Golly! I'm sure glad MLS plays from fall to spring!

How did you deduce that I don't understand this? Did I criticize the way games are picked to be televised?

Just pointing out a simple fact that it would seem to be in the league's best interest to have their international stars on the field when healthy ... especially since there's a pretty big drop off with the subs.

I mean this seems so common sense I don't even understand how someone can disagree. I swear some of you guys are robots programmed to disagree with anything that disturbs your idea that everything in MLS is perfect and any talk of change is blasphemy. This thread sometimes feels like a Fox News echo chamber.

 

Same reason Notre Dame football will be on NBC every Saturday until Armageddon.

ND could go 0-12 for 3 seasons and they would still get huge ratings from people who turn in to see them lose

 

No, actually we don't. We know all of the league's faults, we're just not interested in adjustments that will not have the benefits that the "purists" believe.

Only because of your disagreement with reaility

 

A decades worth of attendance data shows no appreciable drop off during international windows. Fans seem to show up regardless of who is on the field.

 

That's true but I think attendance is more related to winning than who was on the field. That's the nature of the partisan fan that's invested in the team not individuals. So when 40 players miss a weekend due to Gold Cup it doesn't change how many games are won or lost that weekend. But when you take a step back and look at the bigger picture it's not actually a great way to advertise your league.


The league has other goals like attracting the neutral viewer and pleasing the producers and sponsors who use those stars in their marketing ... Not to mention pressure from coaches and owners who obviously don't like to lose their key assets ... And of course rewarding the fans that do come out with the best players possible ...

I'm not saying this should be #1 priority over everything else but to say it doesn't matter is absurd.

 

So MLS looks bad when every team loses an average of 2 players for a couple of games here and there?

Honestly, losing 2 players doesn't sound that bad...

 

Then you should go get mad at the people who still watch games even though some players are away in an international match because they are the ones saying it doesn't matter and their opinions are irrefutable.

 

We're not disagreeing. We're saying that any negative effect this has on attendance and viewership isn't enough to justify causing even greater negative effects on attendance and viewership by switching the season around.

Seriously, the way you want to have it both ways with the ticket-buyers is just laughable. When you talk about MLS Cup and international windows, the attendees are fragile, picky, and unreliable, ready to turn up their nose and leave without perfect weather and a lineup full of stars. But when you talk about cold weather games, suddenly those same fans are hardy, reliable, team-loyalists who aren't about to abandon their favorite club just because the weather's a bit chilly. So which is it?

Oh please. Nobody here thinks MLS is "perfect" and you throwing that idea out is a classic sign of desperation. The reason it sounds like an echo chamber is because nobody agrees with you. I've had that happen to me too, but I knew enough to quit arguing a lost cause.

------RM