Sunday's match could be LV's only chance for soccer - FOX5 Vegas - KVVU
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Big-time soccer is virgin territory for Las Vegas.
Sunday's match at Sam Boyd Stadium between Spain's Real Madrid and Mexico's Santos Laguna will change that.
"This game is the opening of that book, the opening of that new chapter to the world of soccer," said Daren Libonati of Justice Entertainment Group.
JEG is responsible for bringing the two world-class teams to Las Vegas and arguably the world's biggest sports star.
Real Madrid's Cristiano Renaldo has more followers on Twitter than Tiger Woods, LeBron James and Floyd Mayweather combined.
He will be playing Sunday - even so, Sam Boyd has yet to sell out.
About 13,000 tickets still remain. Libonati said it's a big concern for the teams.
"We'll have officials from all over the country, all over the world, looking at Las Vegas and saying, 'Does this market work?'" Libonati said.
Championship boxing, college football bowl games, NASCAR and rodeo all sell out regularly in Las Vegas, but some events took years before that happened.
We won't have that luxury with soccer.
"It's now, it has to happen now," Libonati said.
To make the field top-quality, big money went into covering the synthetic turf at Sam Boyd with natural grass.
"It's been able to be mowed, loved, fertilized. It's very important to have this great playing surface," said Sam Boyd Stadium Executive Director Mike Newcomb.
The field's sidelines will be just six feet away from the stands. A much closer vantage point than what'd you'd get anywhere else in the world.
"There's fences, there's guards, there's moats," Newcomb said.
The field will be perfect. The premier players will be participating. But will Vegas do enough to get soccer to park here permanently?
Sunday's turnout could make or break it.
Copyright 2012 KVVU (KVVU Broadcast Corporation). All rights reserved.
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