The tradition and prestige of the country's oldest soccer competition doesn't register with AEG president Tim Leiweke, unless general manager Doug Hamilton can somehow put 20,000 into Home Depot Center. And this Open Cup final on Wednesday will give observers an interesting opportunity to compare crowds: the announced figure of 22,552 for the Wizards game Sunday night seemed to double those actually in attendance.

MLS allows teams to include all tickets distributed in its crowd figures. That includes tickets sold as part of sponsorships as well as complimentary tickets. Since the league keeps mum on all revenue figures, how well a team is doing financially isn't necessarily revealed by attendance figures.

The Galaxy won the 2001 Open Cup title as host, drawing 4,195 fans at Cal State Fullerton and beating New England, 2-1, with an overtime goal by Danny Califf.

When Home Depot Center opened in 2003, the Galaxy set league records for local sponsorships sold, although another source says those records were broken when CD Chivas USA set up shop this season.

A league source says despite the large blocks of empty seats at some Galaxy games, the team is doing very well with paid tickets."

You can tell by where the empty seats are," says the source. "Those seats at midfield have been sold, people just aren't showing up. Doug is doing a good job."

And that is why Hamilton will probably keep his job even if Sampson loses his.

¶ 7:37 PM