“Soccer” doesn’t always fill the stadiums in the States, but once again Barça did just that, as 70,080 fans filled the Sun Life Stadium in Miami tonight.
Full houses at Munich
Before they began their US Tour, Barça had played two games in the Audi Cup, against Internacional
de Porto Alegre and Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena, which was packed full with 66,000 fans.
The crowd is the biggest ever for a football match in Southern Florida and follows on from the
81.807 who turned up for the
game against Manchester United
in Washington DC - which means that Barça have averaged gates of over 75,000 so far on the
Tour.
Plenty of fans in 2009 too
Barça’s appearances in the States are normally well attended and in the 2009
Tour, a total of 221.557 spectators turned up to watch Guardiola’s men in Los Angeles,
Seattle and San Francisco.
Impact off the pitch
The attendances at the games is just one aspect of the impact that FC Barcelona
have had in the US. Deals over recent days
between the Club and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
, the
Fundació Pies Descalzos de Shakira
and the coverage of the
charity game organised by Mia Hamm in which Kobe Bryant wore the Barça colours
, have contributed to strengthening the image of the Club internationally.