No reason needed. Blatter does not need to think about those details. All he needs to think about is how much of an audience each country will generate in 2014. He only asks himself one question: is soccer #1 or close to #1? In Japan and Korea the answer has been yes for about a decade now. He doesn't need to worry that J-league revenue growth has been flat for the last two years while MLS has grown by leaps in bounds. He doesn't care that both countries have small leagues compared to the size and wealth of both countries. He doesn't even really need to appreciate how difficult the job is. Again, Blatter is too well entrenched and powerful to worry about whether he's right or wrong. All he needs to do is demand results.
they're undermining their employer's attempts to sell a product. it seems like such a no brainer. baseball's probably bigger in japan. it's been over a decade since i was last in japan, but when i caught nhk in china they'd recap the japanese and mlb games, and maybe some uefa clubs and then international games for soccer, but soccer far less than baseball and j-league was negligible. i could watch japanese baseball games--pro and the high school tournament--some places in china, but j-league i'd have to stream.
You're right. Sepp's main thought is how to keep money flowing to his cronies and keeping his allies happy. As of this moment, the US is on the Carribean's and the AFC's craplist. Because, you know, one of ours finally did the right thing and was brave enough to blow the whistle. The fact that the whistle blowing helped Blatter out immensely means nothing. Those groups have the votes so it's a no-brainer to go all anti-US. In the end, though, it means little for MLS.
Don't know about Korea, but in Japan, the pro baseball leagues still outdraw the J-League by 4-to-1. The J-League is nowhere near being No. 1.
How long have you follow MLS to make that statment about MLS making progress. I think the level of play was better when DCU and GALAXY won the concacaf tourneys and many will say because it was play in USA but do you think if they use the same format MLS can win the CCL ? and I think you are right about RSL and TFC but many people criticize the level of TFC of 2012 but that is the team that eliminated the GALAXY in 2012 in CCL a tourney more important for blatter and the world than a domestic title, MLS cup. and for all you for MLS to win a CCL title is a matter of time. HOW MUCH TIME ? to really measure the progress of the league
Not to take anything away from ol' Chuck, but IIRC it was the Jamaican delegation that blew the whistle.
Outside of one or two teams from that era, MLS is MUCH stronger league, team for team, than it was back in those days.
My glibness was in response to us Merican BigSoccerati's pain over its inferiority due to the global "soccer-gap". It was not to disparage Dear Leader's marvelous reign in the year 109 FIFA. Until there is an a "legitimate" alternative to the World Cup, *a la NCAA to NIT, long live our glorious syndicate because you'll need more then toppling banana republics like Bill does on the front page. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss and all that.
I'd point to the goals scored as an indicator. They've gone down since those early years largely due to defenses getting better. Few other stats like that would help but as in any sport, you can't prove one era was truly stronger over another. Some still say The Babe was the best HR-hitter ever. Others might say that against current pitchers, he'd never have hit so many out of the park. You just can't know for sure.
for example people the followed OLD NASL think the level of play was better for USA players than MLS but the fact is that USMNT does better now than then.
Right, but we are like soldiers here. We complain about anything, after all, we are the ones crawling around in the mud. However, despite the mess we are in, it is long past that we should characterize everyone in the CFU in the same light. The manner of Jack Warners fall should tell us as much. But I'm a bit more interested in why the worldwide governing body of this sport is run as one big cabal, than whether or not MLS can measure up to other leagues.
It's a salient point, and its all due to the pyramid of the World Cup. FIFA "legitimizes" national teams through our participation in their tournaments. De-sanctioning means not participating. So if there is no legitimacy to their tournaments, up in smoke. If Europe and South America wholly left FIFA, and let's say let the IFA be the sanctioning body - it would immediately challenge FIFA's stranglehold on the global game. Bill speculated this idea during the Blazer CONCACAF stuff. Have Europe, North America and South America create a "friendly" tournament with the covert implication that we can pull this off without FIFA's help, and use let's say goal line technology. You think those ********ers at FIFA would be shitting themselves?
Yeah, but you're suggesting that MLS of 10 or so years ago is better than MLS now. What facts are you using to reach that conclusion?
let me use baseball for example many people think that MLB has the best level of play, why, better salaries more attendance, revenue etc, than other leagues, but in baseball classic JAPAN won both titles, NBA prove it MLB did not, but baseball fans live in a dream world base in tv marketing and paying higher ticket prices for their product.
Have you checked out the rosters of these NASL teams. It was chalk full of players not from the US. Now look at the random MLS roster. Americans a plenty. Me thinks that having a league where local players can develop their craft, ultimately will reflect in the national team's performance. What I do find interesting though is the similar significance in the signing of Pele to the NASL, and Beckham to MLS. Phil Woosman said in 1977 that Pele was "the man who gave us credibility." Beckham has done likewise. Now, insomuch as this credibility is a byword for not being ridiculed by the eurocentric establishment and all its minions, I think MLS will likely survive when Beckham's coattails have left for good.