They say New York’s a soccer city. But that’s hard to believe when just 7,802 fans show up to watch the New York Red Bulls, one of the best looking teams in MLS so far this season, play the Colorado Rapids. The Bulls lost the match, 1-0, putting in what easily their worst performance of the season. Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald surmises that the depressing atmosphere — especially on a day when a quality player like Colombian Juan Pablo Angel was making his debut — was partly to blame for the Bulls’ performance.
No matter. Even if the Bulls were the worst team in the league, a crowd of under 8,000 is bad news. There were excuses galore, says Galarcep: it was Mother’s Day, it was Sunday, the weather was too nice, etc. But still, there was a time (remember the Giovanni Savarese years?) when the MetroStars used to draw a nice crowd. So no excuses, please.
The fact that the Bulls have averaged just 9,782 fans in their first three home games (which is only just ahead of Kansas City, the perennial capital of apathy in MLS) falls squarely on the shoulders of Red Bull, the owner, says Galarcep. What happened to marketing this team? What happened to all those corporate sponsors? You lose valuable exposure when you fail to invest in advertising and tell your partners to walk, especially in an exposure-overload market like New York. Are the Red Bulls just an advertising vehicle for Red Bull, some out of the box marketing technique? Give us a break. Finally, there’s a good soccer product in New York. It’s a shame nobody knows about it.