With another probable sellout for the USA-Argentina friendly Saturday, the New Meadowlands Stadium is taking its place as one of the premier large soccer venues in the country.
“The newstadium is the best. The demographics in New York are the best. This is the perfect environment for me,” said promoter Henry Cardenas, who manages the commercial rights forArgentina’s national team. It is a sellout Saturday, so I will be back. Easy.”
Not every ticket has been sold but about 60,000 had been purchased as of Thursday.
PromotingArgentina in an NFL Stadium — it is shared by the Giants and Jets — isn’t cheap. A lease fee and operational costs total about $600,000, and laying a grass surface over the existing Field Turf ranabout $200,000. Cardenas pays for advertising and promotion; he keeps the ticket revenue and the New Meadowlands Stadium Company takes the parking and concession fees. Tickets are priced from $45 to$325. His estimate of gross ticket revenues? About $5 million.