Fans at this year’s Desert Diamond Cup had to make some tough, yet tantalizing, decisions.
Sometimes it was which U.S. national team player to watch. Other times it was whether to follow the local lads or some of the country’s best professional squads.
The event organizers were faced with a tough, yet tantalizing, challenge — making sure those fans were able to enjoy themselves after they made those decisions.
With the premier tournament of Major League Soccer’s preseason training using a new format that had matches being played simultaneously, Kino Sports Complex became quite the busy place during the 2015 Desert Diamond Cup.
The attendance figures this year were double what they were in 2014, with a combined attendance of almost 11,000 for the four nights of the event. Let’s take a look at the main reasons why stadium-record crowds showed up for the fifth edition of the event:
1. Soccer, soccer everywhere.
Rather than have three matches back-to-back-to-back like they did in 2014, organizers decided this year to start the first match at Kino North Stadium and then, 30 minutes after the start of that match, kick off a second match at Kino North Grandstand before wrapping up action with a final match at North Stadium.
Fans could opt to watch one match or bounce back and forth between the first two matches, creating a bustling atmosphere. The North Grandstand was almost always filled to capacity, and fans were often lined up along the fences to catch an extremely close glimpse of the pros.
“The attendance and the atmosphere for our games was the best it’s ever been,” said Rick Schantz, the coach and a managing partner of FC Tucson, which organizes and runs MLS training. “I think that created a real-life atmosphere for the MLS players. … It seemed like the players were up for it, they wanted to put on a good show.
“Seeing two full stadiums was a pretty spectacular view, and having that carnival-like atmosphere was something really special. Now I think where we need to improve is capitalizing on all those people here, whether it’s concessions, more off-the-field entertainment or having a corridor of merchandise available for people to buy and look at. I think that’s an area where we really can improve.”
The organizers also gave fans another way to get close to the players by opening up one Friday practice session to the public.
“The teams were very gracious about opening up training,” said Greg Foster, one of FC Tucson’s managing partners. “We think that going forward we probably want to do more of that and we probably want to publicize that more.”
FC Tucson general manager Jon Pearlman sees the benefits.
“It introduces people by having them see the players train and feel a connection with the players,” Pearlman said. “It makes them want to come see them play in competitive matches. … It also introduces people to the great part of the MLS that is the general attitude of the players, even the high-paid players, of being very accessible and being very down to earth.”
2. The best of the best in the Southwest.
This year’s Desert Diamond Cup didn’t disappoint from the quality standpoint. The participants included one of the most popular teams in the league (Seattle Sounders FC), one of last year’s MLS Cup finalists (New England Revolution) and the 2013 league champions (Sporting Kansas City).
Five members of last year’s U.S. national team that competed in the World Cup played in the Desert Diamond Cup, and three of their Brazil 2014 teammates were here for the first part of preseason.
“We were able to bring in clubs that had superstars — Clint Dempsey, Kyle Beckerman, Nick Rimando, Graham Zusi, Matt Besler,” Foster said. “These are all players that American soccer fans fell in love with over the summer at the World Cup.”
They didn’t disappoint either — with Dempsey scoring two goals, Zusi netting one in his impressive return from an injury and Rimando and Beckerman helping Real Salt Lake win the Desert Diamond Cup title.
3. The early bird sells the tickets.
The effort to get the word out earlier to fans in MLS cities paid off. In late September, the DDC teams and schedule were announced, giving supporters four-plus months to plan their visits to the Old Pueblo.
“With each year, as a soccer community, we learn how better to market the MLS preseason in Tucson,” Foster said. “This year, one big improvement was that identifying the teams earlier allowed FC Tucson, Visit Tucson and Pima County to market more effectively to the fans of the teams in their home towns.”
4. Mother Nature jumped on the bandwagon.
One of the major reasons Major League Soccer comes to Tucson is because of the weather. The teams can leave frigid climes and get more time to practice in their sunny stays here.
But in the previous two years, weather reared a rare ugly head. In 2013, the event had to deal with a storm that brought snow during one of the match nights. In 2014, a storm brought rain and wind on the final day.
“This year, we probably had the best weather of any of the four years (of full MLS preseason training) so far. That certainly helped attendance,” Foster said.
The crowds at both Saturday events broke the record for attendance at North Stadium, which has been around for 1½ years. The final match-day throng topped out at 3,692.
With Desert Diamond Casino announcing last month that it has extended its sponsorship through 2017, fans will have quite a few more chances to increase those marks.
