FCBARCELONA.CAT

02.08.2009 18:38

Crowds confirm Barca’s drawing power

Anna Segura

The 93.137 spectators who attended Barca’s game in LA was a clear indication of the popularity Barca enjoy in the States, The next two games in Seattle and San Francisco look set to confirm the club’s drawing power in the U.S.

It’s certainly not a normal sight to see so many fans turn out for a “soccer” match in the land of Gridiron and Baseball, as can be understood by a look at the average gate in the MSL – just 15.515 aficionados, but Barca are pulling the crowds in like nobody else as the American fans flock to see the European champs.

Following the example of 2006

In the summer of 2006, Barca, Frank Rijkaard’s team toured Mexico and America having just taken the Champions and Spanish League titles and they filled all four stadiums in Monterrey, Los Angeles, Houston and New York.

The LA game was a sell out against Chivas at the Los Angeles Coliseum with 92.650 spectators attending the game to break the previous record attendance of 92.216 who’d watched LA Galaxy and Tampa Bay at thel Rose Bowl Stadium.

More fans than Chelsea-Inter game

Obviously, European football is enormously popular in America and has become a favourite place for visiting teams to Tour. The recent Chelsea-Inter Milan game as part of the I World Football Challenge drew 81.224 fans to the Rose Bowl, but nothing has been on the scale of this Barca Tour so far.

‘94 World Cup and ‘84 Olympics

The 1994 World Cup in the USA saw the biggest crowds ever for the game in the country with (94.194) attending the final between Brazil and Italy at the Rose Bowl and three othr games beat the number who turned up to see Barca on Sunday: 93.869 saw the USA vs Columbia game, 93.869 attended the hosts match against Rumania and 93.194 saw the Cameroon vs Sweden game. In all , the average gate at the Rose Bowl during the tournament was 89.478.

The same venue also hosted the semi final and final of the Olympic Games in 1984 and 97.000 saw the semi final whilst 101.799 saw the final between France and Italy.