By Paul Kennedy
Support for the Seattle Sounders remains strong despite their 0-3-2 start. They drew a crowd of 38,323 for their 0-0 tie withNew England on Saturday night.
Better than average crowds for FC Dallas-Los Angeles (20,465) and D.C. United-New York (18,091) helped boost the weekly average to 19,677, the secondhighest weekly average of the season after Rivalry Week’s average of 23,140.
MLS Attendance, Week 7
ATT.GAME
38,323 Seattle-New England
20,674 Portland-San Jose
20,465 FC Dallas-LA Galaxy
18,942 Houston-Chicago
18,612 Vancouver-Real Salt Lake
17,182 Philadelphia-Toronto FC
16,584Montreal-Columbus
8,219 Chivas USA-Colorado
19,677 AVERAGE
17,744SEASON AVERAGE
CORRECTION. Yesterday’s Soccer Business Insider misidentified the destination of the Washington Spirit’s bus trip. It wasto face the Boston Breakers, not Chicago Red Stars, in their NWSL opener.
According to Spirit GM Chris Hummer, Abbott Trailways, the club’s regularbus company with a fleet of custom team sleeper buses providing Wifi, big screen TV, sofas, sleeper bunks and AC power, was overbooked for the weekend and had made that aware to the club when theircontract was signed. The Spirit thoroughly researched its replacement charter company for the Boston trip, US Coachways, and was assured it was up to its standards.
“Then they sent thisoutsourced bus to pick us up only 10 minutes prior to the scheduled departure,” said Hummer, “and gave us the run-around the entire weekend pretending to be trying to replace the bus. We eventuallyfound one for them and they refused to pay for it or to refund our charter fee so we could pay for it.”
WORTH THE READ. The four NWSL opening matcheswere all streamed to fans, but many found the quality of the webcasts poor and often experienced technical difficulties. As someone trying to watch the Canadian players in action on Week 1, The 11’sSteven Sandor examines what went went wrong and how it impactsthe league.
‘THE ULTRAS’ ON HBO. Bryant Gumbel, host of HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, traveled toCairo for a look at the Ultras, Al Ahly fans who have been a major force during the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and have sought to bringdown the current government led by the Muslim Brotherhood. “The Ultras” segment debuts on Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
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