Dortmund Beats Liverpool Before Lackluster Notre Dame Crowd

Paid attendance at Notre Dame Stadium Friday for Borussia Dortmund-Liverpool was 40,361, "half of its nearly 81,000-seat capacity." Last July, Liverpool "played in front of 101,000 at Michigan Stadium and drew impressive crowds for matches in New Jersey (52,000) and North Carolina (51,000)." Despite the attendance, "pageantry in the red-bathed stands was on display" by the "heavily pro-Liverpool crowd" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 7/20). The match was "played under sweltering conditions," as the temperature at match time was 90 degrees with the heat index "swelling into triple digits on the pitch" (SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE, 7/20). Meanwhile, in Charlotte, "just 34,902 soccer fans filled the seats and braved 90-degree temperatures" at Bank of America Stadium to watch Arsenal defeat ACF Fiorentina in ICC play (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 7/21).