Steamers Need to Draw 17,595
by Dave Lange St. Louis Globe-Democrat
The Steamers' magic number is 17,595. That is the minimum crowd the Steamers must attract to Saturday night's regular-season finale with Wichita to successfully uphold their reputation as the Major Indoor Soccer League's attendance leaders.
The Steamers had paced the MISL in turnstile count since their inaugural season, 1979-80. But a dropoff of 2,541 fans per game this season from last year's average of 17,107 has left the Steamers clutching the tail of Kansas City's Comets.
Kansas City, which has experienced a dramatic rise of 3,634 in average attendance, finished its regular-season home schedule Thursday by drawing a standing-room crowd of 16,009 in a 5-2 loss against the Steamers. In 24 dates at Kemper Arena, the Comets drew 352,609 fans while the Steamers have seated 335,015 in 23 appearances at the Checkerdome.
Steamers vice president Ben Kerner is confident the Steamers will gather a sufficient number of fans Saturday to overhaul the Comets. As of Friday morning, the Steamers had sold 13,487 tickets. They figure an attractive promotion - free photo albums of Steamers players - and a strong rivalry with the Wichita Wings will put Steamers' attendance over the magic number. The Steamers also will name their most valuable for the year in ceremonies before the game. Wichita's fan club, the "Orange Army," is sending more than 200 troops.
Even should the Steamers overtake Kansas City, the Comets are filling a larger percentage of Kemper Arena (92.3 percent) than the Steamers are filling at the Checkerdome (81.2 percent). Kemper's seating capacity is 15,925 while the Checkerdome's is 17,931.
"They've done a hell of a job," Kerner said of the Comets. "I wish eight other teams in the league were doing as well."
Only one other franchise besides the Steamers and the Comets in the 14-team MISL is drawing in double figures. Baltimore is averaging 10,707.
With both the Steamers and the Wings having secured playoff berths, the Steamers have only one goal to aim for in Saturday's game: third place in the Western Division, which they would clinch by defeating Wichita. By finishing third, the Steamers would avoid meeting the first-place San Diego Sockers in the quarterfinals. The Sockers won three of four from the Steamers during the regular season.
"San Diego gave us fits. We never played that well against them," Steamers forward Don Ebert said.
A third-place finish would pit the Steamers against Wichita, the West's runner-up, with Kansas City, the No. 4 finisher, tackling the Sockers. the Steamers dominated Kansas City and Wichita during the regular season, taking three of four from the Comets and two of three from the Wings. Wichita clinched second place with a 7-3 victory over Kansas City Friday night.
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