On the day of their most important game the Metro"stars" could draw less than 8,ooo. 5,000 to be exact went to see them play on grid iron lines a sorry game where the Fire who played just a little better won. The Meto"Stars" front office is a joke and that is just why off the field the metros were dealt a 34 -0 loss to go along w. a heart breaking 1-0 loss.
Why do 18,000+ show up for a match against the Revolution on Saturday but only 5,000 for the U.S. Open Cup match against Chicago on Wednesday? Chicago is a better team and the match was for a title. Both nights were chilly and had competition from New York Yankees playoff or World Series games. Is going to a match in the middle of a week so anathema to fans, even though it is a match of more importance against a quality club?.
Unfortunately, riverplate, some clubs and leagues the world over feel that the league cup (in our case the USOC) is a bastard child to the divisional (in our case MLS) title. Sweden is the same way. They get tens of thousands to attend Allsvenskan matches, but sometimes less than 1,000 will attend a Svenska Cupen match. Me, I like both types of competitions equally. I do wish Open Cup matches attracted more people, because it's a showcase of what there is other than MLS.
Actually - it's more simple than that: US Open Cup matches aren't on the schedule. In the United States sporting schedules are much more rigid than the rest of the world. The rest of the world seems to be continually changing things to fit in different cups or because of frozen pitches, etc.. In the US, schedules are printed everywhere and constantly reiterated. While "Major" leagues tend to get enough publicity to overcome this in their postseasons, you'll find that most "Minor" leagues in the US have horrible attendance dropoffs for games not on the schedule - including postseason games. It's just a fact of life. There are, of course, exceptions - but until MLS becomes one of the "Major" leagues in the US, you'll find that most US Open Cup, CONCACAF Cup, and playoff matches will be relatively poorly attended.
But they could do a better job of letting people know that it COULD be on the schedule at some point in the future, that it would be an EXCITING thing if it was, and that they should go see it. I think people here have no idea what a cup competition like the USOC or the FA Cup really are. I have a lot of trouble explaining the Champions' League to non-soccer people. (And hey, the guy who was hoping I'd change the channel to football today didn't even realize that soccer was played between club teams...)
"Why do 18,000+ show up for a match against the Revolution on Saturday but only 5,000 for the U.S. Open Cup match against Chicago on Wednesday? Chicago is a better team and the match was for a title. Both nights were chilly and had competition from New York Yankees playoff or World Series games." I think that it has more to do with of a lack of understanding between the games. For the most part, most people going to games are still casual fans at best.