When sizing up soccer, one question lingers -- where does it fit?

Its worldwide popularity is well known, and the sport certainly has enjoyed success in this country. But soccer still fights for its piece of turf and place on the sports page when judged against the more traditional pastimes of American athletics.

That certainly holds true for Division I men's soccer and its marquee event, the Men's College Cup. It is part of a small group of successful Division I championships that trail only the Final Fours and the football bowls in national collegiate notoriety.

"It's one of the championships we've highlighted for increased marketing emphasis," said Tom Jacobs, NCAA director of championships. "It definitely has the potential for increasing attendance and awareness."

Yet, attendance numbers have declined each of the past four years, from a championship total of 96,747 in 1995 to 58,031 last year. The 1995 numbers included a record 21,319 for the championship game in Richmond, Virginia.

Last year's final in Charlotte, North Carolina, drew 15,439 -- a solid figure and the fifth best all-time, but 20 percent below the four-year Richmond average and a fraction of Ericsson Stadium's total capacity (70,000).

"The experience for the student-athlete (in Charlotte) was pretty remarkable," said Donna DeMarco, Big East Conference associate commissioner and chair of the Division I Men's Soccer Committee. "But from a coach and fan perspective, the stadium looked empty. The presentation wasn't there with the (football) lines on the field and the stands not filled."

The Men's College Cup returns to Charlotte this season hoping for better results.

"We probably overpriced ourselves a little last year," said Charlie Slagle, Davidson College men's soccer coach and part of the local organizing committee. "But the NCAA and the soccer people will be proud of what's going to happen this year. I expect our crowds to be better."

Slagle was part of the original Davidson host committee that brought the Men's College Cup to North Carolina and the Charlotte area for the first time in 1992.

"I wanted it here," Slagle said of the school's Richardson Stadium, "because the small crowds in Tampa (1990-91) were not what the soccer community wanted."

What the men's soccer committee desired was a vision for the growth of the championship. The people at Davidson provided that vision.

"No one had been able to do it before, but Davidson did it," said Jon LeCrone, commissioner of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference and fomer chair of the men's soccer committee. "They put people in the stands and created an atmosphere for college soccer that had never been there before. The setting was intimate, it was exciting and it's because the place was full."

First 8,000, then 10,000, then more than 12,000 fans saw the championship finals at Davidson during the 1992-94 run.

"I told (then athletics director) Terry Holland we would put 5,000 in the stands," Slagle remembered. "He said, 'You'd better!' We did so well the tournament outgrew us."

And moved to Richmond, where University of Richmond Stadium offered more than 21,000 seats and the next challenge for the championship.

Vision gains focus

"Richmond undisputedly took it to the next level," LeCrone said. "The original vision was born at Davidson, and Richmond offered a bigger facility with an excellent playing surface. We felt if we could draw 12 (thousand fans), which we had, then we could draw 15 and then 22,000. Then we could go from 22 to 30,000.

"The committee thought if we could get it to 25-30,000 and keep it there, that really would be an accomplishment."

The vision gained focus as more and more fans seemed tuned in to the college game. Richmond 1995 was arguably the best championship in the history of the event, both in the bleachers and in the books.

Accounting books, that is.

The men's championship turned a profit during each of the first three years the College Cup was played in Richmond, netting a grand total of $38,288.

"We were happy with Richmond in that we were able to put the championship in that select group of generating net receipts," said Tom Yeager, commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association and former host committee member. "Those receipts were grains of sand in the big picture, but we were very proud that we at least had black numbers."

And another notch in the belt for the committee, which in February 1997 decided to go for the home run by naming Charlotte's Ericsson Stadium host to the 1999 Cup.

"Richmond did a great job," Slagle said. "But being a lame duck for two years may have hurt."

Major League competition

What also hurt were the arrival of Major League Soccer and the move of Virginia coach Bruce Arena to nearby D.C. United of the new professional league. United's stature in virtually the same marketing corridor rose at the expense of Virginia and the championship.

"When we started (in Richmond), Virginia was kind of America's Team," Yeager said. "We had Virginia going for, what, its sixth national championship? We had a lot of great things going for us. I thought the championship was having a great run before the MLS showed up."

Richmond's last two years at the gate did not equal its first two. Attendance for the 1998 final was 15,202.

"I do think the University of Richmond devoted a tremendous amount of time and effort to marketing the event," Yeager said. "But a couple of things hit you right away. It's a difficult time of year, right before Christmas. And to be brutally honest, the families with kids playing soccer haven't exactly translated into a ticket-buying public."

Charlotte's Ericsson Stadium certainly rates as the best sports stadium ever to accommodate the College Cup. In terms of student-athlete and media facilities, fan amenities and support staffing, it offers many positives championship qualities.

But does soccer actually fit inside the mammoth facility?

"We thought we were getting the best of both worlds with Ericsson," LeCrone said. "The facility is state-of-the-art, combined with the resources of Davidson and the community outreach of UNC Charlotte.

"I can't tell you why it didn't work."

The men's soccer committee hopes it has provided the answer with the recent naming of Columbus (Ohio) Crew Stadium as host for the 2001 finals.

Ohio State University and the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer are co-hosts of the event, which will be held December 14 and 16, 2001.

This will be the first time the Division I Men's Soccer Championship will be held in the state of Ohio. The Columbus Crew led the league in attendance in 1999, and is near the top again in 2000. Crew Stadium, which has a capacity of 22,555, has been the site of several U.S. national soccer team matches, including a Men's World Cup qualifying match against Costa Rica October 11.

"We want to get back to the feel of a sold-out atmosphere and real demand for tickets," DeMarco said. "Coming out of Charlotte, which has been exceptional in many ways, I think we're excited to be looking at a soccer-only facility with a capacity of around 20,000."

Something that may prove to be the perfect fit.