Ticket sales surge for U.S. soccer match
By Bryan Mullen (The Tennessean)
The buzz is growing louder and louder. And with it, sales are becoming stronger and stronger.
Ticket sales have surpassed the 18,000 mark for Wednesday's FIFA World Cup qualifying match between the U.S. men's national team and Trinidad & Tobago, U.S. Soccer officials said. The event is set for 6:45 p.m. at LP Field.
"It's going to be the biggest soccer event ever to take place here in terms of the importance of qualifying for the World Cup," said Don MacLachlan, the Titans' executive vice president of administration and facilities, who oversees the stadium. "The atmosphere at LP Field will be totally different than what it is for football games. It will be electric because of the anticipation of just one goal perhaps making the difference."
Fans from all over the country and beyond are expected to descend on Nashville. Roughly 55 percent of the tickets have been sold to people outside of metro Nashville.
"Our players take the responsibility of representing the country very seriously," said Michael Kammarman, spokesman for the U.S. men's national team. "That comes through and I think it is part of the reason why we have such a great connection with our fans."
Officials are also expecting a strong, local walk-up crowd.
In 2006, when the U.S. team played Morocco in a send-off match prior to the World Cup, nearly 6,000 of the more than 26,000 fans bought tickets at the gate, marking the largest walk-up crowd in the stadium's history, MacLachlan said.
By Monday, ticket sales were ahead of where they were in the days before the 2006 match, though it would take a similarly huge walk-up crowd to make this the best-attended soccer match in Nashville history.
"We encourage fans to get there early because of the big walk-up crowd we are expecting," MacLachlan said.