National Collegiate Athletic Association
NCAA News Archive - 2001
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Letters to the editor
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The NCAA News
I was disappointed to read the comments about the attendance at the 1999 and 2000 Men's College Cups in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the September 24 issue of The NCAA News ("Ten-gallon Cups"). After two years of dedicated service to the NCAA in hosting the event, it is, at the very least, disheartening to read that the turnout was a "big embarrassment" in an official NCAA publication.
But beyond disheartening, some of the writer's facts are incorrect and some important points are missed.
The capacity of Ericsson Stadium is not 80,000; it is 73,382. Ericsson is divided into upper and lower bowls, and there were never "dreams" to fill the entire stadium. In fact, lower-bowl tickets were the only ones offered for sale. Lower-bowl capacity is about 32,000. Our championship-game attendance in 1999 was 15,439, which was below our goal, but nevertheless a strong showing for a championship with no regional team participation.
I agree that the event "came into its own" during the 1992-94 run at Davidson College. Davidson's athletics department did a wonderful job of hosting the event and bringing it to national prominence. It is important to note that the University of Virginia was a participant (and national champion) each of those three years -- and their loyal fans were able to anticipate Virginia's participation and drive to Davidson to see them play. And, beyond that, the Davidson soccer team was a participant on its home field in 1992.
To put attendance trends further into perspective, let's remember that for two of the four years the event was in Richmond, Virginia was a participant. In the non-Virginia years, Richmond had regional participants in the University of North Carolina, Charlotte (1996), and the University of Maryland, College Park (1998). In 1998, without Virginia there, Richmond's attendance was on par with Charlotte's 1999 attendance.
Charlotte did not have its state university in the event, or one of its two host institutions (Davidson and Charlotte) participating, or even a regional school that could realistically bring a fan base. Indeed, the closest school Charlotte had was Indiana University, Bloomington, located 584 miles away. The University of Connecticut was next at 781 miles -- a 14-hour trip.
Further, the lack of fan interest from participating schools was evident in the number of tickets purchased by those institutions each year Charlotte hosted the event. The total number purchased by participating schools was 578 in 1999 and 575 in 2000.
The fine universities that participated in each of the Charlotte-hosted Men's College Cups earned the right to be there and deserved the opportunity to compete for the national championship. We appreciated and enjoyed the opportunity to host each school's soccer team in our city.
But please remember that without a regional school's fan base, and without the backing of NCAA member institutions, the College Cup must depend solely on area soccer fans and their love of the sport. Charlotte had more than 50,000 attendees during our two years of hosting the tournament and local corporate contributions in excess of $300,000 per year. We appreciate the outstanding support and we're proud of our city's performance.
Pete Marco
Marketing Director
1999 and 2000 Men's College Cups
Coach's complaint right on
Stephen Leonard's letter in your October 22 edition ("Decision silences small-school constituent") was strongly critical of the decision to extend the Division III Women's Cross Country Championships race to 6,000 meters. Leonard, cross country coach at Gordon College, was masterful in hitting the nail squarely on the head. Point for point, his sentiments exactly paralleled those expressed by our staff since we learned of the decision. We are completely opposed to the idea.
We found it particularly ironic that the same issue of the News contained an article about experiments with a long- and short-course format. That story proposed that the short-race component was one that would attract middle-distance runners who don't compete in cross country now because of the current race distance. If attracting those athletes is desirable, isn't lengthening the championship race a step in the wrong direction?
We can't improve upon coach Leonard's cogent arguments, but we can add that, like him, we have yet to run across a coach (or an athlete for that matter) here in the Mideast Region who is in favor of the change.
Dan and Val Donohue
Head Cross Country Coaches
Cedar Crest College
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