Here Comes the Effect

The cause was a 66 thousand plus crowd witnessing the best game in MLS history in which the home club took home the victory.

Marc De Grandpre is hoping the effect shows big time in the last four home games, and I think he has reason to.

Thanks to a little bit of luck and Don Garber's scheduling, RBNY will have a great opportunity to carry over the attendance momentum from the instant classic Saturday night. The Red Bull's next home game falls on Sept. 1 when the Chicago Fire role into town with Mexican hero Blanco and Costa Rica hit man Paulo Wanchope.

The enormous Mexican and Costa Rican contingent in the Metro area should turn out in large numbers for this one. The much less recognized Blanco tour has been paying big dividends in the attendance department everywhere the Fire have gone.

Now role them into this area, after that game, and we could really start to see the beginning of an attendance revolution on the road to RBP in 2009. But it is only a start, and De Grandpre knows it needs to continue, even more next year.

The Brass wants, needs, to make constant and visible progress every year in every department on the road to Red Bull Park. That means attendance, results, promotion, buzz, players, everything. De Grandpre and the rest know what a huge year 2008 will be on the way to 2009, and they are hoping to get that ball rolling at the back end of this season and on into what will hopefully be a successful playoffs.