USA 94: conquering the last frontier.

• Author: Rodrigo, Alejandro
• Position: World Cup soccer - Includes related articles

With passion and precision, World Cup soccer will invade the United States this summer, and seize its largest audience ever

The Russians are coming . . . and so the Italians, the Germans, the Mexicans, and the Brazilians. In all, twenty-three visiting national teams will land this summer on U. S. soil, in search of the world's most coveted sports trophy: the FIFA Cup (Federation Internationale de Football Association).

Finally, after years of effort, pressure, and frustration, the World Cup will be played in the United States. Come June 17, all the efforts of the pioneers will be rewarded, and soccer will plant its banner on the Last Frontier. Football's Super Bowl, the NBA play-offs, and baseball's World Series--all will pale in comparison to soccer's greatest celebration.

A full month of competition will climax July 17 at the Pasadena Rose Bowl, where 103,000 fans crowding into the stadium,plus some 2 billion television viewers all over the world, will witness the crowning of a new soccer world champion.

Does anybody doubt soccer's unmatched popularity? Four years ago in Italy, the last World Cup championship attracted some 2.5 million spectators, an average of 48,000 fans for each of its fifty-two games. The television audience reached 26.7 billion viewers, and 1 billion persons watched the championship game, in which Germany defeated Argentina 1-0. The 1994 World Cup championship is certain to break all those records.

The 3.6 million rickets for USA 94 are rapidly vanishing. Most of them were bought "blindly" by soccer fans who at the time didn't even know which teams would be playing in the tournament's nine venues.

"The demand has been incredible. We will play all the games in stadiums filled to capacity," says Alan Rothenberg, the organizing committee's president, with a broad smile on his face.

The World Cup spirit had already been born last December in Las Vegas, with the drawing of groups and the assignment of venues. An international audience of 500 million people watched the drawing--almost double the television audience for the Super Bowl.

From there on, soccer fever has been steadily rising as kickoff time nears. Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, San Francisco, and Washington are getting ready to play host to 1.5 million international tourists.

England's elimination saddened those who love soccer tradition since that is where the sport was born. It was a relief, however, to those responsible for the Cup's security, who are very happy that England's violent hooligans will not be coming.

Ed Best, who was in charge of security during the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, heads the World Cup's security team, supported by a budget that nears $100 million, according to sources.

Unknown flags, painted faces, songs, and undecipherable languages--only Nigeria among the visitors has English as its official language--will surprise the residents of nine American cities. Colorful World Cup merchandise is becoming increasingly visible in stores and airports as businesses tune up their marketing machinery. After all, the economic impact of the World Cup should surpass $4 billion in the United States.

FIFA projects that 180 countries will broadcast the World Cup on television, with a combined audience of 31.2 billion--double the viewership of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.

For the American audience, the ABC television network will broadcast eleven games live, including the championship game, and the ESPN cable sports network will show the remaining forty-one games. And, for the first...