Oslo Soccer team to pay it's fans

[Drbio]

Club will pay each fan $1.39

[Associated Press]

OSLO, Norway -- Norwegian soccer team Harstad Sports Club is taking the term "paying customers'' literally.


The club team from Harstad, a town of 23,000 people located 155 miles north of the Arctic Circle, will pay spectators $1.39 each to show up for Saturday's match against second division rival Staalkameratene.


"For our recent games, less than 100 people have shown up, and we want to attract more,'' said Gunnar Berg, a member of the club's board. "Second division soccer is not exactly what draws the big crowds. We hope this will do something for the team.''


Berg said the club's board came up with the idea of paying fans rather than charging them as a way of drawing attention to the club. The fans will be paid by five local sponsors, including Berg's furniture store.


"The five sponsors are really hoping that this will cost them as much as possible,'' Berg said of this onetime offer to fans.




They must really suck.