Infantino s crazy invention, the magical reality empty-field club cup

Sports Weekly All Media Special Reporter Shen Tianhao

"I think the atmosphere on the scene is a bit strange, and the stadium seems empty."

The person who said this was Chelsea coach Maresca, although his team had just defeated Los Angeles FC 2-0 in the game Monday afternoon to get a good start in the new version of the Club World Cup. This Italian young coach with a very personal personality has become the "mouth substitute" of many fans: with a little expectation and a lot of curiosity, they watched this event, which was called the "Big Bang" by FIFA Chairman Infantino, but found that there was no noisy stands on the TV, nor uniform fan songs. As Maresca said, the atmosphere was a bit weird.

The silent "Big Bang"

According to the official data released by FIFA, Chelsea had a total of 22,137 spectators in the game between Los Angeles, and the Mercedes-Benz Center in Atlanta can accommodate a full 71,000 spectators - meaning less than one-third of the attendance. The BBC revealed that FIFA had adjusted its attendance expectations to a low enough rate (26,000 people) before this game, but the actual situation was still worse.

In this Club World Cup, FIFA adopted a dynamic price mechanism for the game tickets, that is, the price fluctuates according to the supply and demand situation. Before the start of Chelsea's game, the cheapest tickets were already priced at $50, far lower than the price set at the initial sale, and after the game started, the tickets were still on sale and the price was as low as $35 - from the results, this obviously did not help fans fill the stands. The enthusiasm of Chelsea fans is incomparable to those in the UK, and only 150 loyal fans of Los Angeles FC came...

Why is this happening? In fact, they did not obtain tickets to this event until two weeks before the opening of the Club World Cup: Mexico Leon was denied the qualification to participate because of the same group as Pachuca. Los Angeles FC and Mexico America were two alternate teams, played a playoff on May 31, and the Los Angeles finally won 2-1 after overtime hard fight.

Finally, this is naturally worthy of happiness: the prize money itself has reached $9.55 million, and even if they get a draw in the group stage, they have an additional $1 million to get. However, for fans, coming to the scene to help the home team has become a troublesome: since Los Angeles FC is a buzzer-beater, it is impossible to fight at their own doorstep like the other two American teams Miami International and Seattle Bayers, and the distance between Los Angeles and Atlanta is more than 3,000 kilometers.

"Maybe Los Angeles prefer football than Atlanta." The somewhat awkward Los Angeles coach Cherondolo explained this after the game and tried to please his fans. But in fact, Atlanta is already the most enthusiastic football soil in the United States: Atlanta United is a strong team in the American League and one of the highest attendance teams in the league. The average number of spectators per home court is 44,037, almost twice the size of this Club World Cup game. In addition, this is also the regular home court of the US men's and women's football national team.

In an interview with the BBC, Robertson, a reporter from the Atlanta Constitutional Journal, believed that such attendance rates were actually better than he expected, because the game was held at 3 pm on Monday, and the public's reaction was cold, not because Americans really didn't love football: "This event is too new and means little to Americans. People may think that it is not worth spending a lot of money on such a strange event. After all, there will be a World Cup next year, and everyone is more willing to save money to watch the World Cup on site."

Dynamic ticket prices and static stands

Perhaps for this reason, many other tickets have also seen crazy price cuts. The opening match of this event started between Miami International and Jeddah Nationals. Despite the top stars like Messi, ticket sales are still not ideal. Rumors say that the game did not sell less than 20,000 tickets until the end of May (the capacity of the Hard Rock Stadium in the competition venue exceeded 65,000 people). FIFA denied this statement, but the ticket system gave a clear signal: the lowest ticket price for this game was $349 after the draw in December last year, and it had dropped to $230 in January, and it reached around $110 in May, and it was 50% off in early June, falling to $55.

In addition, FIFA has also launched a special ticket of $20 to a university in Miami, and visitors who purchase the ticket can receive an additional 4 tickets, which is equivalent to $4 per ticket. Many group stage tickets are also open to veterans for discounts or admission is direct and free. In this way, the attendance rate of the opening match was finally guaranteed: 60,927 spectators came on the scene. Similarly, the focus match between Paris and Atletico Madrid attracted more than 80,000 people to the stands, and the match between Real Madrid and Riyadh Crescent also attracted much attention. The ticket prices remained high and the scene was basically full. Even so, the atmosphere of the game is still far from the familiar European football world.

For more games, the attendance rate is less than half: in Philadelphia, Flamenco's game against Tunisia Hope attracted 25,797 fans, while the Lincoln Financial Stadium has a capacity of nearly 70,000; Seattle's Lumen Stadium can sit 68,740 people, but the Seattle Bayerman who plays at home still fails to guarantee at least 50% attendance (30,151 spectators). The Riverbed against Urawa Red Diamonds, which is also played here, only 11,974 spectators were present.

It is worth mentioning: Unlike European audiences who are full of doubts about the new version of the Club World Cup, Latin American audiences are still much more enthusiastic about the event - the top five countries in this competition are the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Canada, while the United Kingdom is only ranked 11th. However, the competition location is really important: the riverbed is almost no one to support it in Seattle, and the Boca youth immigrated in South America. More Miami and Benfica competed with more than 50,000 people.. Perhaps after the quarterfinals, FIFA will have the opportunity to sell tickets at sky-high prices through this mechanism, so that football fans can experience the NBA-level consumption level and make previews for next year's US, Canada and Mexico World Cup.

The child's madness and desire

Infantino will of course continue to post, still in a passionate tone. His surname means "baby" in Italian, and some media also pointed out that he is indeed as his surname, his style of conduct is childlike persistence and innocence, and he is chasing what he wants, and he will never give up until he achieves his goal. The Club World Cup has gone from a small event with 7 teams to a large-scale event with 11 cities and 32 participating teams, which is inseparable from this crazy and ruthlessness - but it is precisely because of this event's popularity is not enough to be built, and its importance depends entirely on the temptation of bonuses and personal slogans, which leads to today's fantasy situation.

What Infantino wants is a perfect Club World Cup. For this, he also needs perfect casting. Miami International qualifies as the regular season champion, and it is reasonable to think about it for a moment; Riyadh failed to get a quota for victory, Infantino himself said in a live interaction with internet celebrity iShowSpeed: "Royce is talking about transfers to participate in the Club World Cup." There must be many people looking forward to seeing CR7 in the United States, but why should Infantino talk about this? Of course, the Portuguese superstar did not transfer in the end, which is a small regret of the FIFA chairman.

What Infantino wants more is a Club World Cup that truly belongs to him. He strongly promoted the birth of this event. Even though European clubs have just experienced the most intense season in history, even in the Club World Cup, the United States is still hosting the Golden Cup and summer tour friendly matches of some giants (such as Manchester United), which are not enough to be an obstacle. After all, in Infantino's opinion, the Club World Cup is definitely much better than the friendly matches. As he stated in April: "I see some stadiums in the United States can also be full during friendly matches, so when real world-class matches come, I don't worry about box office at all. After all, this is the real event, fighting for honor." Unfortunately, the box office and response so far cannot support this belief.

In any case, at the Metropolitan Life Stadium on the afternoon of July 13, this strange-shaped trophy will be lifted high, and a new champion of a brand new event will be born. Infantino has invited Trump, and he certainly hopes the latter can come to the scene, but no matter what the situation is then, he will have a bright smile. Speaking of which, the trophy is designed by Tiffany, and the jewelry brand is recommended by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. A trophy with a very traditional style is also engraved with the name of Jani Infantino, and he calls it the "founding chairman". Even the most deserted arena cannot extinguish the most intense desires.