One Way to Describe L.A. Cup: Out of Sight

The opening round of the 1997 Los Angeles Cup, self-touted as “the greatest soccer value in the history of Los Angeles,” will proceed today at the Coliseum in a somewhat devalued state, with four professional teams from Mexico and El Salvador performing in front of zero spectators.

Chivas and Aguila, followed by Atlante and Atlas, will play in front of 90,000 empty seats and behind locked gates as a consequence of a dispute between Los Angeles Cup organizers and the United States Soccer Federation, which refused to grant the event a permit.

The dispute stemmed from the Los Angeles Cup’s decision to schedule its opening doubleheader within two weeks of the USSF-sponsored U.S. Cup, which will match national teams from the United States, Mexico, Peru and Denmark in a series of games at the Rose Bowl and San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

With no USSF permit, the teams participating in Los Angeles Cup risked sanctions from FIFA, soccer’s international governing body. Rather than cancel the doubleheader, the teams and event organizers agreed to play the games but lock out the fans--terming the exercise a pair of “practice games” played for no profit.

“They can’t prohibit two teams from getting together and playing for no financial gain,” said Eduardo Ostrogovich, president of Strategic Sports Group, one of the Los Angeles Cup sponsors. “These are practice matches that have been cleared by the Mexican Federation.”

Promoters had expected a crowd of 20,000 to 25,000 for the doubleheader, with advance ticket sales estimated at 10,000. Refunds will given at point of purchase, organizers say.

In addition, closed-circuit television coverage will “probably” be canceled, according to Pat Lynch, Coliseum general manager. Both games were to be broadcast closed-circuit at 28 locations from San Francisco to San Diego.

“These games would not have impacted the U.S. Cup in any way,” Lynch said. “The [first U.S. Cup] game is on the 19th at the Rose Bowl. It’s ridiculous. They want to control all the matches, and any monetary gain from them, in this area. I don’t agree with that.”

The Los Angeles Cup was intended as a series of exhibitions,or “friendly” matches, involving six professional teams from Mexico and two from El Salvador to be held periodically from January to May. No future games officially had been scheduled, and now they could be in jeopardy.

Today’s games, originally scheduled for 3 and 5 p.m., will instead be played at noon and 2 p.m.