By TRAVIS CLARK
The U.S. Open Cup is the oldest soccer tradition in America. In recent times, fans and supporters have claimed that the tournament fails to receive the proper treatment from MLS teams. The 2009 final between Seattle and D.C. is already starting to gain momentum as the September 2 date is just over three weeks away.
In a recent effort to promote the final, the D.C. United front office has unleashed a marketing campaign to bring in a crowd. Wewintrophies.com, a website that includes a description of each of the trophies United has won, links to share on Facebook and Twitter, and links viewers to the Ticketmaster page where they can buy tickets.
It hasn't stopped there, as the team also took out a full page ad in papers across the metropolitan area on Monday—including the Washington Post and Times—that featured an open letter from D.C. United President Kevin Payne to Washington, D.C.
The letter implores fans to come out and support the club, while also briefly mentioning Seattle and its fans.
"Our opponent, Seattle Sounders FC, is new to MLS. They’re in the midst of a great inaugural season and have developed a large and passionate fan base," Payne writes. "The Sounders, and its fans, have said that Washington, D.C. and its fans do not deserve to host the match at RFK. They insisted the match should be played in Seattle."
There's been a bit of back-and-forth banter between Sounders president Adrian Hanauer, who cried foul that United won the bid to host the final. Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts with the Mariners, the game would have to be played at a less than ideal 4:00 p.m. EST, a hardly ideal kickoff time for
“I’ve spoken with other teams that have made bids for finals who thought that they were going to win the bid, and our bid was twice – and in some cases up to three times – the size financially of those bids,” Hanauer told The Olympian in late July. “I’m also fairly confident that if D.C. United’s bid was the same as ours, that they’re going to lose a significant amount of money on the game."
Not to be overlooked, the campaign has also included small stickers on copies of the City Paper, an urban weekly spread. Along with that, the DCist, a local culture website, has been transformed into a billboard for the campaign. Last but not least, they've set up a fan page providing avatars and backgrounds for use online. In terms of this season, it is perhaps the most impressive undertaking United has taken this season on marketing.
While the campaign is substantial, it remains to be seen whether it will pay dividends at the gate. Last year's Open Cup Final at RFK Stadium drew a crowd of just 8,212. This year's opponent is a fellow MLS competitor, which should attract more interest, but nevertheless they are fighting an uphill battle.
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What do you think of D.C.'s marketing campaign? All your energies focused on tomorrow's match at the Azteca? Share your thoughts below.
DC could also win the ACES Cup trophy as well depending on how we play against Seattle.
http://www.aces09.com/acescup.html
DC United smells like poop
Scroto Baggins — OK I LOLed
Hosting the Cup??? Who cares…as long as SSFC is “hoisting” it afterward 😉
Mason, Adrian talked to past teams that won the rights to host the FINAL. And outbid them by 2-3 times.
When the President of a team sits on the board that decides who gets to host the game it stinks to high heaven.
When that President claims that he won’t lose money on a one off event like the Open Cup, but then goes to the District every two weeks to beg for a stadium because he’s losing money, he’s a liar.
When fans claim that people wouldn’t watch the match if it was televised at 4 PM Eastern, you prove that soccer fans on the East Coast are petty. Here in Seattle we wake up at 6A to watch the EPL and get better ratings than you. We watch more MLS matches than you (again proven in the ratings). Face it, it is the US Open Cup you would watch it.
When the USSF says that the bid is supposed to be an objective bid based on fee paid and then make a subjective call based on the changing of time they changed the rules after bids were submitted.
While nepotism, lies and ever changing rules are the norm in Washington the DC here in Washington the State we expect better. And honestly, so should every fan of this league.
Welcome KingDouche.
“Adrian talked to past teams that won the rights to host the FINAL. And outbid them by 2-3 times.”
– Again, it’s a blind bid, he’s still guessing, since why would DCU divulge their bid?
“When the President of a team sits on the board that decides who gets to host the game it stinks to high heaven. ”
– I’m confused on this one. Kevin Payne is on the Board of Directors of the US Soccer Foundation. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but the Open Cup is run by the US Soccer Federation. That would make sense, since they have an Open Cup Committee, both of which Payne is not involved with.
“When that President claims that he won’t lose money on a one off event like the Open Cup, but then goes to the District every two weeks to beg for a stadium because he’s losing money, he’s a liar.”
– who cares either way? I doubt profitability potential was a criteria in the selection.
“When fans claim that people wouldn’t watch the match if it was televised at 4 PM Eastern, you prove that soccer fans on the East Coast are petty.”
– or that we have JOBS…
“We watch more MLS matches than you (again proven in the ratings).”
– FSC will be excited the game is in DC then, since that means better ratings for them.
“When the USSF says that the bid is supposed to be an objective bid based on fee paid and then make a subjective call based on the changing of time they changed the rules after bids were submitted.”
– When did they say there was only one criteria (money)?
“While nepotism, lies and ever changing rules are the norm in Washington the DC”
– hey look! an ad hominem attack! I can do the same thing: Seattle fans are whining entitled brats who get on my last nerve…easy isn’t it?
that is all, goodnight…
Mason, Adrian talked to past teams that won the rights to host the FINAL. And outbid them by 2-3 times.
When the President of a team sits on the board that decides who gets to host the game it stinks to high heaven.
When that President claims that he won’t lose money on a one off event like the Open Cup, but then goes to the District every two weeks to beg for a stadium because he’s losing money, he’s a liar.
When fans claim that people wouldn’t watch the match if it was televised at 4 PM Eastern, you prove that soccer fans on the East Coast are petty. Here in Seattle we wake up at 6A to watch the EPL and get better ratings than you. We watch more MLS matches than you (again proven in the ratings). Face it, it is the US Open Cup you would watch it.
When the USSF says that the bid is supposed to be an objective bid based on fee paid and then make a subjective call based on the changing of time they changed the rules after bids were submitted.
While nepotism, lies and ever changing rules are the norm in Washington the DC here in Washington the State we expect better. And honestly, so should every fan of this league.
BTW Dave, according to the SSFC FO, their bid was 3x the bid of DC United.
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BULL! It was a blind bid, and SSFC FO knows NOTHING. Read their quotes. Their bid was two to three times more than the teams that they spoke with… You know… The Losing semi-finalists? I guarantee you they haven’t got any information from DCU.
The only reason the Sounders draw the same as the Mariners is because the Sounders play at home once every two weeks. If they played at home 2-4 times a week they’d draw like 6k. Using midday, midweek Mariners games for comparison doesn’t show much. The Mariners probably still have a way bigger fan base than the Sounders.
If they are so good, why do they need to advertise?
BTW Dave, according to the SSFC FO, their bid was 3x the bid of DC United.
Seattle fans, the sense of entitlement by some of you is amazing. You aren’t hosting the game because YOUR ownership’s bid SUCKED compared to DC United. No one cares about the amount of fans you would have had come to this competition. Blame your ownership for screwing this up.
@scrappy
No service charge at the box office
@acj
436 is where they always put the away fans.
i’m just glad seattle fans have dropped the whole “this is different, it plays more like actual grass” that they were saying in the beginning of the season. That $hit was annoying
That’s a long way to travel to watch your team lose on a weekday night.
Posted by: Johnny G | August 11, 2009 at 04:56 PM
That’s funny, I think that’s what DC fans say before most home games.
That’s a long way to travel to watch your team lose on a weekday night.
KBD- Looks like they’re sticking us in section 436.
I hope we can get about 15k +. That would be nice.
Does anyone know if there are going to be a lot of Sounders fans making the trip? And where would they sit, if the upper deck seats are not being sold?
My god, you’ve found a sounders fan who said something obnoxious on the internet? You don’t say. This is surely the best way to decide what a teams fans are like. Come on out to seattle before you claim we have the most obnoxious fans. A few games back a guy sitting in front of me was shouted down for calling a player a homophobic slur. I’d like to see that happen at any other stadium in America.
DC Josh — Agree on 5-1 and 4-0, but I still feel the same on the timing of the ad.
If I were Seattle and I was that confident of my numbers, I would air the game on live t.v. in the stadium to show MLS how many Seattle fans would have shown up if the game was held there.
What is with the ticket master $8.50 extra fee per ticket? If I walk-up the day off, will I still have to pay this fee?
The 1pm start wouldn’t have prevented a large crowd from showing up, especially given they would have had over a month to market the game. It would have been interesting to see what kind of marketing they would have done, because so far they haven’t done much.
As for Seattle fans being insufferable that is from those that are jealous. I wish every team could fill the stands.
No one has talked about it, but I am guessing that the game was placed in DC because do you really think FSC would want to broadcast a game at 1pm PST.
Our team is an expansion team that has thus far exceeded everyone’s expectations. Of course recently they have played like an expansion team.
Hope the marketing campaign works, because it can only benefit the league and the CUP.
Portland Sucks
Just checked Ticketmaster to see if the upper bowl was being sold. It is not. So, if that holds true to gameday it is sold out at approx. 22.5K.