Bring the big summer soccer games back into town

By: Corey Johns

Maybe you haven’t even noticed it as a fun summer tradition but every year since 2009 big time soccer games have come into town and it’s been an absolute blast. But this year, there was no big game, just an empty M&T Bank Stadium for most of the summer outside of a Beyonce concert and a two-day youth cheerleading camp.

Baltimore is a great soccer city with plenty of soccer tradition, going back to the days of Larry Surock, Joe Speca to Sonny Askew to Santino Quaranta. It’s been rated as one of the most soccer-crazed cities in the country with the top youth system. Just because there is no MLS team in town, it doesn’t mean we don’t love our soccer in Baltimore. Just look at the support the Baltimore Blast has, or how many people go support UMBC’s program in the fall. People protested Towson dropping their men’s soccer program.

But one day a summer Baltimore fans got their thirst quenched with a huge game, whether it was a friendly between two huge European Clubs or a CONCACAF Gold Cup game bringing Team USA into town.

And while no, there were no games actually in Baltimore in 2011 or 2014, there were games just a short drive away at FedEx Field in Landover, Md. But not this year, and it was disappointing.

The attendance numbers proved that Baltimore supported those big games. In 2009, the World Football Challenge brought a series of friendlies to cities across the country. The Chelsea vs. AC Milan game drew a beyond-capacity crowd of 71,203 people to M&T Bank Stadium. Even to this day it’s easy to remember of electrifying that crowd was, with fans signing the entire time and waving flags when one of the team’s scored.

Baltimore’s draw was the second most that summer out of all of the American cities, only behind Los Angeles where the game was played in a much, much bigger Rose Bowl with a capacity of 92,542 and ability to go up to over 100,000 spots for spectators.

The next year the crowd was still incredible with Inter Milan and Manchester City and when Tottenham and Liverpool played at M&T Bank Stadium in 2012, nothing changed – it was a great crowd and an exciting atmosphere.

Then when the Gold Cup brought Team USA into town in 2013 and 2015 for the tournament quarterfinals, fans swarmed M&T Bank Stadium. When USA throttled El Salvador, there were 70,540 fans in attendance; just barely below stadium capacity.

This year there were not games in Baltimore or at FedEx field just down I-95. Fans from Baltimore would have to travel elsewhere to go see some goliaths of the sport class, but it just is not the same. Baltimore’s soccer frenzy is unlike many cities, it’s a special event here. Hopefully, it comes back in the future, because this summer it’s really been missed.

This article was provided by So Much Sports. For more great sports coverage by So Much Sports please visit somuchsports.com and baltimore.somuchsports.com.