There was still food in the buffet line at the end of the game, which was a dead giveaway the Utah Blitzz aren't where they want to be yet. Sad but true: You can gauge media interest in an event by how many quarts of potato salad are consumed in the pressbox.
The stands were pretty empty, too, for Tuesday night's exhibition game against the Colorado Rapids, parent club of the Blitzz. Then again, it is their first season, and they're still laying the groundwork. Rome wasn't built overnight, and neither was pro wrestling or the Utah Jazz. For the first few years the Jazz were in town, the Salt Lake Golden Eagles actually out-drew them. That was an era when the Jazz were doing just what the Blitzz are doing right now -- trying to get noticed."If we can take anything from the Jazz," said Blitzz coach Chris Agnello, "it's that they, too, started very slowly. But once they got going, it was great."
The Blitzz are part of a long line of professional sports franchises to land in the Salt Lake Valley. Attendance to date has been modest. Of course, it's hard not to look modest when you're playing in 45,000-seat Rice Stadium. So far they've averaged around 3,500 fan.
The exhibition game was an effort to draw attention to the team and soccer in general. In one sense, it worked. The Blitzz drew about 5,800 fans, nearly what the Utah Starzz -- backed by the enormous marketing arms of the NBA and WNBA -- drew for their opening home game. True, 2,200 kids got in free for wearing their soccer jerseys, but the Starzz had 11,000 free tickets available for their opener, too, and left about 9,000 of them unused.
Utah, in Division 3 of the United Soccer Leagues, was hosting the Rapids of the top-level Major League Soccer. The final tally: Rapids 4, Blitzz 0.
Hey, they didn't promise a win, only that it would be entertaining.
Agnello didn't go into this with his eyes closed. A figure in Utah soccer for more than 20 years, he played for Woods Cross High School, where he was selected Gatorade National Player of the Year. He graduated from the University of Utah, with a Master's in Sports Management and coached elite youth clubs and high school level teams for over a decade.
In that time, he noticed a pattern developing among fledgling pro teams that came into the state: they flopped. The carcasses of failed teams are strewn up and down the Wasatch Front. The Salt Lake Stingers, a professional volleyball team, came and went, playing games in the Salt Palace. There were the Utah Prospectors (minor league basketball), the RollerBees (roller hockey), Predators (volleyball), Sting (soccer) and Buckaroos (rodeo) -- to name a few of the casualties. Agnello isn't ignorant of those failures. In fact, he acknowledges them.
The difference with the Blitzz, he says, is that his team is in for the long haul. ANA Development, which owns the Blitzz, has committed to a long-term plan.
"We see this as more of a marathon than a sprint," said Agnello.
If you don't think they're serious about sticking around, consider this: They already have plans drawn and property purchased for an international-level soccer facility, including grandstands, in West Valley City.
It isn't any wonder Utah is regularly singled out as a place where soccer should thrive. Enthusiasts of the sport have been eyeing the city back since the 1970s, when the Utah Golden Spikers played at the State Fairgrounds. This is, after all, a market that now has 60,000 youngsters in organized soccer programs. Ever tried to find an empty school field during fall and spring? It's impossible. Anywhere you turn, there's a gaggle of little soccer people with their socks pulled high and shin guards bulging underneath.
"There's a couple of things going on," said Agnello. "The sport of soccer is growing rapidly, and Utah is now a great market. That's why we are coming in. It's a great market and there's a good ethnic diversity that is rapidly growing. "
And there's all those kids.
In that light, the Blitzz are open for business. Yes, they're charging for the games, but barely. Any kid with a soccer jersey gets in free. An adult gets in for less than it costs for food at a Jazz game. The idea is to hang around, like the Jazz did, until the masses catch on.
Thus, the Blitzz put on their best faces and hosted their big brother team. They didn't win, but not many of the kids seemed to care. It was a fine summer night for professional soccer. If things work out for the Blitzz, in a few years those kids will be back, and this time they'll bring their wallets.