The Des Moines Menace soccer club established a new record over the weekend as they broke their own Premier Development League record for attendance with a crowd of 6,311 at their home finale, a 2-1 loss to Kansas City. Menace spokesman Ryan Neely says attendance is up five percent this season. The team brought in a well-known teen phenom to speak and “perform” for a crowd at a recent game, and they set a single-game attendance record of 6600. Neely says the growth in attendance began when Des Moines businessman Kyle Krause bought the franchise five years ago and allowed the club to promote games in the same way minor league baseball franchises do. Neely believes with the continued growth of soccer the market will grow. He says there are 39,000 registered players in the Iowa Soccer Association, and 35,000 of those are youth. The Menace are in their 11th season.
