Connect with us

San Diego, CA

Alex Morgan Bids Farewell As NWSL Attendances Surpass 1.5 Million

Published

on

Alex Morgan Bids Farewell As NWSL Attendances Surpass 1.5 Million


The third-highest crowd of the NWSL season witnessed the last-ever game of Alex Morgan’s career on the day total attendances surpassed 1.5 million for the the first time.

A crowd of 26,516 were at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego to see the United States Women’s National Team legend Morgan play for just 16 minutes of the game against North Carolina Courage until she was substituted on her final appearance before retiring from the professional game.

Advertisement

Earlier in the day, total attendances for the regular NWSL season had gone past the 1.5 million mark for the first time in the league’s eleven-year history during the match between Chicago Red Stars and Orlando Pride. It is the third successive year in which the league has attracted more than one million spectators.

Last season, 1,424,208 fans watched the 132 regular season matches in the league. This figure was surpassed last Sunday during the game between Angel City and Chicago Red Stars. With seven weeks of an expanded league campaign left to play, it now seems inevitable that the NWSL will record attendances in excess of two million.

In spite of the increased number of games to be played, the 1.5 million mark was broken in the 132nd match of the season – the same total of games played last year. Average attendances are up for the fourth successive season, currently standing at 11,477 per game.

Morgan’s well-publicised farewell swelled the crowd for San Diego’s 1-4 defeat to North Carolina Courage. In her farewell speech she joked that “95” of her friends and family were in attendance. “I know people have come here from Alaska, Massachusetts, Colorado, Florida, all around the country.”

When Morgan played in the first NWSL campaign in 2013, a total of 375,763 attended the 88 regular season games, an average of just 4,270. Her side then, Portland Thorns, had the highest-season average of 13,320, as they would in eight of the first ten years. Now new franchises, like Angel City and San Diego Wave, have surpassed them bolstering the league’s figures.

Despite their lowly league position, The Wave are averaging 20,408 this campaign pulling in four of the the five largest crowds of the year. This has put them on course to become the first NWSL side in history to average over 20,000 in successive seasons.

The largest crowd of the NWSL season was recorded at Wrigley Field when 35,038 saw the visit of Bay FC to Chicago. However this is only one of two matches in this campaign to register among the all-time top ten attendances for the NWSL indicating a more sustained growth of crowds throughout the league. Currently, every club is averaging above 5,000 for the season.

These figures make the NWSL far and away the best supported professional women’s sports league in North America. Crowds in the Mexican Liga MX Feminil averaged at 2,072 in the Apertura and 2,456 in the Clausura.

The Professional Women’s Hockey League in the United States pulled in a total attendance of 392,259 last season averaging 5,448. In 2023, the WNBA averaged 6,615 per match but pulled in a total attendance of 1,587,488 over 212 games. Currently at 1,526,407, this mark will be surpassed by the NWSL next week.

Despite a season of record-breaking attendances in the English Women’s Super League (WSL), the total attendance from the same number of games (132) reached 971,977, an average of 7,363. This marked a 41% increase on the previous season when the total attendance reached 689,297.

Advertisement

After playing six of their eleven games at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal averaged an attendance of 29,999 over the season. It is a figure they are set to break this season with at least eight matches at the club’s main stadium, pushing the WSL also past the one million mark.



Source link

San Diego, CA

Judge sentences rapper to time served in 2023 San Diego arrest

Published

on

Judge sentences rapper to time served in 2023 San Diego arrest


Federal courthouse in downtown San Diego. (File photo by Chris Stone/Times of San Diego)

Rapper Boosie Badazz was sentenced Friday to credit for time served in the case stemming from his 2023 arrest in San Diego for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The 43-year-old, whose real name is Torence Ivy Hatch Jr., was arrested in Chollas View after police found two guns inside a vehicle in which he was riding.

Hatch was in town to shoot a music video and perform at a Gaslamp Quarter nightclub.

In a social media video clip recorded during the video shoot, Hatch was spotted with a gun in his waistband. Police then used a helicopter to track down his vehicle, after which officers conducted a traffic stop and discovered the firearms.

Advertisement

He pleaded guilty to a federal gun possession count last year. As part of his sentence, Hatch will also serve 300 hours of community service.

Defense attorney Meghan Blanco said in a statement released after Friday’s hearing, “The resolution brings a sense of relief, allowing him to finally put this chapter behind him. He can now focus on continuing his music career, dedicating time to his family, and being a positive and inspiring presence for his children and the wider community.”

Federal prosecutors sought a two-year prison sentence, arguing in court papers that custody was warranted due to Hatch’s “insistence on carrying a weapon despite his status as a convicted felon” and allegations that he threatened his security detail shortly after his arrest.

Blanco, in her sentencing memorandum, denied any such threats occurred, noting that the statements are not included in any police reports stemming from the arrest and that no recorded evidence of the threats exist.

The defense attorney wrote that Hatch’s gun was never fired, brandished or used to threaten anyone. She also said there have been no allegations that the weapons were intended for any other offense and that Hatch’s last criminal case had occurred around 10 years prior.

Advertisement

“The case represents an isolated lapse in judgment, not a pattern of ongoing criminal conduct,” Blanco wrote.

Hatch was initially charged by the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office. His defense attorneys have stated that Hatch intended to plead guilty at the time and was expected to be sentenced to probation, but the state’s case was dismissed before that plea deal could be reached and federal prosecutors took up the case.

U.S. District Judge Cathy Bencivengo, who sentenced Hatch on Friday, previously dismissed the case against him following a 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that said it was unconstitutional to prohibit convicted felons who served sentences for nonviolent drug offenses from possessing firearms.

But a larger panel of the 9th Circuit overturned its earlier ruling and San Diego federal prosecutors re-filed the charges against Hatch.

Hatch was previously convicted in Louisiana of marijuana possession. He also was indicted in an alleged murder-for-hire plot, but was acquitted by a Baton Rouge jury in 2012.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

San Diego, CA

Mayor Gloria defends Balboa Park paid parking, blames council for rocky rollout

Published

on

Mayor Gloria defends Balboa Park paid parking, blames council for rocky rollout


San Diego will put off issuing citations for paid parking in Balboa Park for about one month while improvements are made, but Mayor Todd Gloria says the new system is functioning well and being “actively adopted.”

In a long and harshly worded memo released Thursday, Gloria said recent calls by City Council members to suspend the program were politically motivated and examples of bad governance and erratic decision-making.

Gloria also deflected blame for the chaotic way enforcement began Monday, when city officials raced to put stickers about resident discounts on parking kiosks and lobbied a vendor to deliver crucial missing signs.

The mayor said the council had “shaped, amended and approved” paid parking in Balboa Park and contended an accelerated timeline chosen by the council made it hard for his administration to implement it flawlessly.

Advertisement

The mayor’s memo came in response to a Tuesday memo from Councilmembers Kent Lee and Sean Elo-Rivera in which they called implementation of paid parking “haphazard” and “not ready for prime time.”

Lee and Elo-Rivera said the process for city residents to get approved for discounts was so complex, cumbersome and confusing that Gloria should waive fees for residents until they have had time to adapt and learn.

While Gloria rejected that suggestion in part of his memo, he later said “enforcement remains focused on education, not punishment, during this early phase, to ensure park users are aware of the new parking fees.”

Dave Rolland, a spokesperson for Gloria, said Thursday that no specific date had been set for when the city would shift from education to enforcement. But he added that “about a month” would be an accurate timeline.

City officials have already corrected one key mistake: Signs that were missing Monday — alerting drivers that the 951-space lower Inspiration Point lot is free for three hours — have since been installed.

Advertisement

Lee and Elo-Rivera in their memo decried “an inadequate effort to educate the public on how to use this new system.”

They said San Diegans had not been clearly informed about when a portal for city resident discounts would go live or how to use it.

And they complained that residents weren’t told they couldn’t buy discounted parking passes in person, or when enforcement with citations would actually begin.

City residents must apply for discounts online, pay $5 to have their residency verified, then wait two days for that verification and choose the day they will visit in advance.

Lee and Elo-Rivera called the city’s efforts “a haphazard rollout that will surely lead to San Diegans missing out on their resident discount and paying higher parking rates than they have to.”

Advertisement

Gloria said the city collected $23,000 in parking fees on Monday and Tuesday and another $106,000 in daily, monthly and quarterly passes — mostly from residents who get discounts on such passes.

“Early data shows that the program is functioning and being used,” he said. “These are not the metrics of a system that is failing to function. They are the metrics of a system that is new, actively being adopted, and continuing to improve as public familiarity increases.”

While Gloria conceded that some improvements are still necessary, he rejected calls from Lee and Elo-Rivera for a suspension, citing his concerns it would jeopardize city finances and confuse the public.

“Your proposal to suspend paid parking for residents two days into the new program would have immediate and serious fiscal consequences,” Gloria said. “This reversal could introduce confusion among park users and would disregard investments already made to establish the system, potentially compromising the program’s effectiveness.”

Paid parking in Balboa Park is expected to generate about $3.7 million during the fiscal year that ends June 30, but revenue is expected to rise substantially when the fees are in place for a full fiscal year.

Advertisement

Gloria said the money is a small part of the city’s overall solution to recurring deficits it faces of more than $100 million per year.

“What we will not do is reverse course days into implementation in a way that undermines fiscal stability, creates uncertainty, and sends the message that addressing a decades-old structural budget deficit that has plagued our city is optional because it is politically uncomfortable,” he said. “That kind of erratic decision-making is not good governance, and San Diegans deserve better.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the San Diego Zoo said Thursday that paid parking there has continued to go smoothly since it began on Monday.

The zoo, which is using Ace Parking for enforcement, opted for immediate citations instead of an educational grace period.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

San Diego, CA

Barricaded individual in custody following police response in Mission Valley

Published

on

Barricaded individual in custody following police response in Mission Valley


SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — San Diego Police responded to a barricaded individual in the Mission Valley area Thursday afternoon, prompting a heavy law enforcement presence.

  • The Nexstar Media video above details resources for crime victims

The department confirmed around 1 p.m. that officers were on scene in the 1400 block of Hotel Circle North, and are working to safely resolve the situation. Authorities asked the public to avoid the area and allow officers the space needed to conduct their operations.

Police described the incident as a domestic violence restraining order violation. At this time, it’s unknown if the person is armed.

No injuries have been reported.

The suspect was taken into custody within an hour.

Advertisement

Further details about the barricaded person were not immediately released. Police say updates will be shared as more information becomes available.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending