The tickets to the game at the Rose Bowl sold out in only two weeks, with the majority of buyers being Barça fans. This all just happened before the c
The tickets to the game at the Rose Bowl sold out in only two weeks, with the majority of buyers being Barça fans. This all just happened before the club won the 2015 UEFA Champions League against Juventus, to complete the collection of 3 major titles this season, along with Copa del Rey and the Spanish league tittle.
The fact that the tickets for this match sold out so quickly coupled with the increasing television ratings for the main European leagues, is proof that international soccer has been increasingly becoming popular in the United States.
However, the main issue here is whether games like this actually benefit the MLS and its clubs. If we take in consideration past games of this caliber, we can see a majority of the crowd actually cheering for the opposing team, while the MLS club fans will most likely watch it from home, as they do not want to spend that much money in a meaningless match.
This also means that most people that attend these games will not convert into MLS fans, even more after seeing these international teams beat the American clubs.
It is likely that Barcelona will give it’s main players have some playing time, but will rotate them like they did in 2009 since it is only an exhibition match.
In 2009 when Galaxy and Barcelona played, the game ended 2-1 for Barcelona, with two different lineups on the first and second half for Barça. In 2014, Galaxy played against Manchester United, also at the Rose Bowl, and the result was an embarrassing 7-0 in favor of Man United.
Most tickets for this match ranged in price from $75 to $140 apiece with some even more expensive premium seats.
With a lot of these players having their own national teams participating in the Copa America, they will really have to squeeze in this match in their busy agenda in order to make this game happen. These players are already tired from a long season, and will have a few days to relax and get back in another tournament again, so there are still chances they can get an injury and not play at all.
However, this will still be the biggest game of the year for Southern California, and fans are sure expecting a spectacular exhibition.
For the ones in charge of the event, this is just going to be another match to generate more money for their clubs.
