Donde Esta La Aficion?

It doesn't take a genius to know that the economy isn't doing very well. And it's not limited to just the United States. Unless you've been living in a cave (Osama Bin Laden?) or are completely checked out from reality, you know that the world economy is hemorrhaging. One of the countries that has been hardest hit is Spain. After years of a booming economy after the dormant Franco years, Spain has fallen down the slippery slope into a recession. Now there is a glut of housing, millions of restless immigrants who are being bribed by the Spanish government to go back to their home countries and an unemployment rate that hovers around 15%. Not even the city of Detroit is at 15%, yet here's an entire country that is at that level.

Not surprisingly, this has had an adverse effect for futbol teams and especially our beloved teams in El Infierno. Simply put, no one is coming to the games. Why spend 20 euros on a ticket to watch Hercules-Alicante when that money could be better served at the market to help cover meals for a couple days? Makes sense to me. To better help explain, let's look at the slot of last week's games and each one's attendance compared to the stadium's capacity.

Tenerife-Elche : 20,300 (24,000)
Zaragoza-Las Palmas : 17,302 (34,596)
Hercules-Alicante : 7,000 (30,000)
Alaves-Rayo : 7,738 (19,200)
Eibar-Huesca : 2,052 (5250)
Castellon-Alicante : 6,348 (18,000)
Gimnastic-Celta : 4,500 (14,500)
Murcia-Real Sociedad : 14,156 (33,045)
Xerez-Salamanca : 10,500 (22,000)
Girona-Albacete : 2,000 (5,000)
Sevilla Atletico-Cordoba : 1,000 (7,000)

So out of all eleven games last week, only the islanders in Tenerife registered a crowd that had more than 50% capacity filled in the stadium. Some of these stadiums were only a third or fourth full. Alot of these away teams last week are having the same problems filling their stadium. So what's a club to do? I submit to you the example of Rayo Vallecano. Two weeks ago they hosted Hercules and the club offered a promotion where season ticket holder had the opportunity to buy another ticket for a mere 3 euros. the result? Another 2,500 spectators showed up to the Estadio Teresa Rivero and helped the home side to a 1-0 victory. Now with Rayo seeking their fifth consecutive win, the club is running a similar promotion this weekend in the game against 'colista' Sevilla Atletico. However this time, prices can be had for just ONE euro. At this rate, the stadium will either be full or close to full. The fans enjoy themselves and concession sales will have helped recover some of the loss in revenue.

This is how you win the trust of not just futbol fans, but sporting fans everywhere. Rayo Vallecano is saying hey, we know times are tough. Maybe you want to escape from your troubles. Spend a couple euros, come down and for two hours you'll be able to take your kids to watch some top-rate futbol. In a world lacking of it, it's nice to see some common sense in business. Bien hecho Rayo.

Jornada 24 - Resultados
Tenerife-Elche 3-2
Zaragoza-Las Palmas 2-0
Hercules-Alicante 4-2
Alaves-Rayo 0-2
Eibar-Huesca 2-0
Castellon-Alicante 2-0
Gimnastic-Celta 1-1
Murcia-Real Sociedad 2-0
Xerez-Salamanca 2-1
Girona-Albacete 3-3
Sevilla Atletico-Cordoba 0-2

Clasificacion
1. Xerez - 46
2. Tenerife - 43
3. Zaragoza - 40
4. Castellón - 40
5. Rayo - 40
6. Hércules - 39
7. Salamanca - 37
8. R. Sociedad - 36
9. Levante - 35
10. Girona - 34
11. Huesca - 33
12. Celta - 33
13. Gimnástic - 31
14. Murcia - 31
15. Elche - 30
16. Albacete - 29
17. Las Palmas - 28
18. Córdoba - 27
19. Eibar - 24
20. Alavés - 24
21. Alicante - 16
22. Sevilla At - 10