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DU believes soccer is an event
The University of Denver believes college soccer is an event, not just a game.
And now DU is building a $6.7 million stadium for its soccer teams, hoping its fans will think so, too.
“The program here has been Division I since 2000,” assistant men’s soccer coach Adam Buseck said. “We’re trying to overcome the stigma of the Olympic sports at college, whether its tennis or track and field, whereas soccer can be an event and can attract crowds and attract sponsorships.”
To start, the Pioneers hope the men’s and women’s teams can draw about 1,000 fans per game after the unnamed stadium, funded mostly with private donations, opens on Aug. 15.
Last season, the third-year men’s program drew an average of 600 fans to its home games, all of them played during the day at Pioneer Field, just west of Magness Arena, site of the new stadium. (Perhaps you noticed the construction if you attended any DU hockey games this year.) Pioneer Field had no lights, and there was no admission fee.
With next season’s games being played at the new 1,900-seat stadium, the Pioneers are selling season tickets for all men’s and women’s home games for $48, a total of about 16 games. Although a final price for single-game tickets hasn’t been determined, it likely will be less than $10.
With the new stadium, can DU increase its attendance while charging a gate fee, ultimately reaching the full capacity of 1,900?
“Charging for tickets will be a little bit of a challenge for sure,” Buseck said. “DU students will be free. We’ve been promoting the stadium, so I think our main fans will be aware of it. For the men’s season tickets alone, we feel like it’s a good deal. We feel we’ll be able to generate 1,000 per game. We definitely want to grow into it. Our goal is to fill the stadium for our games and to put a winning product on the field, a visually pleasing style of soccer.”
Pioneers season tickets will go on sale Friday, the same day the DU men will take on Regis University in an exhibition at Englewood High School. The match, a fundraiser for both schools, begins at 7 p.m. It includes a silent auction with a variety of Major League Soccer items, including two autographed jerseys donated by former DU and Colorado Rapids player Nat Borchers.
“We looked around the metro area for a location where we could host a spring game where we could charge admission and get a buzz going about soccer,” Buseck said. “We’ve been working hard to get fans there.”
The silent auction features more than a dozen Major League Soccer jerseys, including a Pablo Mastroeni jersey, two kits signed by the Rapids team and a Rapids third jersey.
Buseck is licking his chops over a Seattle Sounders goalkeeper jersey that just arrived.
Ticket prices for Friday’s exhibition, which starts at 7 p.m., cost $8 at the gate; tickets are discounted to $6 if you buy them from the DU athletic department before Friday. Admission is free for kids 3 and younger. Discounts are available for groups of 15 or more.
So DU as a soccer event destination. …
But isn’t DU a hockey school?
“It is in the wintertime,” Buseck said. “We want it to be a soccer school in the fall.”
More than a dozen Major League Soccer jerseys will be part of a silent auction at 7 p.m. Friday at Englewood High School at an exhibition between the men’s soccer teams from the University of Denver and Regis University. (Image courtesy the University of Denver)
George Tanner is a former writer and editor for the Rocky Mountain News; the Greeley Tribune; The Daily Independent of Ridgecrest, Calif.; the Durango Herald; and the Boulder Daily Camera. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado and an associate professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver. E-mail him at ColoradoSoccerNow@gmail.com.
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