Monday, September 27, 2010

15,000+ all in one night, not for the whole season


Not too long ago, 15,000 fans would have been the SEASON attendance total, not just for one game. Times are changing quickly, with attendance up nation wide and two of the top five most-attended regular season NCAA soccer matches of the modern era occurring just in the last 2 weeks. I should add also that they both were played in California, not in Maryland or Connecticut or North Carolina, or even in St. Louis.

UCSB defeated UCLA 2-0. By no means a crushing win, so the story becomes the event itself. Out of nowhere, soccer this fall is capturing the attention of money-restricted fans with attendance numbers way up in California as well as back in the traditional soccer-center of the mid-atlantic.

I asked my soccer-neutral wife what she thought of the attendance-record-smashing year and she commented that "People must like soccer." I thought for a moment. Yes, it probably is really that simple.

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