Early Attendance Is Promising

Major League Soccer was not necessarily surprised by attendance on its opening weekend, but it was pleased.

The six matches drew a total of 113,837 fans, or an average of 18,973 per game. That’s a 38% increase over last season’s average attendance of 13,756.

“We’re very happy with our opening attendance, especially given the weather in Los Angeles and Dallas,” said Ivan Gazidis, the league’s deputy commissioner. “We felt we came out of the box very strong. We’re going to look for further improvements this coming weekend.”

All of which is not to say that Commissioner Don Garber or the league’s investor/operators have set a target for 2001.

“We don’t have a specific goal in mind,” Gazidis said. “Clearly, we set for ourselves the target of showing improvement. We’ve seen how over the last four years our attendance has basically been steady within a margin of error, but the story has always been MLS attendance falls year after year, even though the attendance has basically been steady.

“I’m hoping the media will be as willing to say that MLS attendance grows if we show attendance growth. That’s what we’re looking for, without setting any specific target.”

LOVE THOSE REFS

Season ticket sales have increased at a majority of MLS clubs and there is a growing realization among fans that the product on the field has improved steadily since 1996.

The games are certainly more competitive, which might help explain why the opening weekend saw so many cautions and ejections.

Referees handed out no fewer than four red cards--to Chicago’s Andrew Lewis (professional foul) and Diego Gutierrez (violent conduct), Columbus’ Roland Aguilera (tackle from behind) and Kansas City’s Nick Garcia (hand ball)--and 20 yellow cards in the six matches.

“I don’t think you’re seeing a trend.” Gazidis said. “What we’ve been reiterating to our referees during the off-season is the need for them to exercise their judgment.

“The referees who are refereeing MLS games are the best American referees there are, and they got to those positions by exercising good judgment. Our emphasis has been on trusting them to do the right things on the field.

“As far as directives, there has been one push that the league has made during the off-season, and that’s been against player dissent, which we felt was getting to unacceptable levels.

“We went around to the teams in preseason and spoke with all of our players about that being an issue for us and we got tremendous support from the players.”

These are early days, but so far, it seems, curbing the players’ tongues has been more effective than curbing their sometimes crude tackles.

FOREIGN FLAVOR

The New England Revolution’s recent acquisition of forward/midfielder Marco Antonio Lemes Cate doubled the league’s quota of Brazilian players.

Cate, 27, has the additional distinction of being a world champion, having played for the Brazil team that won the FIFA World Youth Championship in Australia in 1993.

As soon as his work permit is approved, Denmark’s Ronnie Ekelund, a 1992 Olympian, will be added to the San Jose roster. That will give MLS players from 35 countries, including the U.S.

Eighty-three of the league’s 254 players have foreign connections, with Colombia (11 players) leading the way, followed by Bolivia, Canada and Jamaica (each with six) and El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago (each with five).

QUICK PASSES

The New York/New Jersey MetroStars “should have an announcement on a [new stadium] site in two to four weeks,” according to General Manager Nick Sakiewicz. The MetroStars drew 30,753 to their opener at Giants Stadium only to play on a field torn up by the XFL and still bearing football lines. . . . Former U.S. national team player Peter Vermes missed Kansas City’s opener because of an abdominal strain, ending his MLS-record streak of 88 consecutive games played.