Thread: 2 Mexican rivals bring 'futbol' to Glendale stadium

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... cer30.html



2 Mexican rivals bring 'futbol' to Glendale stadium

Erin Zlomek
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 30, 2006 12:00 AM

Football is out and futbol is in Tuesday night at University of Phoenix Stadium.

One of the most storied rivalries in Mexican league soccer invades the venue as teams Club America and Chivas de Guadalajara play each other at 8 p.m. The soccer game introduces a new demographic and breed of sports fans to Glendale's silver-shelled arena. Stadium directors are prepping to accommodate a mostly immigrant crowd by posting extra signage in Spanish, stocking concession stands with Mexican beer and debriefing security guards on the behavioral differences between football and futbol fans.

The latter tend to stand for the entire game and wave long, scrolling paper banners, said stadium sales and marketing director Scott Norton.

Soccer fanatic Luis Delgado haggled at the box office for four tickets close to midfield. He plans to attend the game with 10 of his family members, most of them stadium first-timers.

"There is not much opportunity out here to watch games. I need to use this chance," he said.

Thousands of others seem to agree.

Ticket sales for the event surpassed 30,000 on Saturday, which may force organizers to open the stadium's second tier of seating, said Patty Marchak, vice president of sports for Envivo, the event's promoter.

Norton uses the magic attendance number of 30,000 to gauge a widely successful sporting event. He predicted that Tuesday's game would draw that many fans based on the popularity of a game between the Mexican and Hungarian national soccer teams held last winter at Chase Field.

That game drew about 32,000 fans. Despite soccer's popularity in Arizona, the state, unlike Texas and California, is not known for hosting big games. Venue options have had everything to do with it, Marchak said.

"There hasn't really been a stadium built for soccer. You can convert a baseball field, but it is not an ideal layout and ASU's stadium dimensions are not big enough," she said.

The Glendale stadium was built with field dimensions and playing surface adaptable to soccer.

"Whether it's the European league or World Cup, we have the ability to host these types of events. We have the (upcoming) BCS game and Super Bowl on our résumé; I think eventually we'll have a shot at hosting the World Cup one day," Norton said.

Diehard Chivas de Guadalajara fan Cerardo Garcia wants to see soccer in Arizona at an even higher level.

The Phoenix resident and Guadalajara native said he hopes Arizona will eventually get its own professional soccer team.

Meanwhile, for Tuesday's game, Arizona gets America, Mexico's richest club from the country's capital with a long list of foreign players, and Chivas, a storied franchise that only uses Mexican players.

For Mexican transplants like Garcia, soccer games are sometimes significant for reasons other than entertainment, said University of Arizona culture Professor Richard Ruiz.

"It's a validation of culture. The game has value to people of Mexican heritage. . . . Sport enriches culture," he said.

Email this article Click to send
Print this article Choose File Print or Ctrl P or Apple P
Most popular pages Today | This Week

If you're ready for some futball. Just south of Indianapolis in Southport there's a bunch of soccer fields along I 65. Looks like half the Mexican nation turns out. It was hard to believe.

Originally Posted by loservillelabor

If you're ready for some futball. Just south of Indianapolis in Southport there's a bunch of soccer fields along I 65. Looks like half the Mexican nation turns out. It was hard to believe.

What's frightening to me is that most people I've talked to are dismissive and think that the illegal immigration issue is a border state issue, when the protests should have educated the entire country that this is a nationwide problem. NY, Chicago, Atlanta....are just as bad.

I don't know who was legal on that field, but don't have reason to believe that it would be different from most areas where illegals outnumber the immigrants. Here in Louisville there are 17000 immigrants and 33000 illegal alien residents. We're pretty far from the borders and oceans.

Stadium directors are prepping to accommodate a mostly immigrant crowd by posting extra signage in Spanish, stocking concession stands with Mexican beer and debriefing security guards on the behavioral differences between football and futbol fans.

This is an ICE sting operation, right?

Originally Posted by JohnB2012

Stadium directors are prepping to accommodate a mostly immigrant crowd by posting extra signage in Spanish, stocking concession stands with Mexican beer and debriefing security guards on the behavioral differences between football and futbol fans.

This is an ICE sting operation, right?

JohnB2012 you made my Monday thanks

:P :P :P Line up the buses :P :P :P

Originally Posted by JohnB2012

This is an ICE sting operation, right?

Maybe they should serve ice beer...