The Spokane Shadow have taken on some heavy hitters and, while they haven't exactly dominated the competition, they have held their own.
The second-year soccer franchise has run into more obstacles than they could reasonably expect, but through eight home games the Shadow have averaged more than 1,000 fans.
"We're pleased with how things have gone this year," vice president Andy Billig said. "But we still think we have a long way to go to reach our full potential in terms of attendance. The soccer fans are coming out and supporting the team. What we want to do is get the casual sports fan to come out and enjoy a night of entertainment."
Brett Sports, which owns the Spokane Indians baseball team and the Spokane Chiefs hockey team, recently bought the Shadow, a member of the USISL, after it played a partial, exhibition schedule last year. The Shadow play in the Premier League of the USISL and lead the Northern Division of the Western Conference, mainly due to their 10-game winning streak which was snapped last week.
"We've been able (to get casual fans) with the Chiefs and the Indians," Billig said. "We haven't done that with the Shadow. We've had entertainment and the games have been unbelievably exciting."
When it comes to home dates, the Shadow have had its share of bad luck. The first two games, an exhibition with the professional Seattle Sounders and the home opener with a huge fireworks show, were on rainy nights.
The next two games were Memorial Day weekend. High school spring sports championships were spread across the state, including Spokane. The Sonics, meanwhile, were involved in the NBA Western Conference finals.
A week later, there was a Sunday evening game preceded by a high school all-star game but the Sonics were facing a Game 7 with the Utah Jazz.
The next week it was the U.S. Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Trials as its competition. After a long stretch of road games, the Shadow returned home on the Saturday of a four-day Fourth of July weekend.
"The first two games, in terms of attractions and promotions, should have been our two biggest games, the Sounders and everybody loves fireworks," Billig said. "We put lot of promotional support into those games, and it rained both times. That was very frustrating, it set us back as far as attendance. But we're still optimistic for next year because we did as well as we did this year despite those setbacks.
"I think we'll see Friday will be a well-attended game. The weather should be good and we have a great promotion, we're giving away two airline tickets."
The Shadow still have time to improve their attendance. There is another game on July 19; the only mid-week game (Wednesday) July 24; and the season finale on July 27.
Then the Shadow play host for the four-team playoffs Aug. 10-11.
The Shadow have a playoff spot wrapped up. Likely to make the two-day playoffs are second-place San Francisco and third-place Puget Sound, which has handed Spokane two of its three losses.
The Shadow plan to play their home games at remodeled Albi Stadium next year and hope that improves attendance like improvements to Seafirst Stadium and the new Arena did for baseball and hockey.
