Tick, tick, tick.
The veteran coach knows a lot of time and effort already has been invested and that a lot more needs to be done to ensure the event Dec. 9 and 11 at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala., will be a success.
The progress to date suggests Getman and organizers are on track.
According to Brenton Howard, event manager for the Alabama Sports Foundation, roughly 40 percent of the tickets for the Men’s College Cup have been sold.
“I fully expect the venue to be sold out prior to the event,” Howard said. “We are encouraged by those numbers and have yet to fully implement our marketing plan.
“Our goal is to sell out the stadium. This means we should expect between 12,000 and 13,000.”
Numbers like that would be a welcome reward for Getman and everyone involved. Last year, a crowd of 9,672 at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara, Calif., watched the University of Akron beat Louisville 1-0 to win the national title.
The crowd was the largest to watch the championship game since 2004, when a crowd of 13,601 watched Indiana beat UC Santa Barbara in penalty kicks in Carson, Calif. But you have to go back to 1999 and 2000 to find another year when the Men’s College Cup attracted a crowd of more than 10,000.
Getman realizes that and the difficulty of organizing an event that often is affected by the weather. Still, he said there have been few “challenges” in building support and momentum at his school, in his state, and in the region for this unique event.
“A lot of things go into making for a great national championship, and having a the stadium full is one of the key elements to that, so we are well on our way to having that accomplished,” Getman said. “If we have 13,000 quiet people it is not as exciting.. We want it to be a full stadium and people to be enthusiastic about the sports and the teams there.”
Getman hopes he and his players can do their part. Through Sept. 16, UAB is 4-0-2 after its most recent match, a 2-1 victory against then-#20 Virginia Commonwealth. He would love to have his team represent Conference USA and the South in the sport’s marquee event, but he knows Men’s College Cup organizers won’t be able to bank on the fact that they will have a hometown team to boost attendance figures.
Regardless of whether his team is there, Getman is confident UAB, the city of Hoover, the state of Alabama, and soccer fans throughout the region and the nation will come together to make the event a hit.
At the school, Getman will look to the UAB Hooligans and the Magic City Firm, two student-based groups that support the UAB men’s soccer team, to play an integral role in building enthusiasm at Regions Park, a facility that is located on 60 acres and is home to the Birmingham Barons (a Double-A minor league baseball team), the home football stadium for Hoover High School, the home of the Southeastern Conference baseball tournament, and other sporting events.
While not a soccer-specific venue like sites in previous years, specifically Cary, N.C., which played host to the Men’s College Cup in 2005, ’07, and ’09, Getman and Howard believe soccer fans in the area will attend the event because they have come out in previous years when the big-time soccer events have come to the area.
“The Hoover-Birmingham community has a strong tradition of supporting soccer events dating back to 1996 Olympic Soccer,” Howard said. “Our strong support led to numerous international friendlies and World Cup qualifiers being held in Birmingham. Some have considered our community the ideal home for U.S. soccer games due to our community support and atmosphere. Our community is embracing every bit of this event.”
Al Albert, chairman of NCAA Division I men’s soccer committee, has been keeping track of the progress, even though he isn’t directly involved in the day-to-day preparations. He said he was at Regions Park on a recent tour of the facility with ESPN, which will broadcast the Men’s College Cup on its family of networks, and feels the venue and the city will put on a special event. He also feels organizers will reach their goal for the number of tickets sold.
“I have a lot of confidence in Mike Getman,” said Albert, the associate director for athletic development at The College of William and Mary, where he also served as men’s soccer coach for more than 30 years.
“He is a college soccer guy, he has been on the committee, he realizes the situation and is knowledgeable about what it take to put on the College Cup and to be successful. He just didn’t get to Birmingham. He knows that situation, and he feels that based on his knowledge of soccer in that area and of the soccer community they can pull it off.
“I personally will be disappointed if they don’t hit their number of 13,000. Based on the last two years, if they get over 10,000 that is progress. That would be the biggest number we have had for our championship for a while.”
To that end, Albert said the recent tabling of a proposal to hold the men’s and women’s college cups at the same time and at the same venue give sites like Hoover, Ala., a chance to show they can put on a first-class championship.
He said six cities have applied and are being considered to play host to the 2012 Men’s College Cup. He said Birmingham, Ala., has applied to play host to future Men’s College Cups and will receive serious consideration for 2012 or 2013 if it does well this year.
“Mike and the (other) people know the eye is on them, and what they do this year certainly will have an impact on the event coming back there” Albert said. “Based on what USCB did last year, if they apply for future tournaments they would receive strong consideration. Other sites where we have had it — we probably wouldn’t go back because of our experience.
“Without saying anything specific, their performance will go toward impacting future decisions to bring it back to Birmingham.”
That’s good news to Howard and Getman, who are brimming with confidence as everyone enters the stretch run of preparations.
“The event will be a success because we have all the right ingredients,” Howard said. “Our organizing committee consists of three excellent partners: the city of Hoover, the Alabama Sports Foundation, and UAB. Our community has a rich tradition of supporting championship-caliber events, and without the competition of professional sports, the Men’s College Cup will surely become the hottest ticket in town come this December.”
In an effort to promote the Men’s College Cup, Regions Park will play host to a warmup event between UAB and the University of Memphis at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19. By that time, Getman should have a better idea about his Blazers’ chances of qualifying for the NCAA tournament and getting a chance to return home to play in their sport’s marquee event.
“We are very enthusiastic and also very optimistic,” Getman said. “There have been a lot of people working very hard to make this event successful. We’re starting to see the ticket sales, the media coverage, the fan support at our games. It is working, and people are aware of our sport, our team, and the College Cup. It is an exciting thing.
“With that anticipation there is a double layer of excitement. You’re excited to have it here and to see the crowd turnout we expect. There is a tinge of apprehension to make sure you get everything done and that you don’t take for granted it is going to be a sellout. Until that actually happens, you don’t want to stop working and promoting to ensure it is successful.”