Soccer fans’ antics raise concerns among officials

Steve Carp

Tuesday, Oct. 5, 1999 | 10:27 a.m.

Sam Boyd Stadium was still standing Monday, which was good news for the folks at UNLV who need to use it in the weeks ahead for football.

The field survived four days of soccer. The press box and suites, which are still somewhat makeshift, can get the necessary work finished without additional delay. And despite the extracurricular activity from supporters of both Necaxa and Alajuela, the remodeled 40,000-seat stadium was no worse for wear.

But whether or not the Football Confederation Champions Cup returns to Las Vegas depends on a lot of things. One is attendance; another is the comportment of those who do attend future matches.

"This was our first time doing soccer and we learned a lot," Daren Libonati, assistant director of booking for the Thomas & Mack Center, said of the tournament won Sunday by Necaxa, 2-1. "One thing we learned is that our stadium isn't set up in the traditional fashion like in Central and South America.

"We had no fences. There was no moat. If you wanted to jump on the field, it was easy. Ten ushers are not going to prevent hundreds of people from going on the field if they want to."

Many Necaxa supporters hopped onto the field after the final whistle to celebrate with the players, who will represent the North, Central America and Caribbean region in the inaugural FIFA Club World Championship in Brazil in January.

And while there were no problems per se with the fans interacting with their heroes, Libonati admitted there were concerns over the hurling of bottles and cans onto the field as fans from both sides expressed their displeasure over the proceedings.

It was a physical and emotional final and as the referee tried to maintain control on the field, some of the 9,763 in the stands were losing their self-control.

"In hindsight, we'll definitely do things differently," Libonati said. "Water will be treated like any other beverage -- we'll serve it in a cup."

He also said closer security checks will be made at the gates to make sure cans are not smuggled into the stadium.

But the question is, will there be a Confederation Champions Cup here next year? Football Confederation officials could not be reached for comment Monday.

However, it would hard for them to be ecstatic about the attendance figures which saw 31,574 announced as having passed through the turnstiles for the event's four days. Not once did the crowd surpass 10,000 despite having a team from Mexico in the semifinals and championship match. The per-day average was only 7,894.

Las Vegas Events president Kirk Hendrix, whose group helped bring the event to town, said he wasn't terribly disappointed by the numbers.

"We thought we got off to a pretty good start," he said. "We know first-time events are always a matter of guessing. But I thought we did a good job of marketing the games, both to the ethnic community and to the local youth soccer. I think the ticket prices ($90 for the best seats) may have hurt attendance, though we had no control over that."

Hendrix said he would like to see the event return next year to Sam Boyd Stadium.

"We were pleased with it," he said. "It gave us a chance to test the logistics and Sam Boyd had excellent sightlines for soccer.

"We'll sit down with the promoters in the next couple of weeks. Frankly, I think it depends on how the promoters did (financially). I think they enjoyed themselves here, but it may come down to the bottom line."