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Old 11-19-2011, 12:31 AM
 
413 posts, read 764,257 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by moving123456 View Post
Definitely not just immigrants. I think the area has plenty of support all around for it. I bet the team could hit the top 5 for MLS attendance in the first year if they have a stadium with enough seats and a good fan experience. The MN Kicks had an average attendance of 32,775 in 1977, only Seattle beats that average attendance now in MLS.
The Kicks had that number for tickets sold. However, from what I've been told (I was only 5 years old in 1977), the real attraction of the Kicks was the tailgating. Apparently, Kicks games were nothing more than an excuse to have a massive party and get loaded in the parking lot of the old Met, and a large number of "fans" never actually went into the stadium. At some point, they started cracking down on this, and as a result, the number of tickets sold dropped like a rock, which led to the demise of the team. The NASL had a lot of issues across the board, but that's what I'd heard about the situation here.
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Old 11-19-2011, 06:37 AM
 
Location: Home in NOMI
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I remember going to a Kicks game down at the Met Stadium, it was pretty fun, and the place was rocking! We had a good team at the time.
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Old 12-20-2011, 04:17 PM
 
73,028 posts, read 62,634,962 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ocsid View Post
The Kicks had that number for tickets sold. However, from what I've been told (I was only 5 years old in 1977), the real attraction of the Kicks was the tailgating. Apparently, Kicks games were nothing more than an excuse to have a massive party and get loaded in the parking lot of the old Met, and a large number of "fans" never actually went into the stadium. At some point, they started cracking down on this, and as a result, the number of tickets sold dropped like a rock, which led to the demise of the team. The NASL had a lot of issues across the board, but that's what I'd heard about the situation here.
Why would people want to do nothing more than tailgate? If I'm going to the soccer game, I want to see the game.
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Old 12-20-2011, 04:31 PM
 
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
11,334 posts, read 26,092,084 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by green_mariner View Post
Why would people want to do nothing more than tailgate? If I'm going to the soccer game, I want to see the game.
The games were quite good. The Kicks were a very competitive squad ... we went for the games. I can't speak for the tailgating, as I was only 14 in 1977 and going there with my Dad and little brother.
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Old 12-20-2011, 04:34 PM
 
Location: M I N N E S O T A
14,773 posts, read 21,507,739 times
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NSC MN Stars home opener on April 7th will be at the METRODOME!
Show up to the game to show that we have good support for soccer and we can handle a top league team

Stars announce April 7 home opener at Metrodome | NSC Minnesota Stars
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Old 12-20-2011, 04:35 PM
 
73,028 posts, read 62,634,962 times
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Originally Posted by rcsteiner View Post
The games were quite good. The Kicks were a very competitive squad ... we went for the games. I can't speak for the tailgating, as I was only 14 in 1977 and going there with my Dad and little brother.
I wasn't even born back then, so I would have not known about those things. I've always wondered what it would be like if the Twin Cities got an MLS team like Seattle did in 2009. Seattle got one and everyone there loves that team.
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Old 12-20-2011, 11:02 PM
 
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
11,334 posts, read 26,092,084 times
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Originally Posted by green_mariner View Post
I wasn't even born back then, so I would have not known about those things. I've always wondered what it would be like if the Twin Cities got an MLS team like Seattle did in 2009. Seattle got one and everyone there loves that team.
You can learn a little about them here:
Minnesota Kicks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Old 12-21-2011, 01:07 PM
 
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Originally Posted by rcsteiner View Post
You can learn a little about them here:
Minnesota Kicks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
One thing I notice is that almost every sports team in Minnesota played in Bloomington until the early 1980s. The Kicks are no exception.

1978 must have been a good year for the Kicks. Attendance was at an all-time high that year.

Now I'm starting to understand. Tailgating was going to the stadium long before the game started to socialize. It was also a 70's thing. I never got that before because when my family would go to Braves games, we went to the stadium, sat in our seats, then waited for the game to start. No socializing for us.
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Old 12-21-2011, 01:13 PM
 
73,028 posts, read 62,634,962 times
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For now, the Twin Cities have this for professional soccer: NSC Minnesota Stars - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Old 12-21-2011, 02:07 PM
 
Location: Bel Air, California
23,766 posts, read 29,069,811 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by green_mariner View Post
One thing I notice is that almost every sports team in Minnesota played in Bloomington until the early 1980s. The Kicks are no exception.

1978 must have been a good year for the Kicks. Attendance was at an all-time high that year.

Now I'm starting to understand. Tailgating was going to the stadium long before the game started to socialize. It was also a 70's thing. I never got that before because when my family would go to Braves games, we went to the stadium, sat in our seats, then waited for the game to start. No socializing for us.
growing up in Bloomington and a HS Grad of the early 70's, the Kicks came along at a perfect time for us. Soccer was a popular sport back then even if the Bloomington teams were not what you'd call state power-houses.

even so, Met Stadium was in our neighborhood, the Twins were sucking wind and the "Tiger" parking lot party atmosphere tolerated in the early years was like a magnet on those beautiful summer evenings.

It may sound unbelievable now, but those attendance figures of 30K you see for those early years do not include the 10 - 20 thousand (or more) that would show up just to party with their friends in the lot.

Something of note about the '78 playoffs, when the big bad New York Cosmos with Franz Beckenbauer came into The Met for the start of a 2 game semi-final. The Kicks jumped off to a quick lead and continued to pour in the goals... at about 4 to 1, the crowd (48,000 inside and tens of thousands outside) would shout in unison "5 to 1, 5 to 1, 5 to 1", then "6 to 1, 6 to 1, 6 to 1" then 7 to 1, "7 to 1, 7 to 1". New york scored again but the score reached 9 to 2 with the crowd screaming for 10 before the game ended and Alan Wiley getting 5 goals!

Yesterday’s News » Blog Archive » Tuesday, Aug. 15, 1978: Kicks 9, Cosmos 2

Eventually security cracked down on the partying, the tailgaters were chased away and the young adults found somewhere else to spend their summers.
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