The MLS NY/NJ MetroStars announced they will make all 76,000
seats at Giants Stadium available for Saturday night's home-
opener. The advanced sale has hit 25,000, and the team wants to
avoid what occurred last Saturday at the Rose Bowl when the L.A.
Galaxy had to turn away thousands of fans and was forced to
remove tarpaulins from "sealed-off seats" to accommodate the
crowd. Saturday's game could draw up to 60,000 to the
Meadowlands (N.Y, TIMES, 4/18).
BOWLED OVER: Pasadena is "still reeling" from the near-
70,000 crowd at the Galaxy home opener. The game "set off a
debate" over how the Rose Bowl, "with its famously fussy
neighbors," will accommodate similar MLS crowds. A long-standing
city ordinance limits the Rose Bowl to a dozen events of that
size each year, but all sides acknowledge that will have to be
"reworked." Under the contract with MLS, the city gets 7% of all
tickets sales, plus a surcharge of a $1.25 per ticket that
doubles after the first 200,000 tickets are sold. City Manager
Ed Sotelo said the city planned to make only $300,000 off the MLS
season, but made over $150,000 on Saturday alone. But the
traffic, heavy fan volume and litter has "left the city
scrambling for a more workable plan" (Hubler & Winton, L.A.
TIMES, 4/18).
