Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Building the Utah PDL Rivalry

There’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while, and it’s finally percolated long enough that I wanted to get it out in front of everyone to see what you think. We’ve got two solid PDL teams here in Utah (and could probably support a third in Salt Lake City if it came to that). They play a pretty fierce rivalry (even if it’s been a bit one-sided so far), but I think there’s a way to get the clubs, and their fans, a bit more involved.

What we need is … ‘the Utah Derby’. A fan supported cup awarded to the Utah PDL team with the best record against in-state foes each year. It wouldn’t take much more than a handful of fans from each team (or maybe a sponsor or two) to kick in some money for a trophy to get this started. I’d like to think that the teams themselves would be interested.

This is certainly something that’s done in other parts of the soccer world—heck, the Rocky Mountain Cup even includes a Utah team. Making it happen along the Wasatch Front could be a great way to build an even better rivalry between Ogden and BYU, give more fans a reason to travel to the nearby away games, and maybe even put some more fans in the seats if we can get the local press going on it.

So here’s what it comes down to, if this is going to happen we’ll need to start organizing now for the 2008 PDL season. Anyone else want to get involved?

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