International Champions Cup (ICC) has transformed the standard European club preseason tour into a world-class tournament. This season’s ICC has grown even larger, as tournaments in Australia and China have been added to the North American tournament.
The round robin tournament at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia will feature 2013 ICC champions Real Madrid and 2014 participants Manchester City and AS Roma. China will play host to Real Madrid as well as 2014 ICC participants AC Milan and Inter Milan in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Shanghai.
The 2015 International Champions Cup North America will be the third installment, and will include Manchester United, FC Barcelona, Chelsea FC, PSG, FC Porto, ACF Fiorentina, Club América, the LA Galaxy, the New York Red Bulls and the San Jose Earthquakes across 11 cities.
According to ScoreBig.com, the most expensive tickets during the International Champions Cup North America is for a game between Chelsea FC and the New York Red Bulls. Red Bulls tickets have an average price of $364.75 with a get-in price of $247 for the game at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey. LA Galaxy tickets are the third-most expensive for their game against FC Barcelona at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California with an average price of $282.81 and a get-in price of $130. The third and final MLS team in the series is San Jose, where Earthquakes tickets have an average price of $109.36 with a get-in price of $47 for their game against Club America at Avaya Stadium.
The tournament features eight teams organized into two groups of four. After group play, the tournament then combines the teams in order to crown a champion. The exact format of each tournament has been altered, as tiny variations have been added to previous tournaments.
One match during the 2014 tournament set the all-time record for attendance at a soccer game in the United States. The new record of 109,318 spectators was set August 2 in the match between Manchester United and Real Madrid at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The tournament is growing in popularity as soccer in the United States is trending upwards with the gradual emergence of the United States Men’s National Team.
