Change of Latitude, Attitude at Edison Field
Ralph Puga was befuddled. When Disney unwrapped the renovated Edison Field last year, the company vowed to welcome the Latino community like never before. Signs that said “salida” alongside “exit” were thoughtful, and an exhibition game between the Angels and a Mexican baseball team was nice, but where was the one sport guaranteed to attract Latinos?
“If you want to pack the stadium, turn it into a soccer field,” said Puga, president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Orange County. “We’ll have people standing in line all over the place.”
In December, they will. Disney plans to import two of Mexico’s most prestigious clubs, Chivas of Guadalajara and Cruz Azul of Mexico City, for an exhibition game that promoters say could attract more than 30,000 fans.
Paul Mendes, the event manager, said the date--Dec. 28 or 29--has not yet been determined. But, with an estimated 730,000 Latinos in Orange County and another 460,000 in Riverside County, Mendes predicted the December game could be the first step toward establishing Edison Field as a major Southern California venue for international exhibitions.
“You could bring in the Mexican club teams and do very well,” Mendes said. “It would open it [Edison Field] up to a clientele that hasn’t been given too much attention lately.
“If we took the Mexican national team there, I think it would be full. We’d do 40,000 without a problem.”
Chivas and Cruz Azul have combined for 17 championships in Mexico’s top professional league. Chivas, which attracts a particularly passionate following because it never has fielded a foreign player, drew 26,000 to San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium for a January exhibition against rival Nexaca.
Disney needs such events to help offset losses--estimated at more than $42 million--amassed during the first three years of company management of the Angels and their stadium. The Angels abruptly canceled a July 3 fireworks show and symphony concert, citing poor ticket sales. KIIS-FM previously moved its “Wango Tango” rock concert from Edison Field last year to Dodger Stadium this year.
Disney flirted with and then rebuffed Major League Soccer, which wanted the company to operate an expansion franchise in Edison Field. The league would like to place a team in Orange County or San Diego, but MLS Commissioner Doug Logan said San Diego is a far more likely choice given the support of Padre owner John Moores. The Padres are sponsoring the MLS All-Star Game at Qualcomm Stadium next month and are interested in securing an MLS franchise once the Padres vacate the stadium for a downtown ballpark in 2002, team president Larry Lucchino said.
While the Angels initially focused on baseball-related vehicles to drive Latino attendance at Edison Field--posting bilingual signs, printing pocket schedules in Spanish, adding Spanish broadcasts on radio and television--Puga and other Latino leaders pushed soccer.
Puga said he was pleased when he first heard word this week about the Chivas-Cruz Azul game. When the Angels had previously solicited the advice of local business leaders, Puga said, the Latinos in the group repeatedly urged the team to stage soccer games at Edison Field.
“That’s one of the items we put in there, in bold print,” Puga said. “That was one sports activity we weren’t addressing.”
If the Angels don’t make the playoffs, Mendes said he would consider staging another exhibition at Edison Field in October or November. If crowds approach expectations, Mendes said he could envision three or four games per year in Anaheim.
Sellouts could be in order if Disney can lure the national teams of the United States, Mexico or El Salvador to Edison Field. The last soccer game in Anaheim, a 1996 Gold Cup game between the U.S. and El Salvador, drew 52,345 to Anaheim Stadium on a rainy January day. The renovated--and downsized--Edison Field seats 45,050.
Mendes, who has staged games featuring the U.S. and Mexican national teams in San Diego, said he would like to do the same in Anaheim. So would Hugo Bandi, a veteran Los Angeles promoter whose last two games involving the Mexican national team drew more than 70,000 each to the Coliseum.
“We would very much like to do something with the stadium in Anaheim,” Bandi said. “I didn’t know, when they redid the stadium, they were thinking about soccer.”
Puga also suggested exhibitions featuring the U.S. women’s national team, attracting sellout crowds as the Women’s World Cup marches across America.
“I know the entire community is rallying around that team,” Puga said. “That would be really hot.”
