Colorado crowd figures explode with fireworks, but the Rapids’ Fourth of July success is fleeting. The team has yet to establish a regular following.

The Colorado Rapids have become part of a Denver tradition by playing in Mile High Stadium on the Fourth of July prior to a fireworks display. The game has drawn a bigger crowd each season, with 53,126 enjoying the festivities last year.

Three of the Independence Day games rank among the top 20 crowds in league history and even higher among games without an international doubleheader.

Other single-game ploys such as concerts and giveaways draw well, but the success of Colorado’s big-event marketing has not translated in an overall increase in attendance.

The Rapids finished eighth in the league last season with an average of 12,580 fans. That’s just below the team’s all-time average of 12,694 fans, also eighth in the league.

REGULARS NEEDED. With one year remaining at Mile High Stadium, the challenge faced by the team’s front office is to find ways of making regular customers out of those who pack the stadium once a year.

The good news, however, is that season ticket sales are up from about 1,400 last season to about 3,000 this season, according to General Manager Dan Counce.

“That’s a phenomenal turnaround for us,” Counce said.

The team is focusing on soccer-specific promotions rather than things that may draw people uninterested in the game. On the slate this season are a world soccer celebration on opening day and soccer ball and jersey giveaways.

Soccer has had trouble carving a niche in a crowded sports scene. The NFL’s Denver Broncos are the top team in town and the professional baseball, hockey and basketball teams all have strong followings.

PRESS FOLLOWS CROWDS. “I can’t say why they haven’t burned up the gate, but they haven’t,” said Barry Forbis, sports editor of The Denver Rocky Mountain News. “It’s a very competitive market here. … For whatever reason, it has not really caught on and we’ve never really covered it in a big way and neither has The Denver Post, our competitor, solely because of the interest level.”

One of the biggest factors working against the Rapids is their venue, which has a capacity of 79,000 that cannot be disguised by even the most creative downsizing tactics. The result is very little demand for tickets and a stale atmosphere at most games.

The team is negotiating to move into Invesco Field, the new stadium being built for the Broncos, but that will also be larger than the ideal.

Finding a better venue is in the Rapids’ long-term plans, but in the meantime, they will look forward to using the large stadium to their advantage at least once this season.

Counce admits that the July 4 game “includes some people that are there just for the fireworks,” but all of them stood on their feet when the Rapids defeated Chicago in overtime last year.

“We embrace it and we’re very happy that we have it,” Counce said. “It’s an opportunity. When we beat Chicago in dramatic fashion – those are moments that people remember.”

by Soccer America associate editor Will Kuhns