikes or hail when the Premier has told you to stay home? Sometimes, when i can’t make it to the game, I sit on the couch and get someone to wave flags back and forth in front of the television while banging a drum in my ear and throwing plastic cups of beer at me at semi-regular intervals.
marron
Guest
Stoke bedamned. Can it replicate a wild sydney evening with lightning strikes or hail when the Premier has told you to stay home? Sometimes, when i can't make it to the game, I sit on the couch and get someone to wave flags back and forth in front of the television while banging a drum in my ear and throwing plastic cups of beer at me at semi-regular intervals.