Sunny but not too hot, the weather on the afternoon of May 6, 2001, was perfect for watching a soccer match. But there were only 4,800 people on hand to see Albirex Niigata take on Yokohama FC in the 18,671-seat Niigata City Stadium.
Only two weeks later, on May 19, some 32,000 Niigata fans, eager to see Albirex's new home stadium, dubbed Big Swan, filled the seats to see the match between Albirex Niigata and Kyoto Purple Sanga, who were both in the J. League's Division 2 at the time.
"I think most people there didn't know soccer at all . . . but there was a sense of unity that they shared in cheering for the home team," said Hiromu Ikeda, chairman of Albirex Niigata Inc. It was Ikeda who had orchestrated the opening of Big Swan, now called Tohoku Denryoku Big Swan Stadium.