Will DC United's Open Cup match be moved?

June 18, 8:50 AMWashington Soccer ExaminerEd Morgans

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The Press of Atlantic City is reporting that there have been talks about possibly moving the June 30 US Open Cup third-round match from the Maryland SoccerPlex to the home ground of the Ocean City Barons - Carey Stadium, which is the field at Ocean City High School.

The Barons, a PDL club, advanced to face DC United in the Open Cup after upsetting two USL sides - Crystal Palace Baltimore and Real Maryland FC. It was expected all along that the match would be held at the SoccerPlex, and United even put out a press release on its web site stating that tickets were available at www.dcunited.com.

However, when you go to the link for single-game tickets and find the schedule, there is no ticket link available for the Open Cup match. The Press' Susan Lulgjuraj reported that there have been talks between Ocean City club officials and United about possibly making the match an Ocean City home game. 

"We want to bring the highest profile soccer game southern New Jersey has ever seen," Barons coach Neil Holloway told The Press in a story posted this morning. "We've had a few people step forward and said they would do whatever is necessary. We've gotten potential sponsors."

There would appear to need to be some financial incentive for United to agree to give up the home game, and it wouldn't seem smart to tack on another road match to a stretch where United already has three straight - last night's 3-3 tie in Seattle, Saturday's match at Colorado, then the July 4 match at Columbus. While there is a bit of a break after the Colorado match in terms of league play, and Ocean City wouldn't be a long trip, it's still unnecessary travel that United hoped to avoid by bidding to get a home game in this round. 

The article also mentions that there might be some sponsorship involved in an Ocean City home match by the Philadelphia Union, an expansion team that begins MLS play next season and will be led by former United coach Peter Nowak. This seems like an odd idea to me - while it could create some brand exposure for the Union in an area from which they would like to draw fans, it wouldn't seem to be United's place to move a home game simply to give some marketing time to another team in the league - one that will be a conference rival the minute the 2010 season kicks off. 

My suspicion is that the game is going to stay at the SoccerPlex. While United at Ocean City would be a big event for that community, there are few logical reasons that benefit United in moving the match, and given the typical crowd that can be gained at the SoccerPlex for such a game (3,000 to 4,500), a negotiation that helps Ocean City out financially by receiving some of that gate money (or perhaps an additional percentage over what they may already receive for such a game) might actually be more beneficial for the PDL club in the long run. 

Meanwhile, US Soccer has announced that should they advance to the fourth round, United would host either the Harrisburg City Islanders or the New England Revolution at the SoccerPlex at 7:30 p.m. on July 7. An Ocean City win on June 30 would match them up either at New England or Harrisburg. 

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