The USL hit a new high mark in attendance last weekend, as 58,145 fans attended the league's 13 season-opening games. That mark is up 38% from the USL's previous high, when 42,257 fans attended the league's 13-game slate to start the '16 season. Leading the way in game attendance were the Richmond Kickers, who hosted a club-record crowd of 8,021 to City Stadium. The Tampa Bay Rowdies, Phoenix Rising FC and Rio Grande Valley FC also set club records in their respective home openers (USL).
INSTANT CLASSIC: In Boston, Nick Cafardo wrote it can be argued when is best for the World Baseball Classic to be played, but "in reality, now is the best time," as players are "amping up for the season" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/26). An anonymous MLB exec noted one of the benefits of the WBC is that some players who would "not normally have the opportunity to play on a big stage this spring -- or even this year -- got the chance to play in packed ballparks" (ESPN.com, 3/27). Astros SS Carlos Correa said that he "wishes the quadrennial tournament were played more often." Correa: "I'll do it every two years" (CHRON.com, 3/25). On Long Island, David Lennon wrote the WBC "isn’t meant to solve our universal health care issues." It is another vehicle to "expand baseball across a number of different media platforms, and the more countries, the better" (NEWSDAY, 3/26).
BEFORE FURTHER REVIEW...: The NFL is planning on centralizing its replay process this season, and in Dallas, Tim Cowlishaw wrote, "Seriously it was time for the NFL to do this." The NBA, NHL and MLB "all get replay help from a league office." Cowlishaw: "It never made any sense to put the decision to overturn a call on a referee whose crew just made the call in question." That will have a "positive impact on the game" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 3/26). In Baltimore, Mike Preston writes "at least there is an attempt" by the NFL to improve the game. Preston: "The poor quality of play has already made games unbearable to watch at times, so the NFL is basically admitting it is aware of the problem" (Baltimore SUN, 3/28).
