DC United friendly - interested?

DC United has finalized plans to host a friendly versus Real Madrid August 9th at FedEx field. It's a Sunday afternoon, before our fall season begins. I'm thinking we'll organize a group outing. We'll probably need to buy 20 tickets. Would you be game?

United Sets Date With Real Madrid
By Steven Goff

Washington Post Staff
WriterFriday, May 29, 2009

D.C. United completed months of difficult
negotiation yesterday by finalizing an Aug. 9 match against Real Madrid,
European soccer's most decorated club. But instead of playing at RFK Stadium,
United's home for 14 MLS seasons, the friendly will be staged at FedEx Field.
United officials chose the Landover venue, in part, because it can
accommodate about twice as many spectators as RFK, a creaky, 48-year-old
facility that holds 46,000. By selling enough tickets, the club would offset
Real's appearance fee of an estimated $1 million and turn a profit.
Other
factors were FedEx's private boxes and amenities and the Washington Redskins'
involvement, including access to the NFL team's season ticket list.
Seats in
the lower bowl begin at $50 for United and Redskins' season ticket holders.
General-public seats, starting at $60, will go on sale June 17. Access to, and
fees for, upper-deck seats will not be made available until most of the lower
areas sell out.
TV coverage for the 3 p.m. game has yet to be finalized.
Real plans to play Toronto FC two days before the Washington visit, sources
said.
United welcomed English power Chelsea to FedEx in 2005, but in that
case, the visitors didn't want to risk injury on an RFK field scarred by the
Washington Nationals' baseball diamond. Although the 2-1 Chelsea victory drew
31,273, local organizers are anticipating a much larger turnout for Real Madrid,
which is estimated to have the second-largest global following in all of sports
behind Manchester United and is wildly popular in the Washington area's Latin
American community.
The matchup will come exactly three years after the
teams played to a 1-1 tie before more than 66,000 at Qwest Field in Seattle.
That game, however, featured English superstar David Beckham, the sport's
biggest draw in the United States. Real does not currently employ anyone with
such mainstream fame, but it is planning to make several major acquisitions this
summer. Candidates include Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) and
Brazil's Kaka (AC Milan), the past two FIFA world players of the year.
Because of the Real match, United's league game against Kansas City,
scheduled for Aug. 8 at RFK, has been moved to Sept. 9.
Real's portfolio is
almost unmatched: a record nine European titles, 31 Spanish championships and 17
domestic cup trophies. But the club is going through a difficult period, having
conceded the league crown to nemesis Barcelona and watched the Catalan team win
the European Champions League title Wednesday. Three weeks ago, Real was
embarrassed at home by Barcelona, 6-2.
Florentino Perez is set to return as
team president after overseeing Real's wild spending spree that included Beckham
earlier this decade. Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro will leave Real this
summer and the status of several other high-profile players remains uncertain.
Summer friendlies between MLS teams and world-class clubs in the offseason
have become commonplace. United has hosted Chelsea and Tottenham (England), Boca
Juniors (Argentina), Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) and Celtic (Scotland).
This
summer, Barcelona will face the Los Angeles Galaxy and Seattle Sounders, while
AC Milan and Chelsea will play each other in Baltimore as part of a week-long
tour that also includes Inter Milan and Club America (Mexico).