Red Bull Arena and the USMNT

In a little more than one month's time, soccer fans across the country will get their first look at what is, with all due respect to the Home Depot Center and Rio Tinto Stadium, the finest soccer stadium that has ever been built in the the United States.  Red Bull Arena will open its doors on March 20th for an exhibition between New York and Santos, followed one week later by New York's 2010 MLS season opener against Chicago on ESPN.

Not too long ago, I proposed the idea of using opponent-specific venues for World Cup qualifiers, conspicuously omitting New York from the list.  But with Red Bull Arena's completion, I am going to pose this question: is New York now a viable location for a USMNT World Cup qualifier.  (Before I delve further into that question, let me just clarify that by "viable" I mean a location where there will be a solidly pro-US crowd.)  It's something I didn't consider when writing that previous post, but in hindsight, I think it's worth examining.  After all, what better way to help raise the profile of the Yanks in the public eye than playing a big game in the country's biggest media market in front of a raucous American crowd?   

It's no secret that Crew Stadium has been the go-to venue for USA-Mexico matches over the past decade, and I don't think that should necessarily change.  But would RBA be able to replicate that consistent success in minimizing the presence of opposing fans?  The biggest asset of the black and gold fortress is it's size; at 23,000 and change, it's a lot easier to create a more favorable atmosphere for the national team.  With a capacity of 25,189, could Red Bull Arena utilize the same advantage? 

Of course, the demographics of the respective cities and regions are pretty different, with New York's massive immigrant population providing a larger, closer threat to home field advantage.  But the Big Apple also happens to be sandwiched between New England, Washington, and Philadelphia, three areas that have shown good support for the USMNT recently (not to mention the strong foothold that soccer has in New Jersey and the additional fans from New York).  With those fans and an effective means of ticket distribution (which, ultimately, would solve a lot of issues in terms of home field advantage for World Cup qualifiers), I think it'd be pretty easy to get 25,000 Americans up to Harrison, NJ to support the Yanks.

Unfortunately, I don't think I'm really going to be offering any concrete answer to the question I posed earlier on.  While it definitely could be doable, it might not be worth the trouble.  After all, why try to shoehorn a game into the NYC area when you could just go to the other side of the country and play in Seattle or Salt Lake City in front of a US-friendly crowd?  In this age of ESPN and internet, does New York offer any substantial increase in exposure that would outweigh the necessary efforts to fill Red Bull Arena with USMNT fans?  It very well could, but I don't know for sure. 

Fortunately, we have two and a half years  before the next cycle begins, so there's plenty of time for the USSF to look into this and weigh the costs and benefits.  In the meantime, I suggest that all of you do your best to make the trek to see the latest addition to the soccer-specific stadium family here in the States.  Personally, I'll be trying to head up to see my hometown Philadelphia Union take on the Red Bulls at the end of April, and I can't wait to see that gem of a venue with my own eyes.