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 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.”
