Monday, July 15, 2013

Recap: MLU Championship

:Game Summary:
On Saturday, July 13th, Boston Whitecaps beat the San Francisco Dogfish to claim the inaugural MLU Championship. San Francisco - as the underdogfish - played well, but lost 20-15. The victory was Boston's 12th consecutive win and Whitecaps a perfect MLU season (12-0).

View pictures from the MLU championship game.

:Best Post-Game Moments:
+ After winning, Whitecaps players tossing the metal disc - from the trophy - like a Frisbie pie tin.
+ The post-game hugs between MLU execs Skip Sewell, Jeff Snader, Nic Darling. My camera failed me, but imagine: relief, accomplishment, & pride manifested into a hug (kinda like this).
+ The ice bath dousing of Boston coach Jason Adams during the trophy ceremony.
+ Players signing autographs, especially Brandon "Muffin" Malecek autographing Innova Pulsars.
+ Dogfish players excitedly throwing all their extra Pulsars into the crowd as if showering the fans with plastic disc kisses.

Unveiling the MLU Trophy by Snader & Darling [UltiPhotos]
:Low Moments:
+ Not having Dogfish mascot, Dougie, at the game. When asked about the whereabouts of their mascot, a SF staffer replied,"It's an expensive plan ticket."
+ The Fly Girls. meh
+ Entertainment in-between quarters was amateurish and out of sync with the game's supposed professionalism.
+ Player injuries for both teams. After Jeff Graham was taken away by ambulance, Boston staffers seemed a bit frantic trying to figure out how someone from the team could travel to the hospital in order to accompany their injured player.
+ Stadium security asking fans to leave the stadium a few minutes after 9PM - 15 minutes after the game ended. Don't disappoint these young fans.

:Attendance:
During the two week lead-up to the Championship Game, so many discounts were being thrown around by MLU, it was unlikely anyone paid for a full-price ticket ($15).

MLU Commissioner tweeted there were 2000+ attendees. No word on how many of those attendees were "paid attendance." At the opening pull, I estimate the crowd was at 1,500; though, there was a stream of people still entering the 52,000-seat capacity Franklin Field during the 1st quarter.

There was one group of game attendees wearing soccer scarves, hanging soccer flags and showing semi-interest in the frisbee game. What I discovered was the Sons of Ben - a regional soccer promotion group - were offered free tickets to the game.

There were more fans representing Boston Whitecaps than for San Francisco Dogfish. A fair contingent of MLU players were also present, especially from Philadelphia Spinners. The crowd politely clapped after each team's scores. Attendees sounded the loudest when free merch (discs, t-shirts) were being thrown into the stands, and started chanting "hammer, hammer" during a toss-and-catch event after the first quarter. Otherwise, the crowd was mostly neutral, just trying to stay cool on a humid Philly night.

The game was live-streamed via MLULive. As of today, there were 5902 views of the final video.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Actual attendance is more important than paid tickets. They need to make money, but for overall exposure and the feel of a championship game its better for them to sell 1000 tickets and get 9000 people in for free than to sell 2000 tickets.