I kind of agree, but it's a weeknight game, a couple weeks away, I think we can take it as a positive sign.

Neeskens1974 said: Would be nice to see the second ring open up at some time before the end of the season!

I just want to see the tarps gone...

Too soon. We need to keep winning, keep building demand. Once we get to a point where games against regular opponents are selling out, and games against premiere opponents are hot commodities, you STILL don't open the upper bowl. You wait until you've convinced a bunch of folks to sign up as flex pack or full season ticket holders next year, and THEN you open the upper bowl.

When we win the mls in november theyll explode in popularity

DannyBoy said: I hope this is true, but the Galaxy aren't the team to be gauging increased popularity with as Beckham is still on the team. If we were playing Chivas or Columbus and there were only singles left, then there would be a case.

Speaking of Becks, wouldn't it be a good laugh if Bruce Arena forced Beckham to play against the CAPS at BC Place considering the position they're in. They really can't afford to loose more games and will need away results the rest of the way.

prawnsideFC said: Whitecaps have said they aren't removing the tarps.

Does that mean the curtains hiding the upper deck, or the tarps limiting lower deck capacity? I can understand the former, but I doubt the sincerity of the latter.

It is a bit like the Lions saying, "We're not lifting the blackout." But if the Caps have all but sold this out over a week in advance, I suspect they'll add a couple thousand more seats.

I think it's good to leave the tarps even if they are sold out in advance. Nothing wrong with having people miss out because they didn't get their tickets soon enough. Getting it in peoples heads that you can't just wait until the last minute to get tickets, or can walk up and get cheap scalper tickets will be great in the long run. They'll be at home wishing they were at the game, so it's on us to make the game memorable off the field, so that when their friends tell them how awesome it was, they make sure to get tickets early next time.

I agree, limit the supply. People are only interested in tickets that seem scarce. If there are too many cheap / easy tickets available...the team will sell even less.

Also, in addition to posting on the forums, keeping the WhitecapsFC hashtag active on twitter and feedback on Sportsnet, Team 1040 is a good thing for us fans to do. The more the media sees interest in the fan base, the more coverage the team gets

rodderzzz said: When we win the mls in november theyll explode in popularity

You know , if we get two more impact players , this will be a very realistic goal

OldFan said:

rodderzzz said: When we win the mls in november theyll explode in popularity

You know , if we get two more impact players , this will be a very realistic goal

The Impact can keep Jeb Brovsky

bring back Sebrango and the rights to Ali G!!!!

Seriously though I think OldenFan is right, a couple more upgrades and we might just win it all.

forget the upper bowl, do you think the WCs will free up the seats in the lower bowl that are currently tarped off with advertising? you really can't call it a sell out if these seats are not filled.

I think we might win it all anyway. I'm pretty sure the players we have right now also think we might win it all.

I say leave the tarps on for the rest of this season, with the exception of Playoffs/Portscum game. I really like how the Sounders opened up their building. It was gradual, with a couple thousand being opened at a time. If ticket sales go really well the rest of this year with a playoff game, maybe up it to 23,000 next year, unless a huge jump in season ticket numbers warrants more.

Forget drawing back the upper tarp and using the upper bowl, they have to find ways of selling the seats in the North/West side of the stadium. Those seats are consistently empty, game in and game out and if they can't fill the lower bowl, why bother trying to partially fill up the first two rows of the upper bowl? That will just look bad...

I mean, even with our current level of success and almost filling the South/East sides, they can't seem to get people to pay for those seats on the other side... Marketing's gotta step up and fill those sections when the product on the field is doing its job.

Is it as much as 27k?

It's wiki, so take with a grain of salt. It could be 25k.

Capacity

Football: 54,320-60,000(With extra seating opened) Soccer: 21,000-27,000(With extra seating opened)

I was just noticing that. The upper bowl curtains probably help with the atmosphere too

bili said: Just goes to show what I've been saying - Vancouver does not need a 60K seat facility.

35K to 45K would be plenty.

I don't think anyone here has ever suggested we need a 60k seat facility

After listening to the Sport Market on team 1040 this morning on which they brought up the fact that the Whitecaps arent opening up the stadium I am sold on the idea of limiting the seating to 21,000.

seathanaich said: I would suggest that "we" as a country need three facilities with a 60K capacity - for Grey Cups, for Track and Field World Championships, Commonwealth and Panamerican game bids, for international matches in soccer and rugby, and to form a starting point for any FIFA or IRB World Cup bids. Dream big. But "we" as the Whitecaps certainly don't.

Too bad we have one stadium that can host track.

I'm trying to remember where Winnipeg held track events for the '99 Pan Am Games. Victoria had a temporary facility at UVic for the Commonwealth Games that seems to have fallen apart a bit.

Dreaming big is no problem, executing it is another issue. Try to spend public money on a non olympic sport and every hippy seeks out a microphone to yell "WHAT ABOUT THE HOSPITALS". The hospital bloody exists, the stadiums and practice facilities to make this a healthier and more propserous sporting nation doesn't.

There was a proposal for a dome in Regina that could easily be the regular home of the Grey Cup, feds shot it down. Buruacrats shot down the stadium in Halfiax.

It's not just the feds but local government as well. Vancouver's council is a pain the rear, while a pro business area like New Brunswick will build anything.

So many things needs to get built in this country. New mid size stadiums for Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg. New big stadiums for Calgary, Halifax, Hamilton, Quebec City. A big racing facility for Nascar, tons and tons of practice facilities for every sport, including a training center in Vancouver for soccer, and more track facilties.

Australia has less people than us, spread out just as far and can blow us out in a ton of sports becuase they get the nessarry infustructure built.

Evil_Bert said: getting back to the topic of interest, I think it helps that the team is downtown now. I'm noticing more people wearing the gear than last year.

Winning helps

I think it's safe to say that the Whitecaps are starting to impact Lions crowds. Befire the move to empire the Lions were around 34,000 per game, and now in 2 games, 1 being a banner/record/opener for 29,000, and the Ti-cats game on Friday on a A+ beautiful vancouver day with the roof open got 25,000+. A combination of Lions tickets starting to get pricey, as well as caps games having overtaken the Lions as the "rowdy" sporting event in town.

The overall sports fan in me is sad to see that kind of crowd for a Lions game, but it goes to show the whitecaps are really gaining traction.

An area the population of van city should be able to sell out canucks games, get 35-40k for lions and 25-30 for Whitecaps game at this point.

OldFan said:

rodderzzz said: When we win the mls in november theyll explode in popularity

You know , if we get two more impact players , this will be a very realistic goal

what a troll!!! u have been reading sportie1's comments on the BSB and its affecting your brain-- any1 could say that with 2 more impact players, the Caps would be a serious contender-- if and when the Caps sign 2 quality players, then i will jump on your bandwagon