It's up to MLS/SUM to make CCL and US Open Cup relevant

The CONCACAF Champions League is sadly forced to be weak by the fact that the continent will only have three major countries in the US, Mexico, and Canada (their MLS teams). I don't see Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador etc raising the level that much at all.

Asia have the luxary of rich Arabs and Chinese. They have Japan, China, Australia, Korea, Thailand (recently), UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran etc who can splash on top foreigners and thus increase the visibility of the competition. India could soon join them to.

 

So, like 9 people have told me that there are fans that care about the Open Cup and the CCL...does anyone have an explanation as to why no one watches or attends the games?

I'll wait.

 

Saprissa used to put up some solid teams and won it a couple times. There was a time when MLS teams acted the same way down in CR as they do in Mexico today. Places like Alajulense were a guaranteed elimination.

 

Yeah, but that was because Vergera funded Saprissa with real cash for a while, and most of CR's players stayed at home. There would be several Nat players, maybe more on a team. Those days are over, and in all likelihood never coming back as the better CR players leave the country now, and there is no sugar daddy.

Even then CR success came when the tourney was only a couple of matches long, and officiating was 10 times worse than it is today.

 

....and this monstrous fact, that can't be overcome easily in any real world sense, is the easiest one to ignore on the internet when complaining and coming up with intricate plans.

I want it to big...I want it to work....I just can't ignore the finances, the reality of the region and the use of my common sense.

 

Mostly no-one, but some few crazies like me do care about the Open Cup (and the CCL), I know the Chicago Fire cares and some segment of fans care (many less than those that care about the season or playoffs for sure), but it is not "no one".

And it would remove the reality check that occurs every fall when liga MX teams beat MLs teams in the CCL, with out that check, MLS fans can go on claiming how MLS is the best league in the world and how it will soon be one of the top leagues in the world with out having to show it on the field.
I do believe that is what the old NASL used to do.

 

http://sonofthebronx.blogspot.com/2014/04/nbc-sports-network-nbcsn-fox-sports-1_11.html

FS1

84 CCL SEMIFINAL Wed 10:00AM-12:00PM 120 0.0 38

99 CCL SEMIFINAL Thu 10:00AM-12:00PM 120 0.0 31


I believe they are for Leg 1 of the semifinals, as you can see they are higher than the quarterfinals. I do not know the Spanish language numbers, but my guess would be higher than 100K.

I guess we will have good numbers to compare next year, when MLS moves to FS, then we can see how MLS does in those channels, but to make it apples to apples we will need to wait for MLS playoffs on weekdays shown on FS1 to really compare.

Overall I agree with your point, CCL rewards are not worth much of the effort since we can not win it.

But IMO that is part of the reason, MLS fans do not want to invest in a tournament they know (deep down) that they can not win.



Edit: Actually the numbers I posted above are for the replays.

Here are the Live numbers, funny how the replays in the morning, got higher ratins than the live games.

FS2

22 CCL SEMIFINAL (live) Tue 8:00PM-10:02PM 122 0.0 25

45 CCL SEMIFINAL (live) Tue 10:02PM-12:03AM 121 0.0 14

 

Chicken and egg, no one is an over statement, but realistically people that care about the open cup or the CCL are a small minority compared to who cares about MLS, those are facts.

At least on English language, I am sure the Spanish language ratings are bigger, but I bet they are smaller than average liga MX games, and would not be surprised if they were lower than average Unimas MLS ratings.

I usually get E-mails from Univision marketing, so hopefully I can see in one of them the CCL ratings on their channels.

 

You do know that MLS will soon be on those channels right?

 

Going by ratings, the better match ups (or match ups that people watch most) are Liga MX vs. liga MX games, at least with the small sample size this year.

 

The only minutes I have watched of the CCL since the quarters began was the last half hour of Tijuana and CA in match two.....and I am an MLS supporter. Eek.

 

Well dig deeper, why did you lose interest? is it because one league has show to be superior to all other leagues in Concacaf, so you lost hope of your team winning the tournament?

I know my Fire would have no chance to win the CCL, but I so fvcking want them to be in the tournament.

But unlike Jond, I definitely know I am in the small minority of people that enjoy the CCL.

Like I say above that maybe the problem, you turned in hopping to see an MLS team upset a Liga MX team, when that did not happen you got disappointed and decided that the CCL is not worth it.

Just my opinion.

 

That's the problem.I have thought about it and I can't pin down why.

I completely understand MLS is probably several years away from really being able to compete so I have no illusions, and I don't get frustrated or upset when MLS sides lose...or even win.

I will say this, and have mentioned it several times in the last two years. Never before have MLS playoff races been this meaningful and fun, and never have the playoffs themselves seemed this important.
I think this is probably the main reason why my attention has been drawn away from the CCL...especially the early rounds which I view as less fun and important as I ever. If NY gets through them then great...lets give it a go next year....but don't screw up the playoff run ( not that we will have one this year).

The change has been subtle, but I have noticed. I want the CCL to matter more, I'm just not willing to invest in it.
Other priorities.

At the same time I have followed our Yanks everywhere since the late 70's. Seeing YA was amazing. Now it matters, but I ain't getting worked up anymore. Hell, the kids/soccer geniuses on the YA board here are some of the worst posters this site has to offer IMO...most are excruciating to read. The ignorance/insecurity of so many there is painful while they project a false arrogance of what they know.

Hell, I have grown more interested in the NASL/USL teams now, and always our youth teams.

I guess there is no place like home.

 

So the solution is for SUM, CONCACAF, and the USSF to lose money subsidizing tournaments that no one is watching in the hopes that maybe someone will care?

Like I said before, Chicagoans care about the Open Cup for the same reason Nutmeggers (people from Connecticut) care about women's basketball.

 

For sure this is a Concacaf tournament, SUM money should nto be used.

True.

But as I said before, perhaps this is the issue many MLS fans have with the CCL, they know they can't win it, so why invest on it?

Then again, even less people may care about the Open Cup and that tournament is always (except 1 time) won by an MLS team.

So maybe not.

 

I have noticed some call on the USSF/SUM to make the CCL more relevant. Why aren't they calling on Liga MX owners?

 

By "some" you mean the OP right?

 

It has been bandied about by a few but not many. Usually SUM/MLS is questioned a lot about making the Open Cup more worthwhile.

 

Obviously less people care about CCL than MLS. Obviously it's a smaller minority who likes/follows CCL than MLS. I was arguing more against the hyperbolic "no one" and the "25 posters" who talk about it on BS.

And I'd still say more people care each year. There was more disappointment and more people talking about our teams getting knocked out this year than any year I can remember. Generally you care more if your team is in the competition. You care less if your team is not in the competition.

But I have no idea what you're arguing against. Did I say somewhere that MLS as a league isn't as popular as CCL the competition or that a larger segment of fans follow CCL compared to MLS?

 

As I say in what you quoted, "no one" was an overstatement by achowat and faymountaneer, but the CCL is definitely not very popular.

Also comparing FSC ratings with FS1 ratings is not legit, FS1 is in way more households than FSC ever was (especially when they had MLS).

As I point out in posts above, MLS will be on FS1 and FS2 in the next few years, we will have a better comparison then.

Shame that UDN and Unimas ratings are hard to come by, we could compare those numbers vs what they average for MLS and Liga MX regular games.

 

CCAF has never disclosed what the rights are for CCL I believe. Word of mouth was that the first, bloated version was a huge money loser across the board. Don't know anything about the scaled down version that is being held now.

 

That is so true. One of the leagues better players, Cristian Lagos, left the country for India (lasted 2 months there). That says a lot.