Manchester United enjoying popularity in emerging U.S. soccer market.

 

SEATTLE – Forget the 7-0 scoreline, the real gaudy stat of this summer's Manchester United preseason tour of North America has been the attendance numbers.

Fitness is always the primary concern, but Manchester United is also reeling in the fans stateside during its preseason tour.


A full 67,052 piled into CenturyLink Field to see the reigning English Premier League champion, which scrapes at the record for the Pacific Northwest. Earlier, 51,523 showed up at Gillette Stadium, which hasn't posted an MLS regular season average attendance over 20,000 since 1997, to watch the friendly against the New England Revolution. Sir Alex Ferguson sees the emerging market in North America as the perfect setting for a bit of proselytizing.
“We think that the United States is an emerging country in terms of soccer and there’s also potential for us to increase our support base, which we’re always conscious of,” the manager said after defeating the Sounders. “We had good support tonight. It’s pleasing to us when we try to spread the gospel about the way we play, the romance of the club, the history of the club. The United States is a growing market in terms of support.”
One of his key evangelists, off-field indiscretions aside, is Ryan Giggs. The Welsh winger has been at the club since his teenage years, and still performs well now as he approaches his fourth decade. Giggs says the club's popularity – the Red Devils have the most fans of any club worldwide – is down to a combination of history and attacking play.

“I think the history, the way that we play football, the success, the fans that we have around the world – it's a mixture really, of a lot of things, but obviously the history is a big part of it,” Giggs said, before talking about how aesthetics play into the formula. “We've always played with wingers, we've always played to excite. I think if we won things and we weren't playing the right way the fans wouldn't stand for it.”
Giggs might be slightly overstating the players' importance. The players are certainly the visible part, but the unseen roles need quality personnel, too, pointed out goalkeeper Anders Lindegarrd.
“The way the club has managed to market itself is extraordinary,” the Danish international said. “It's the biggest sports brand in the world and that's because there's some people in the background who know how to run a football club.”
Manchester United posts the highest domestic average attendance in Europe, but the support in Seattle wasn't far off that number. Ferguson said he especially enjoyed the amenability of the fans.
“The pleasing thing for me was the number of fans all mixed together,” Ferguson said. “That was like the old days of England and Scotland, when fans could mix together and [have] no trouble. I don't know if we could ever get back to that, but it was a pleasure to watch that tonight.”
As Manchester United goes about converting fans in the United States, it has found there's less convincing needed that initially assumed.
“What comes over is the fanatical fans, really,” Giggs said. “We got told that the Seattle fans are the best in MLS, and I think we witnessed that tonight.”