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Less than 20,000 tickets sold for next week’s World Cup qualifier in Jacksonville

Even with Jacksonville’s deep military and patriotic roots, organizers are struggling to sell tickets to a World Cup qualifier featuring the United States men’s national team at EverBank Field.

Less than 20,000 tickets have been sold for the Sept. 6 game between USMNT and Trinidad & Tobago, according to Jacksonville Jaguars President Mark Lamping.

“There’s plenty of tickets left, I can tell you that for certain,” Lamping told WOKV. “Hopefully it’ll be a big night with a lot of people in attendance.”

Jacksonville hosted a USMNT game in 2014, with well over 40,000 people converging on EverBank Field to watch the Americans beat Nigeria 2-1 in a friendly. Lamping does not expect the game to reach that attendance level this time around.

The City is paying out $125,000 from its tourism fund to the USMNT to market and promote the match, while the national team will retain net ticket proceeds and cover some stadium expenses.

While ticket sales have been slow ahead of the match, Lamping believes the community will support the event when the time comes.

“It’s a big opportunity, not only in terms of economic impact for the community, but also awareness and exposure.

Lamping is hoping for attendance of 30,000, saying the city is often a “late sell” for events.

The game will be broadcast to a national audience on FS1 on Sept. 6 at 8 p.m. ET.

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