The 2010 World Cup is going to leave us with magnificent stadia.

Manchester United FC have been getting average gates of 72 039 in their 76 000 capacity Old Trafford stadium. This is the sort of benchmark our soccer clubs need to emulate, or indeed exceed, if they are to maximise matchday revenues, so that they become viable commercial enterprises in the long-term. Granted, clubs do get other income from sponsorship, TV rights, merchandising and player sales. But it is teams playing to a full stadium of passionate fans that creates the spectacle of soccer. It is an important element of the image of soccer.

It’s these numbers that demonstrate the popularity of a team. It’s the numbers that attracts sponsors and investors to a team. These, therefore, are the numbers that must increase in our local game. The 2010 World Cup is going to leave Durban, for instance, with a legacy of the 70 000 capacity Moses Mabhida Stadium. It is up to clubs such as AmaZulu FC to ensure that this stadium doesn’t become a white elephant. Imagine the positive spinoffs for a club playing in such a modern stadium with adequate infrastructure for hospitability and the media, in front of a capacity crowd?

Cape Town will have the magnificent new 69 070 capacity Green Point Stadium. Will the likes of Ajax Cape Town and Santos be able to take advantage of this state of the art arena? The same applies in Port Elizabeth with Bay United and the new 48 000 Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. Will the 42 000 capacity Royal Bafokeng Stadium be too big to fill for Platinum Stars?

What about Gauteng? What will the atmosphere at Coca-Cola Park be when Pirates are playing teams other than Chiefs, Sundowns, Swallows, Supersport United and Bloemfontein Celtic. What happens when they face the likes of Maritzburg United or Golden Arrows.

In Pretoria, can Mamelodi Sundowns and Supersport average at least 40 000 a game at the 51 760 seater Loftus Versfeld stadium? What of the brand spanking new 46 000 Peter Mokaba Stadium? Which Limpopo based team will have acumen and ambition to rise to the heights of this arena. Let’s not even talk about what the future holds for the new 44 000 capacity Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.

Bloemfontein Celtics have a passionate fan base that generally follows their team in numbers everywhere they play. Maybe they have the potential realising the full potential of the upgraded Free State Stadium. We won’t include Kaizer Chiefs since they will I quote, “be the first South African soccer club to own their own stadium”. Let’s not even go into the fact that building hasn’t even begun on this ambitious project.

Maybe the time has come for South African clubs to start employing top marketing minds with proven track records of marketing success to make sure that these magnificent stadia maximise their return on investment. At the moment the people tasked with these massive challenge at club level are ex-Miss SAs and close relatives of club bosses.