The International Champions Cup is still capable of attracting huge crowds in the US, but away from the marquee games, attendances were down

Whatever you do, don’t call it pre-season. Meaningless games are now a thing of the past, at least according to the International Champions Cup. Billed as “club football’s premier summer tournament,” this year’s edition was the largest to date, encompassing 18 teams and 27 games played in 22 different cities on three different continents. And yet, the crowd numbers didn’t quite live up to hype.

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On more than one occasion, swathes of empty seats were visible for games involving some of the world’s biggest clubs. Only 16,000 fans turned up at the 69,000-capacity Heinz Field for a match between Borussia Dortmund and Benfica. A game between Roma and Tottenham in San Diego attracted just 18,800 spectators from a potential capacity of 70,000. The German and English champions, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, sold under 30,000 tickets for their game in Miami.



Empty Seats Galore (@EmptySeatsPics) #ICC2018 RT @MikeMartignago: My beloved Milan v Manchester United at the StubHub Center. Appears it’s friends and family night pic.twitter.com/Z07hqKCqvc

There were still successes. A crowd of 101,245 watched the clash between Manchester United and Liverpool at The Big House in Ann Arbor, while 71,597 supporters caught the game between Real Madrid and Juventus at FedExField in Maryland. But looking at the bigger picture, there is a trend. Fans are turning their back on the ICC. Average attendance at this summer’s tournament were down 18.6% on last year’s, from 48,296 to 39,316.

It should be noted that Charlie Stillitano, the larger than life personality at the top of the ICC, says that ticket sales are in fact up this year: “There were 492,000 sold in 2013, 642,000 in 2014, 985,000 for 2015, 964,000 in 2016 and 903,000 for 2017,” he said. “And we think this year we’re on track for 1.1m.” But this is largely down to the fact eight more games were played this summer. Per match, attendances are significantly down.

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It could be argued that this is a knock-on effect from the World Cup: with many superstars still on holiday tickets were naturally harder to shift, and there was a general football fatigue after a month of matches nearly every day. However, that explanation doesn’t wash when you consider Atlanta United set a new MLS attendance record on the day of the World Cup final. Rather than being jaded by what they were watching from Russia, American fans were energised by the World Cup. But for many MLS was as attractive an option as the ICC to feed their habit.

This feels like a trend rooted in satisfaction, or a lack thereof: it’s likely that American fans have grown tired of being taken advantage of. The cheapest available general sale ticket for the aforementioned game between Bayern Munich and Man City in Miami was $78, once admin fees were factored in. This was not an outlier. Ticket prices have been this high across the board for years. In contrast, tickets for an Atlanta game can be bought for as little as $38 on resale sites. And while fans may not be able to see the likes of Lionel Messi and Paul Pogba in MLS, they will get a decent quality, meaningful game played in front of passionate fans at somewhere like Atlanta.

This summer may have marked something of a watershed in the development of the ICC. Where does the competition go from here? Can it ever be anything more than a glorified series of pre-season fixtures? How does it garner credibility and prestige? It’s possible that appearance fees could be tailored depending on achievement, awarding a higher fee for those who do well in the competition. But would that be enough for teams to take the ICC seriously, for it to finally be considered a real tournament and not just a money-spinning, pre-season jolly?

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European clubs are most likely happy with the tournament the way it is. Managers certainly wouldn’t welcome the pressure of yet another top-level competition. Pre-season affords them some rare time with their players away from the glare of the regular season, when a firing can be just a few bad results away. Pre-season is a time for the introduction of new signings, the testing of formations and the blooding of youngsters. The games still have a purpose, even if the games aren’t high stake.

The ICC has been used as a trojan horse by many European clubs who believe it could be a test-case for an invitation-only competition that could one day take the place of the Champions League. Indeed, Stillitano has previously held talks with clubs such as Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Spurs concerning a potential shake-up to the whole structure of the European game.

Therein could lie the lasting legacy of the ICC. It’s difficult to envisage the competition ever being more than it currently is, but the precedent set could ultimately change European football. This message wouldn’t exactly work well on a billboard, though, and so the ICC’s problems are more immediate. American fans’ appetite for football is as strong as ever but, at least from the ICC’s perspective, they are becoming harder to sell to.