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WHAT’S NEW 70,080: A NUMBER TO REMEMBER IN THE HISTORY OF SOCCER IN MIAMI-DADE COUNTY (download press release) MIAMI – The Miami-Dade Sports Commission is celebrating the exhibition soccer match held at SunLife Stadium between FC Barcelona and Chivas de Guadalajara which was the largest in attendance for a soccer match in the State of Florida. Last night’s match at SunLife “We would like to say thank you to all the soccer fans for making history last night. We are proud to be working for our community and we look forward to building on this success to bring future soccer events to Miami-Dade County”, said Miami-Dade County Commissioner and Chairman of the Miami-Dade Sports Commission, Jose “Pepe” Diaz. The friendly match between Spain superpower FC Barcelona and Chivas de Guadalajara from Mexico, is part of the “World Football Challenge”, a 12 team, 14 match series coordinated by Major League Soccer to conclude Saturday. “Since Miami-Dade County is not only the gateway to the world but also the epicenter of the Hispanic community, the multicultural environment that surrounds it provides a great possibility for highly populated crowds at any event for the sport of soccer in Miami”, said Commissioner Diaz. Initial projections by the MDSC put an estimated economic impact for the match at $35,030,096. Based on the projections provided by VISIT FLORIDA’s Share a Little Sunshine campaign, the event generated an estimated 356 full-time jobs in Miami-Dade County and South Florida. The previous record for a soccer match in South Florida history was a 1994 matchup between Colombia and AC Milan which drew 57,724 people in the Orange Bowl on May 29, 1994. “We look forward to working with the Miami Dolphins, the Florida Sports Foundation and all our community partners to continue to make soccer an important part of our sports landscape. Last night was such a memorable night for Miami Sports and we look forward to creating more remarkable moments in international soccer”, said Mike Sophia, Miami-Dade While Barcelona was leading early in the match, it was Marco Fabian from Chivas who played a key role in his team and brought the crowd to its feet when he scored twice through the second half to lead Chivas of Mexico to a 4-1 victory over Barcelona. ABOUT THE MIAMI-DADE SPORTS COMMISSION The Miami-Dade Sports Commission is a proud partner of the United State Olympic Committee’s Community Partner program. For more information about the Miami-Dade Sports Commission, please visit www.miamisports.org |
