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208 000 seats sold according to FIFA and the CSA


loyola

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I thought we would have a draw to figure out who would be playing where. Apart for Canada's group, would it be possible to place some teams (like the seeded teams) in specific locations? I've heard the CSA promised Argentina or Brazil to the Montreal organization, how can we be sure that one of this team will be draw in Montreal?

BTW, it would be nice to have a U-20 WC section so we can discuss the qualifiying process and other stuff regarding this event.

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BTW, MAtthew I am still waiting on a response from CSA. I wouldn't buy tickets just yet.

I sent an email earlier this week to Morgan who quickly responded but fowarded me to the lady who is in charge of organizing the 2007 stuff. But I haven't heard anything from her yet.

This is in regards to getting a section or how to go about doing that.

So hopefully in the next few days we will find a way to get a supporters section.

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quote:Originally posted by canada_fan

Not sure the foreign support we can expect from the European nations... Spain, Scotland, Czech Rep., Austria, Poland and Portugal are in.

Place Portugal in Toronto and everything will be fine there. Huge crowds! There should be some small support for Spain and maybe Austria and Czech Republic in most places. There are alot of Poles throughout Canada. You can place Scotland anywhere and it will do well. Much of the country was built by Scots, and their are alot of ex-pats and second/third generation (like me - half Scot) throughout the country.

It's a shame about Italy and England, but their is enough here for good support from overseas. Give Europeans' incomes, and the ease and relatively low cost of visiting Canada, I'm not too worried and the European supporters. The problems will be with African and some South American and Asian countries. Brazil and Argentina will do fine, but we must hope that key Asian (Japan, South Korea - maybe even extreme longshots China and India) and CONCACAF (USA, Mexico, Jamaica, T&T) countries get in and are placed in the right places (Vancouver/Victoria and Toronto) for maximum appeal.

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With Canada not playing any matches in Vancouver, I might be tempted to buy a ticket for the Vancouver quarter-final only if there are two interesting teams playing with some potential talent, and then only if the scalper sells it for less than face value. Other than that I would only fly to Toronto for the Final match if Canada plays in it, and let a scalper in T.O. hose me for it. Other than that, I'll just support Canada from the comfort of my couch. Have a nice tournament, Kevan.

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quote:Originally posted by Robert

With Canada not playing any matches in Vancouver, I might be tempted to buy a ticket for the Vancouver quarter-final only if there are two interesting teams playing with some potential talent, and then only if the scalper sells it for less than face value. Other than that I would only fly to Toronto for the Final match if Canada plays in it, and let a scalper in T.O. hose me for it. Other than that, I'll just support Canada from the comfort of my couch. Have a nice tournament, Kevan.

Kevan's not playing.

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The Victoria Site Organising Committe has only 800 seats left to sell for the games in Victoria. If a waiting list builds they will add a further 3,000 seats to Royal Athletic Park so they can accommodate about 17,000 people per game.

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quote:Originally posted by Dundee

So does this mean that Victoria is responsible for 91,000 (3 * 2 double heasders * 13,000 + 13,000 round of 16) of the 200,000 plus tickets sales?

According to this it's 28,000

By Thomas Winterhoff

Esquimalt News

Aug 02 2006

Despite a surprise change of venue announced earlier this month, local soccer fans are eagerly snatching up tickets for the Victoria portion of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007 tournament.

“They’re moving really well,” said Harold McNeill, chair of the Victoria Site Organizing Committee. Approximately 28,000 seats have already been reserved for the seven games that will be played at Royal Athletic Park, including over 1,300 “full-series” ticket packages.

The under-20 men’s tournament is the world’s second-biggest international soccer tournament next to the senior men’s World Cup – the latest edition of which wrapped up in Germany just over two weeks ago. Canadian Soccer Association officials believe that next year’s U-20 tournament will be the “largest single-sport sporting event ever held in Canada” and should reach a worldwide television audience of about 750 million people.

The tournament is scheduled for July 1-23, 2007, with 24 teams competing in the first round (in six groups of four teams each) in Toronto, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver and Victoria. It won’t be known until February exactly which teams will play at RAP, although the dates of the local matches have been confirmed as July 1, 4 and 7.

Sixteen squads will advance out of the first round to play in the “Round of 16” playoff games, one of which will be played July 11 at RAP.

The Victoria portion of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007 tournament was originally supposed to be played at UVic’s Centennial Stadium, but FIFA (the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, soccer’s global governing body) had concerns, including the presence of the running track and the fact fans might be too distant from games.

“It’s a much more intimate setting at Royal Athletic Park,” said McNeill.

FIFA also chose RAP because it’s is more accessible.

Both Centennial Stadium and Royal Athletic Park would have required upgrades to meet FIFA’s international standards, including new lighting, scoreboards, an increased seating capacity and improved media facilities. However, McNeill said that SOC members won’t face the same sort of financial challenges at RAP as they would have at Centennial Stadium.

“We could see some economies we would achieve at Royal Athletic Park that were probably not possible at UVic,” he said, pointing to an ongoing upgrade program at RAP that will make some of the renovations easier to handle.

To accommodate the 14,500 seats needed for each game, RAP’s soccer field will be shifted to the west (right up to the existing baseball diamond seating). Tiers of temporary seats will also be added to the north and east sides of the park to augment the permanent covered and uncovered seats on the south side of the stadium.

The first few days after FIFA made the decision to move the tournament to RAP was a “whirlwind” of activity for SOC members, said McNeill, but they’re confident that the new venue will be ready to host the world’s best young soccer players in one year’s time.

The SOC has a strong track record of hosting international soccer matches in recent years, including first-round games of the 2002 FIFA Under-19 Women’s World Championship; part of the 2002 Women’s Gold Cup; and several opening round games of the 2003 CONCACAF Men’s Under-17 Junior Tournament.

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Actually, Daniel, the current Royal Athletic Park soccer capacity is much less than 5,000 (I'm thinking it's under 3,000). You need to understand that RAP is a block-long fenced-in park, with Victoria's main baseball diamond on the lefthand side and the soccer pitch on the righthand side. (Think of it this way: if you headed straight down the baseball first-base line and kept going past the outfield, you'd end up on the soccer field.)

For the U-20 games, they're moving the soccer field due west so that the 3,000 permanent baseball seats now become the soccer stands. Then they're adding about 11,000 temporary seats. Afterwards, none of the temporary seats will remain in place, as the field there will go back to being a baseball diamond. I understand about 5-6,000 of the temporary seats can be broken into smaller modules, and will remain as a "legacy" for future events in the region (not necessarily at RAP, but I assume they could be put up on the opposite side of the current soccer grandstand, when needed).

The reality is that RAP can't handle additional permanent seating, given the reality of its location in a residential area and the fact that it is used for a variety of sports. That being said, though, RAP is an infinitely better venue than Centennial Stadium, and I'm looking forward to the atmosphere at the games there.

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