American Soccer Weblog

The Des Moines Phenomenon

I just posted this in the Blog Matchnight comments regarding my own previous post about attendance figures. This is specifically tied to Des Moines' PDL attendance figures and whether they have enough support for an A-League team:

How's this?

Menace averages from '01-'04 seasons:

2001: 2,703
2002: 4,401
2003: 3,971
2004: 3,695 (includes exhibition vs. Wizards).

The other encouraging thing about their attendance figures is that they don't seem to have a drop for back to back games. They've had 2 sets of back-to-back home matches this season:

5/15: 3,756
5/16: 4,065

5/29: 3,496
5/30: 3,440

They've generally been consistent that way in past seasons as well. Their attendance record is 6,312 in '02.

FYI: the 2002 season they went undefeated in the regular season. By the way, they'll get a Freddy Adu spike soon too, as he's flying to Des Moines after the DC United/Fire match and giving away autographed Freddy jerseys at a Menace match that night, and they had a contest for someone to fly to the Fire match and back on a private plane w/Freddy.

I had the opportunity to attend my first Menace match last week, albeit an exhibition against the Kansas City Wizards, which drew over 3,700 on a Tuesday night. In the process, I met owner Kyle Krause and director of operations Nate Van Steenvoort, among others, and from my own viewpoint, they run an A-League team already, and in that market, they're treated that way. TV crews and the Des Moines Register cover the home matches. The crowd seemed knowledgable and full of energy, and with the Menace's consistent performance on the field the last few seasons, the fans have good reason to perk up the attendance numbers as well. They, like many clubs, have giveaways and halftime contests, and Menace gear is readily available as well. Plus, they pass out a 20-page program with a color cover. Yes it's full of ads, but also has plenty of useful soccer information.

The match itself wasn't the highest quality (how often do exhibitions measure up anyway?), but neither team scored until Matt Taylor's goal in the 81st minute to give KC a 1-0 win. The Menace had played 2 matches the previous weekend, and KC one of their own, plus they had a training session and a 3 hour bus ride to Des Moines.

My visit to Des Moines was on the invitation of a couple of friends of mine I made during the 2002 World Cup in Korea, one of whom was the AR for the match--Doug Jotzke. I watched much of the match with his parents, and also had the opportunity to meet Terry Vaughn, who happens to be from Iowa as well.

All-in-all, a first class job by the Menace top to bottom. If ever a PDL city could jump straight to the A-League, they could. Plenty of A-League teams need to find out what's happening in Des Moines, bottle it up and bring it back with them.

Weekend Attendance

Attendance updated to include Monday's numbers . . .

Attendance figures this weekend for A-League matches (listed high to low):
Fri. Toronto @ Montreal: 6,831
Sat. Atlanta @ Charleston: 5,022
Sat. Milwaukee @ Portland: 4,067
Sat. Rochester @ Puerto Rico: 3,190
Thu. Rochester @ Puerto Rico: 3,000
Sat. Virginia Beach @ Richmond: 2,440
Sun. Minnesota @ Edmonton: 1,913
Fri. Milwaukee @ Seattle: 1,875
Sat. Montreal @ Toronto: 1,826
Mon. Richmond @ Virginia Beach: 1,365
Fri. Edmonton @ Calgary: 1,012

Other notable attendance figures in the lower divisions:
Sat. St. Louis @ Des Moines (PDL): 3,440
Sat. N. Virginia @ Long Island (PSL): 2,629
Sun. W. Michigan @ Pittsburgh (PSL): 1,157
Sun. Reading @ Harrisburg City (PSL): 1,032

Notable women's attendance figures:
Sun. Arizona @ Edmonton (W-League): 1,512
May 22 Maryland @ Steel City (WPSL): 1,250
Sat. Sudbury @ Montreal (W-League): 1,170

MLS Attendance:
Sat. DC United @ NE: 19,314
Sat. Dallas @ LA: 18,460
Sat. San Jose @ Columbus: 14,555
Sat. Colorado @ Chicago: 9,688
Sun. KC Wizards @ MetroStars: 9,101

Reports From Far And Wide

I know anyone looking for match reports for anything below MLS have a rough go of it, but there are some doing it. Some are rough around the edges, while others outshine most anything you'll find in a contemporary outlet. For instance, Allison Andrews' multimedia presentations on Portland Timbers matches have reached cult-like status for their quality. For Portland's opening win, there's a writeup, photos and even goal-videos. A-League.com typically has match reporters for each of the home teams, though the most consistent coverage early on is coming from Portland, Seattle, Virginia Beach and Puerto Rico.

Virginia Beach enters with writeups from their road trip to Richmond and their home match with the Kickers the following night.

You can read rival match reports from the Portland/Seattle match.

Puerto Rico has entered strong with four match reports by their A-League.com correspondent, losses to Toronto, Montreal, and a loss and tie to Syracuse.

Some, granted, haven't have an opportunity since they haven't had a home match, so keep checking.

Also of note, Blue Sky Soccer is taking on the Minnesota Thunder. They started off with an interview with USL CEO Dave Askinas.

There's plenty more fan sites, particularly in the A-League, and I'll work to highlight those posting regular updates in future entries.

Even PSL soccer is getting attention. Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Wilmington and others have good followings and have dedicated fans keeping up sites, or at the very least, writing about their teams. Charlotte has photos and audio too. Check their multimedia page for more. The Riverhounds are even making local TV.

Wilmington's Hard-As-Nails fansite is doing match reports too. Check out their latest, a 1-1 tie against Harrisburg City.

By the way, looks like the Austin Posse are "reorganizing". No roster is listed and Chad Deering is noted as having left the team. Esra Hendrickson also left and will join the Charleston Battery (surprise...).

Another by the way, looks like CyberSoccerNews has changed its name to AmericanSoccerNews, with a forthcoming domain name of http://americansoccernews.net, which isn't active yet. Their American Soccer News radio show is on an indefinite hiatus.

The Quick Clicker

It's been a busy week for us here, with no less than six different people making contributions, but we do have time to give props to those linking back and not thinking us idiots for wanting Freddy to play. At least it was a reasoned request by our own Craig Stouffer. Actually, I want to see more of Josh Gros on the field.

I guess it's not just me, but I also thought that the US MNT against Mexico looked a lot like the DC United team we've seen this season. Heavy pressure from the forwards on back, hard fouling early and often, and overall, a disrupting, dominating menace except when it comes to finding the goal. At least the US shouldn't have to worry as much about El Salvador, as Ian Plenderleith writes.

It's a triple-threat this weekend along the I-64 corridor, as Virginia Beach opens their season with a home-and-home series against Richmond. Why triple threat? The matches count in the A-League standings, James River Cup and US Open Cup qualifying, but perhaps more importantly, the match tonight is a fundraiser for the Jamie Hess Memorial Fund, which holds a lot of meaning to Kickers defender Chris Fox. After taking a trip with the team last year for a feature that didn't quite pan out, Fox asked me after a 2-0 loss to Pittsburgh if I didn't have anything better to do with my Memorial Day weekend. Sadly, even after the loss, I didn't.

The Kickers, meanwhile, are off to a 0-1-1 start, barely getting a result in Charleston last week after losing to the Battery at home to start their season. Look for Mike Field and the Mariners to set up their tailgate on enemy turf in the parking lot at U of Richmond Stadium tonight.

After all that, if they're not fired up to play this weekend.

Beau Dure notes why relegation/promotion won't work between MLS and the A-League. In a word: stadiums. But in reality, even if you got every MLS team with their own reasonably-sized soccer-specific stadium, you'd still have the problem in the A-League. Rochester and Atlanta are building facilities, but Rochester is a likely MLS franchise in the near future, so they don't really count. Atlanta's building a place in the 5-7K range, and with a handful of exceptions, no A-League team is going to draw more than 5K on a regular basis. Blue Sky Soccer, in an interview with USL CEO Dave Askinas, he thinks teams can have their own SSS within the next decade:

We want to be the best league we can be. The ideal , and we can get there faster than you think, is to have all of our teams in 5-10,000 seat soccer specific stadiums where tickets are in demand. I don't think this is an idle dream but one achievable through 5-10 years hard work. We know what we have to do and we have to continue to aggressively market our product and increase our profile in order to make that kind of progress.

In an article about Olympic spending, it notes that US Soccer spent $31.5 million in 2000, the year the US women won the silver medal. The article does note, though, that the Olympics aren't the only--or main--goal for a lot of sports, including soccer.

Nebraska Says Goodbye To Cooper

On a much sadder note, perhaps by now you've heard about Nebraska's Jenna Cooper, slain at a party last weekend. Lucky Iromuanya, the man who shot her is is being charged with second-degree murder. He allegedly wanted to kill someone else over a shot glass, and fired a bullet that hit Cooper, who was standing nearby. Iromuanya's bail, originally $1 million, was cut in half.

She was laid to rest today. Let's hope the US WNT will use their upcoming match in Louisville, where Cooper was from, as a tribute match to her.

Soccer Fanatics Radio Show Coming Back

The Soccer Fanatics Radio Show, after a brief hiatus, is coming back April 12, 8:00 p.m. ET for 2 hours every Monday, promising, they say, to be bigger and better. They'll be hosted by Fanatic Radio and they still plan to keep with their focus of covering all levels of American soccer--MLS, USL, US NTs, you name it. More details are said to be coming. In the meantime, check out Soccer Audio for the latest in soccer programming for the American audience.