After making it out of the group stage, the United States will face Ecuador in the Copa America Centenario quarterfinals on Thursday. The match is at 9:30 pm CT on Thursday and will be played at CenturyLink Field, the home of the Seattle Seahawks.
Unfortunately for the tournament, both teams and soccer fans everywhere, there may not be as big of a crowd as hoped for.
Despite the United States playing on its home turf, there are currently only around 42,000 tickets sold according to Steven Goff of the Washington Post. That’s less than the amount of people who attended Argentina’s 3-0 win over Bolivia at the same stadium on Tuesday.
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From the Concord Monitor, last year’s Copa America in Chile averaged 25,223 fans per contest. The 2011 tournament took place in Argentina and averaged under 34,000 per match while the 2007 tourney in Venezuela averaged around 40,000.
Last year’s Copa America in Chile averaged 25,223, according to figures in match reports. The 2011 tournament in Argentina averaged just under 34,000 and the 2007 edition in Venezuela about 40,000.
Tickets for the USA vs. Ecuador match aren’t cheap, and that’s part of the reason why there’s still around 25,000 unsold at the moment.
The cheapest tickets available are $65 dollars and they are nosebleeds behind one of the goals. There are $800+ dollar tickets available on the same level. The most expensive seats are more than $1,000 dollars and are in the lower bowl right at midfield.
So far, the United States has done well at it’s matches:
June 3rd 2-0 loss to Colombia at Levi Stadium in San Francisco: 67,439
June 7th 4-0 win over Costa Rica at Soldier Field in Chicago: 39,642
June 11th 1-0 win against Paraguay at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia: 51,041
That’s an average of around 52,707 per match.
The highest attended at a match thus far is 83,263. That’s how many fans witnessed Mexico’s 2-0 win over Jamaica on June 9th at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
Meanwhile the lowest attended game was Ecuador and Peru’s 2-2 tie on June 8th. Only 11,937 fans attended the match at the University of Phoenix Stadium.
Through the group stage, the matches drew an average of 41,261 fans. Overall, the tournament has a total attendance of 990,271 thus far.
Time will tell if the tournament will suffer an attendance hit after Brazil’s loss in the group stage. The eight teams left are the United States, Ecuador, Argentina, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, and Chile.
If the US defeats Ecuador Thursday, it’ll play the winner of Argentina vs. Venezuela on June 21st.
