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Carlos Valderrama, practicing at St. Pius on Sept. 11, came to Albuquerque to beforehand the Legends Cup, but he didn't play. (Jim Thompson/Albuquerque Journal)
When it comes to Albuquerque sports flops, this one was legendary.
Promoters said they accepted amid 15,000 to 20,000 admirers and a common TV admirers for the International Legends Cup — an old-timers soccer bout featuring ex-World Cup players from South and Central America — on Sept. 13 at University Stadium.
The bold did appear off. Eventually.
Just not as planned.
TV was nonexistent. The army was beneath than 1,200 — about bisected of those accepting in for chargeless — and the brilliant of the show, Carlos "El Pibe" Valderrama, was a no-show.
"I acquainted abominably for those who paid," said Mark Koson, administrator of ticketing casework at the University of New Mexico. "We had a cardinal of complaints.
"There was a battle amid the promoters. They didn't advertise, and their expectations aloof weren't realistic."
The Cup was the abstraction of Dallas-based International Sports Group (ISG) and the Albuquerque Sol.
Bill Pletch, buyer and admiral of ISG, said he was answerable to pay the players and their expenses. He said the Sol — president/co-owner Ron Patel and accepted administrator Larry Espinoza — were amenable for all bounded marketing.
"We paid for all the costs in the bounded market," Patel said. "We paid for the marketing; we paid for the radio, paid for the TV. We paid for a lot of the operational expenses, like the SUVs to drive the players around. (Pletch) concluded up advantageous for all the players to appear in and the Marriott (Pyramid, area they stayed).
"… The accident did not do well. I accept that. But we're not activity to point fingers and accusation anybody."
Pletch, however, is pointing fingers, and articulate as admitting he would like to accord the average one to the absolute city.
"I never appetite to apprehend the chat 'Albuquerque' again," said Pletch, who said he absent about $500,000 on the event.
"They alone accept one affair in that boondocks — a freaking airship festival. That's it," Pletch said. "We capital to accompany article abroad that's an anniversary event, that draws tourism dollars to the marketplace.
"… We had agreements with common television coverage. But you anticipate I'm activity to accompany common television advantage on an accident the burghal doesn't support? I see 900 bodies in the stands? That's an embarrassment."
Pletch said he canceled the telecast, which he said was activity to be produced by a aggregation from Colombia and apparent on DirecTV, the anniversary of the game. He said he was agitated that UNM admiral wouldn't acquiesce him to acrylic over the curve of the football field, but he fabricated the final accommodation because of low admission sales.
Despite aloof 263 tickets accepting been awash by the end of the business day Sept. 11 — two canicule afore the accident — Espinoza, at the time, said he still accepted amid 15,000 and 20,000 to attend. In accession to the game, two bands from Mexico were appointed to perform.
"The bounded promoters had expectations for this huge walk-up," Koson said, "and there was aloof no way it could happen. Walks-ups are anon accompanying to how beforehand sales are. And the beforehand sales were about nothing."
UNM appear final admission sales at 630 for the 39,224-seat stadium. Adult admission prices started at $33, with UNM charging $5 for parking.
Mike Haggerty, abettor able-bodied administrator of contest at the school, said UNM was paid what it was owed for use of its facility, but didn't say how much. He didn't accept added comment.
The appearance charge go on
Promoters approved to addition the paltry admission sales by demography the players about boondocks for meet-and-greets in the canicule arch up to the bold at places like IHOP, Flying Brilliant and Hooters.
Espinoza said they additionally gave out "4,000 to 5,000″ chargeless tickets.
Espinoza said about 7,000 attended, but Pletch said it was about 1,200 — counting all the freebies. UNM appear the absolute army at aloof added than 1,100. That didn't calculation the players, abounding of whom didn't appearance up as scheduled.
Koson said the game, slated for 4 p.m., didn't alpha until 5:50 p.m. A Journal anchorman accustomed at University Amphitheater about 6:15 p.m. with the aboriginal bisected in progress.
Last week, Espinoza said the adjournment was because "the Colombians are belled for active late, which I didn't know. And afresh as they were accepting accessible to leave the hotel, they got mobbed. … A agglomeration of bodies were there cat-and-mouse for signatures, for autographs.
"Then they went to get in the van, and they saw a brace dressed up like Batman and Wonder Woman, and they all got bottomward and capital pictures with Batman and Wonder Woman. … Basically there was a delusion of time with the players."
Pletch, however, said the adjournment was for added reasons.
"We had to cull added banknote from my partners, who absolutely flew into the boondocks for the game," Pletch said. "We were backward accepting it. Back we got to the hotel, the players were dressed and accessible to go. We aloof had to pay them the antithesis of their money.
"… Some of the Mexican players had already been paid in full, and some had not accustomed all of their antithesis yet. So they said aloof pay us back you get there and we did. But the Colombian players — we owed them — so to get them on the acreage we had to pay them in full."
Pletch, however, couldn't get one guy on the acreage — Valderrama.
The 53-year-old Colombian, accepted for his characteristic albino hair, came to Albuquerque to beforehand the accident at a account appointment in aboriginal August. He was in boondocks canicule afore the game, but Espinoza said he "sprained something" and couldn't play.
Pletch said it was a amount of wouldn't, not couldn't.
"His attitude was so bad," Pletch said. "He aloof said, 'No pay, no play.' Valderrama got his money in abounding for accomplishing the columnist conference. He additionally got three-fourths of his money the day afore he alike came to town. The antithesis he didn't get, because he was acting (like) a jerk at the aftermost minute."
Pletch abhorrent the media, the soccer community, the Sol, the UNM able-bodied administration and Albuquerque burghal admiral for not accomplishing added to advice the event. But Patel said there is cipher to accusation but the organizers.
"The burghal was abundant to us," Patel said. "They appointed a affair with all the bodies around. The ACVB (Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau) gave a ton of abutment by announcement the accident to cities about the region. I don't apperceive if we were bent up in the attraction of the big names, but for whatever reason, it didn't advertise in this market.
"… It was a big assignment for us. We abstruse a lot about how to run a big event. We will try to run them afresh in the future. There is no one to accusation but us."