Chelsea play in front of 50,000 empty seats – apathy or bad scheduling?

Chelsea kicked off their Fifa Club World Cup campaign against Los Angeles FC to tens of thousands of empty seats in Atlanta.

The game started at 3pm local time on a working Monday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The attendance for Chelsea’s 2-0 win was announced as 22,137, in a ground which can hold 71,000 spectators – though the entire top tier was closed.

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, said: “I think the environment was a bit strange, the stadium was almost empty, not full.

“We are professional and we have to adapt to the situation, to the environment. You have to adapt when you play with a full stadium. You have to adapt when the stadium is not full but it doesn’t matter.”

Sources had told the BBC that Fifa was expecting a crowd of about 26,000.

A small middle tier seemed to be mostly full, but a larger bottom tier was more than half empty.

The cheapest ticket was about £37 immediately before kick-off, although seats were significantly more expensive in the build up. During the game tickets were still on sale online for £26 – with many available in nearly every section.

Los Angeles is more than 2,000 miles away from Atlanta, across the southern United States.

LAFC were late replacements for disqualified Leon in the tournament and their 150 ultras dominated the atmosphere – despite Chelsea having many more fans.

The Blues supporters mainly got animated for the goals, Liam Delap’s introduction for his debut and booing major decisions.

The newly expanded Club World Cup is being treated as a dress rehearsal for the international World Cup next summer, which will be held in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

The CWC is just being played in the US.

The question on everybody’s lips is are these attendances just because fans do not really care about this revamped Club World Cup – or could this apathy continue into the actual World Cup in 2026?

BBC Sport spoke to two American journalists to get their thoughts.

Doug Roberson of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution thinks there were several factors, but “it’s not because people here don’t care about soccer”.

“The people aren’t here because it’s Monday at 3pm,” he said. “Frankly I am surprised there are as many as there are.

“It’s a tournament that doesn’t mean a lot to people in the US because it’s new. I would imagine paying to come to a tournament you don’t know didn’t appeal, because the World Cup is coming next year and people are trying to save money for that.

“If I were Fifa, for the World Cup I would have game times where more people could come. It is something to think about – and the ticket prices were ridiculous.”

Jonathan Tannenwald, chief soccer correspondent for the Philadelphia Inquirer, says Fifa’s marketing is to blame.

“When you come here you have to do a lot of marketing,” he said. “You can’t just expect people to turn up.

“There was no true local organising committee in the US because Fifa were doing it all in-house.

“We will all show up for the World Cup next summer, but for the Club World Cup they needed to market it to explain.

“Will people show up in the knockout stages? Probably. Will they show up for Chelsea v LAFC in the group stage when tickets are too expensive and the game is in Atlanta? No. They are smarter than that. That is on Fifa.”

BBC Sport chief football writer Phil McNulty said “the sight of almost 50,000 empty seats will come as an early embarrassment for Fifa”.

“There have been long-held fears that this latest supposedly showpiece tournament, shoehorned into an already over-crowded calendar after a gruelling season, would struggle to capture the public imagination,” he said.

“The sea of empty red seats as Chelsea beat Los Angeles FC provided grim confirmation.

“A kick-off at 3pm US time on a Monday may have been a contributory factor, while Chelsea and Los Angeles may also struggle to attract local interest, but the lack of supporters will surely have felt uncomfortable for Fifa’s top brass, including maybe even its ultra-confident president Gianni Infantino.

“It is perhaps also an early warning for Fifa that ticket pricing should be realistic, and within reasonable reach, for games played in the United States at next summer’s World Cup.

“Fifa’s latest project is in its infancy, but this was a very bad look so early in the tournament that it has set so much store by.”

LAFC manager Steve Cherundolo was asked about the crowd after the game.

“I think it is different each game you look at,” he said.

“In the Rose Bowl in LA, there was a huge crowd for the game between PSG and Atletico Madrid. Maybe LA likes football more than Atlanta, I don’t know, we should judge at the end.”

Some reports pre-tournament claimed students at a Miami college, which is a partner of Fifa, were told if they bought one ticket for £14.70 they would get four free.

Tickets have been on sale under a dynamic pricing model, with prices determined by demand.

They are available for every game – with many on sale for £25 – although the crowd for Boca’s Group C match against Benfica later in the day was a lot healthier, with more than 55,000 in the 65,000 capacity Hard Rock Stadium.

Most games still have thousands of tickets available. Real Madrid’s opener against Al-Hilal at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium only has 200 tickets left officially – though thousands of resale ones are available.

Despite the issues there have still been some large attendances.

Fifa claims 60,927 watched the opener between Inter Miami and Al-Ahly.

The official crowd for Paris St-Germain’s 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid was 80,619.

Other attendances so far have been 21,152, 30,151 and 46,275.

The United Kingdom was the country with the 11th-most tickets sold – with the US, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Canada leading the way.

Jon, Aberystwyth: If the Chelsea match is boring, entertain yourself by playing Spot The Fan.

Sam, Southanpton:What was wrong with the old Club World Cup format? Because the list of things wrong with this one could go on for miles.

Matty:So much negativity about this tournament. People not used to change. So proud of my Chelsea representing the Premier League on this stage.

Scott, Preston: I don’t think it’s the fact that people aren’t used to change, I think it’s clearly the motives behind this tournament? Obviously it’s about money and no regards to players’ welfare after a long season for all the clubs involved. I love football but to be honest it’s on most nights of the week and it’s only natural that people will switch off eventually.

Terry, Hammersmith: It’s just not sustainable having elite players playing competitively every summer. For the very best in Europe, they will have Euros, Club World Cup, World Cup and then a year off. This will inevitably lead to an overall drop in quality at domestic level.–BBC