Olympic qualifying begins in two days in Los Angeles and Nashville. While the important issue to decide here is whether the United States can qualify for London 2012, there is another nagging question nipping at some heels …
Why Nashville for the U.S. group? And why the ginormous LP Field?
It’s a great place. And Nashville is an underrated city. Good BBQ. A great university right in town (Vanderbilt). And while I’m not much of a country music man, I can appreciate the cultural attachments.
But it hardly makes sense for an under-23 soccer tournament that was always going to be a tough sell. (Unlike Los Angeles, where Mexico’s presence will push ticket sales to a better place.) Ticket sales are moving predictably slow in Nashville and, even if there’s a big walkup, the TV pictures are likely to show a cavernous facility with more than 50,000 empty seats.
Nashville’s LP Field was a joint choice between U.S. Soccer and CONCACAF. So I talked to U.S. Soccer spokesman Neil Buethe about it this morning.
As always, lots of factors are in play when selecting international match venues, he said: facility availability, locker room space (enough for four teams), other events preceding the match (that might rip up the field), frequency of U.S. Soccer visits, type of surface, seating capacity, weather, travel logistics, etc. So, LP Field checked all the right boxes.
“The field is in great shape,” he said. “And they have such a great staff there, and really go out of their way to support the event.”
There is a good chance of a healthy crowd and much better atmosphere in Kansas City, site of the (all-important) March 31 semifinals and (rather anti-climactic) final. Both semifinal winners advance to London.
Ticket sales are already around 5,000 for the semis at Livestrong Sporting Park, Buethe said. If the United States and Mexico advance into the semis as expected, the numbers are sure to rise quickly.
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- sir1389 - Mar 20, 2012 at 12:59 PM
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Should’ve picked Portland. I’d be willing to bet the Timber Army could translate some of that enthusiasm into patriotism for our national team.
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- dreadpirate82 - Mar 20, 2012 at 12:59 PM
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Why did they schedule the semis and finals at the same time as the Final Four and NCAA Championship games? As in, right at the same times. Couldn’t they have gone Friday-Sunday or Sunday-Tuesday instead? Kansas City has become a helluva soccer town, but you might think they’d want to avoid a conflict with such a high profile sporting event. If Kansas is in the Final Four, they’ll be lucky to have 2,000 show up on Saturday. I’m a huge Sporting KC and USMNT fan, but there’s no way in hell I’m missing the Final Four (for just about anything), even if my team’s not there. Poor scheduling.
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- footballer4ever - Mar 20, 2012 at 1:28 PM
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Well, if it’s not NFL games, then it’s basketball, then baseball, or golf, the cooking channel or the Kardashians hooking up with another NBA player. In the end, it’s time for MLS to try to be supported of any other events. You giving up soccer for the final 4, then go ahead, but soccer fans should make it a priority above it all.
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- dreadpirate82 - Mar 20, 2012 at 2:29 PM
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That’s fine, but shouldn’t they be looking for the greatest audience? They won’t get that on Saturday and Monday. These aren’t regular season games they’re scheduling against; it’s the national championship. The NBA is pretty well established now, and they’re not dumb enough to schedule games against the Super Bowl. The Final Four isn’t as big as the Super Bowl, but it will greatly affect the attendance for these matches. Basketball is like religion in Kansas. Why not play to your audience?
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- footballer4ever - Mar 20, 2012 at 5:26 PM
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MLS has enough soccer-related scheduling issues they have to take into consideration . If they were to “dance” around other league’s schedule, then the league will end up having to have a 12 month season. Something has to give in or not and that’s how things are sometimes.
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- footballer4ever - Mar 20, 2012 at 5:32 PM
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I was referring to MLS scheduling and it has nothing to do with the Olympic pre-qualifiers. It’n that case, fans will make the decision to go and watch whatever is their priority. Free will and one of these days soccer will command priority on fans’ mind , heart and $oul.
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- rm1r0 - Mar 20, 2012 at 8:35 PM
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Steve. I understand Nashville, Carson and Kansas City were sites that were agreed upon by both USSF and CONCACAF and had all the right boxes checked, but what were some other sites/locations that also fell into this category? I think most of us understand that the site(s) for such a tournament fit(s) a lot of requirements, but it would be interesting to see what other sites they each beat out.
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