I'm not going to bother watching the video, since watching Blatter say something stupid has gotten old, but given his track record there is no reason to think that this summary isn't accurate. The only thing that MLS is "struggling" to do is fulfill the unreasonable expectations of the ignorant.
He did not say that at all. He said that the US league was struggling and US soccer only has MLS and the LEAGUES aren't recognized by the American public. MLS isn't the only US soccer league. I think he was expecting the NASL and USL-Pro to be the Championship and League One by now. No where did he say that MLS sucked. If he wanted to say that MLS sucked, he would have said MLS sucked. All of this is the usual overreaction from the MLS defence force whenever Sepp says the words MLS.
Only on BigSoccer can someone take one of the daily stupid remarks from Sepp Blatter and turn it into a profound statement on a subject which wasn't even in the same zip code as Blatter's brain when he made that remark.
No reference to lower divisions was ever made or implied in his comments. I can't figure out why you would want to imagine one. The issue he spoke about, the only issue he spoke to, was that there was no league that was "recognized by the American society." You're throwing out the words he actually used to hang an interpretation on a single use of an 's.' And as if specifically to disabuse the exact term you're using, Sepp makes a helpful hand gesture just as he's saying that phrase, but instead of connecting to lower divisions as he's talking about, he instead goes above MLS and makes a leveling gesture just as he says "recognized by the American society" so that the inference is abundantly clear that he means on a par with the other established American big-time leagues. He never talks about the issue you're imputing to his comment. He never references a lower division, only that MLS is not high-level enough for him. That's it.
No he doesn't. If he was referring to MLS he just would have said MLS is struggling. You do realize that the English Football League references the entire pyramid. Same with the Spanish Football League and so on. He is talking about all the soccer leagues when said the US soccer league is struggling.
I thought this at first as well, but watch it again. It is clear that he is referencing something above MLS, that we haven't had a league that really became popular among all of American sports culture the way NFL or NBA has. He is not talking about the entire pyramid he is talking about a league. "But there is no very strong professional league, they have just the MLS but they have not professional leagues which are recognized by the American society." It is obvious that he is saying that MLS isn't popular enough to gather the kind of support that other professional leagues in the US has. He is saying MLS is still not recognized or maybe not 'mainstream' enough. This is not a statement about D2 or D3 it is obviously a statement about big clubs/big league and its popularity and visibility in the mainstream American society.
Well here we are. Blatter's comments are so nonsensical, we can't even agree to what was actually said. Zoidberg has it correct though. Forget about what he said. The words coming out of his mouth mean nothing, except to pander to a certain audience.
Although I don't agree with it, I see Blatter's point. Basically he is thinking with archaic European old school mentality but he has no clue about how things work in America and you can't start from the top. Sure the World Cup was 18 years ago but aside from that successful tournament, MLS didn't even exist then other than on paper back then. I mean its really only a 15-16 year old league and even younger when you take into consideration that in 2004 there were only 10 teams. When anyone thinks back to the way professional soccer was back in 1993, 94 (with the exception of the World Cup) and 95, compared to now, its like night and day. I think the last 5 years the league has evolved considerably with their stadia and teams and if this is any indication from where the league is headed, the sky could be the limit.
Is it realistic to believe that this league could possibly not be around in a decade or two if TV viewership remains they way it is now? I would think that without real major TV dollars then this league cant continue to survive.
True but no one knows exactly what the future will bring. I mean 20 years ago there were only maybe 15-30 cable chnls , 10 years ago maybe 100 and today there are an unlimited amount so 20 years from now could bring a complete and total change that may not really include today's standards. Having teams/owners own their own stadia means quite a lot for revenue and I also don't think the league is losing all that much money in a bad economy because if they were, they wouldn't be in business and despite the tv ratings, the league continues on. No one ever mentions or knows about the SUM money but that money is supposedly put back into the league so I can't see that entity failing and that is a huge money maker.
The league seems to be doing pretty well right now even though it does not have a big TV contract. MLS does not need TV money to survive.
Right, basically, having never built anything from scratch, he simply has no idea what's involved with that. In his defense, this question came at the end of what was a relatively tough interview. And there's a chance he interpreted the question about China and the US as hostile (I didn't, but then I wasn't sitting in that chair) and implying something about his own leadership, an implication he might have felt an instinctive political instinct to deflect. I agree 2004 is a pretty good year to use as the 'basis point'. It was in that year that the league started to attract some investment, got its third stadium (and first with public help) started in construction, and got the franchise values back to more than they were when they first started (and way better than 2001, when the league couldn't give them away). If you look at it as one league wandering through the wilderness until about that time, and another that found its way and built from that point, MLS has accomplished a lot in 9 years. In that sense, the only thing really to resent is the comparison with China, the way he soft-pedaled their issues while belittling MLS's very real progress, even though MLS has probably accomplished more and under tougher circumstances.
Bottom line is money. Blatter wants US and Chinese money for FIFA to thrive even more. Doesn't it all come down to that?
He's getting paid in large part with US money. ESPN paid FIFA $1.8 BILLION for the TV rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Not to mention that the 1994 World Cup was a financial windfall for FIFA.
Pet peeve. The team is not called "West Connection," they're called "W Connection." To the extent it stands for anything, I believe it stands for "Williams," the last name of the original owners.
Am I right in thinking the W comes from a radio network? So the name is similar to K Rock in Los Angeles? Or possibly WCRP in Trinidaddi.
No. It has nothing to do with a radio station. It started out as a sports club started by two brothers, David Williams and Patrick Williams. I'd guess the "W" is for Williams. BTW, call signs for radio stations in Trinidad & Tobago start with 9Y-9Z. The W and K (along with unused A and N) are reserved for U.S. radio stations.