Grade Year 10.

[prk166]

We can talk all we want until we're blue in the face about "QUALITY OF PLAY! QUALITY OF PLAY!". But in order for the quality of play to increase, the business of the league must be solid and in place. And in terms of how the business is being run so far it's doing VERY well indeed.

I agree. Until they can spend more money on players, the good ones are going to test their skills elsewhere.

[Femfa]

I give it an A

Love the game - and MLS, warts and all, is our game here. It's great to watch the young talent strut their stuff.

Chivas USA just beat the Revs - I have a feeling the expansion teams will make some noise in the league before the season ends.

[ankhman]

C. The league is slowly on the way up but slow play and poor refereeing still plague development. Quality is still not there, MLS teams are routinely beat by Costa Rican, Caribbean teams etc. So C is for an average league with nothing too extraordinary.


I do not know if you have been watch the CONCACAF's Champions Cups for the last five years. MLS teams BEAT ROUTINELY the Caribbean islands teams and many of the less experienced Central Americians teams except the ones from better established soccer countries, such as Mexico, Costa Rica, and Honduras. I will agree that play is a little slow but I believe it is mainly due to the heat and high temperatures of summertime. FIFA is right MLS MUST change and follow the Septemeber to May league format like Europe. As for the refereeing, I will take poor referees over cheating referees like those from CONCACAF nations that I will not name any time; at least our USA referees can improved with more training and more game experience. My grade B for for the league.

[Milolaz]

B+ there's always room for improvement. I love going to the Fire games with my wife and kid, it's a good time. :)

[Michael CM1]

C, because of Gold Cup and horrible expansion teams.

Gold Cup, OK I get that

Horrible expansion teams? That SHOULD happen. Nine of the other clubs have been around since 1996. They should be much better.

[GrassRockets]

FIFA is right MLS MUST change and follow the Septemeber to May league format like Europe.
Is there a chance this will happen when all the teams have their own soccer stadiums?

[Jrat19]

I would argue a C+ for the MLS overall...Soccer appears to be growing quite quickly in America and i would argue the talent in the MLS is on par with if not better then the SPL. No doubt no MLS team could ever compete succesfully in a european champions league or probably even a UEFA cup but give it a few years and who knows...if our national team can manage a decent showing at the 2006 world cup then it would prove very beneficial for the MLS as a whole with players like dempsey who might subsequently recieve international attention.

[soccertom]

I picked D. You say there is no "D" choice. Exactly! I'm a nonconformist, non smoking, social drinker, sex as often as possible kind of guy...

[KingLouie]

I picked D. You say there is no "D" choice. Exactly! I'm a nonconformist, non smoking, social drinker, sex as often as possible kind of guy...

Thanx for the unwanted Bio...now would you care to elaborate on the reasoning behind the "D" grade.

[Tea Men Tom]

I'll say B.

When the league began I felt it was going to take 40 or 50 years to get MLS and the sport of soccer to true "Major League" status in the US. I still feel that's the case.

The key to getting there is staying in business and so far, MLS has succeeded. The owner/investors are deep pocketed, they're making a long term statement with the stadiums that are being constructed, and it looks like they've done a good job with corporate sponsorship. Plus they've done a reasonable job at controlling costs, which is probably the main reason why MLS is still here.

That all said it has a long way to go. Attendance in some markets is a problem right now -- and to me that's indicative of the lengthy battle ahead to sell the sport to the public. Plus it looks like the New York team is still hemoraging money and at least 2 of the teams -- San Jose and KC-- have questionable futures right now. Probably throw Chivas into that so let's say 3 teams.

MLS was never going to be an overnight success, but unlike the Women's league, it's ownership understood that. So I think they're pretty much on schedule. There are bound to be bumps in the road in the future. There certainly have been plenty to date.

But the level of play of our pros has improved dramatically in 10 years. We're devleoping lots of American talent and quite a bit of it is staying home to play, plus steps are being taken to ensure that MLS will stay in business for the long haul.

I don't think we can guarantee the MLS will suceed long term, but 10 years in, the business model is still being executed, and there's a lot to be excited about down the road. There are problems, no doubt, but the league is still in business, the owners still have deep pockets, stars are being developed, and the level of play is improving.

I don't think you could ask for a whole lot more at this point. Still, I don't think you can say definitively that MLS will still be around 40 years from now because the question of whether pro soccer will ever truly succeed in the US remains unanswered. But I also think that if MLS ultimately fails, we will know once and for all that the answer is "No".

This league is the sport's best chance to succeed in the US and the ownership continues to do everything possible to try to make that happen.

They get a solid B.

[rhonyrun]

I'm going to give the MLS a A for getting me and my family out to more than 5 matches before the all star break.
Last season I watched a few games on t.v. but this season we are watching and attending matches.Good thing for cable and direc tv I'm watching everything from La Liga,EPL,La Copa Libertadores to MLS and I'm enjoying it.
ALL OF IT.

kevin
Los Angeles,CA

[socRmom3231]

I'm going to give it an A. Of course, I'm still excited from the game last night. It feels good. We did well. Now I can sit back and honestly say "Drogba was big and was crap and Ruiz has a much better dive. :D Their payroll may be 100 times ours? Good thing that guy is rich, because he certainly did not get his money's worth.

[Andy Bennett]

I'd give it a B... from a distance. Obviously I only know what I can read about on here and watch on British Channel5 TV which I record because it starts at about 4:30AM.

I think the matches between European top flight teams, (albeit in their pre-season), and MLS sides has demostrated that MLS, (whilst not maybe 'Major League' in the strict sense), is nevertheless competitive as much as anything because of the Americans competitive nature.

It would be interesting to see some American sides come over in the middle of our season in Europe. Not sure how they'd do but it would be interesting to find out.

The most important thing is that it gives young kids interested in soccer in the States a possibility of making a living from it. As to how GOOD a living, well, that's another matter. I suppsoe it can be said that young Adu proves that, if you're good enough, you'll get the bucks... AND there's always a chance of catching the eye of a foreign team and making REAL money.

In the long run that's got to be a good thing for the sport in the UK.

[Jamie2UCSD]

The number of posts that refer to "the San Jose problem" or list San Jose under Negatives, is disturbing to me. I think people need to take a step back and actually look at the situation with the Earthquakes, and realize that moving the team out of Northern California would be a big mistake. Earthquakes attendance this year is at 10,777 - higher than Kansas City and Dallas, and less than 1000/game off of teams with SSS; Chivas (in HDC) and Columbus. This is in Spartan Stadium, and in the year after losing Donovan, Mulrooney, Ekelund, Agoos... Also, that number isn't inflated by a 42,000 4th of July game like Colorado (who is also well below SJ in average attendance without that one game). Things would also be much improved with ownership that actually backed the team, rather than convincing everyone that the club/players would be better elsewhere - more $ if we move to San Antonio and sell to Mexican ownership, the league "needs" Donovan in the HDC, New York "deserves" a GM like Lalas, etc. I'm tired of the AEG whining, but with local ownership that actually looked to build instead of dismantle, the Quakes become even stronger. That's pretty tough to do for a team that has won 2 of the last 4 MLS Cups, and is tied for first in the West at the midway point of a season where everyone picked them to collapse. The Quakes consistently play some of the most attractive, attacking soccer in the league, and ask any of the players how they like playing in San Jose (especially new ones like Chung, Davis, etc). Finally, SJ has hosted some of the best and most memorable games the league has seen (how was the atmosphere vs. the Galaxy in the '03 playoffs, or earlier this regular season?), and has a strong base of passionate, knowledgeable fans. I really believe that if new ownership/SSS comes through, San Jose is a very strong and stable location for the Earthquakes for years to come.

[Kryptonite]

Unfortunately, scheduling fixtures on International game days is a huge problem. Many of the best teams are shorn of their top talents. With the Gold Cup smack in the middle of the regular season crippling rosters league-wide for several weeks, and CONCACAF qualifiers sprinkled throughout the season, the conflicts are frequent in what should be a banner year.

Hopefully as more stadiums open up, the league will have more flexibility and be able to have the Bears and Fire (for example) play at home on the same day.

I agree, it is a problem that needs to (and should) be remedied over the next few years. There is a full slate of games, not only on the same day as USA-Mexico, but most of those games interfere, which means a lot of DVRs will be set to record USA-Mexico, or MLS attendance will be down, as people will be watching the WCQ instead. It was suggested somewhere else, but those games should start at 2 PM ET, and end at 7 PM ET. Maybe have the games out west start at 10 PM ET, 7 PM PT, so that overlap is minimal.

[Kryptonite]

Earthquakes attendance this year is at 10,777 - higher than Kansas City and Dallas, and less than 1000/game off of teams with SSS; Chivas (in HDC) and Columbus.


SSS only means so much. In Columbus, the novelty has worn off. Crew fans demand a quality product and won't settle for less. In the early part of the season, the team was tanking, playing uninspiring soccer, and the fans stayed away. The most recent games have seen a boost in attendance brought on by a different coach, a different style of play, and a few wins.

[Celticbhoy14]

Top Ten reasons it's a "C"

10. Greg Andrulis lasted as long as he did.
9. The hack job DC United put on Chelsea.
8. Ray Hudson still has some association.
7. The league is paying "high" (by MLS standards) salaries to non-players.
6. Rochester is not in the league yet.
5. The Metros are not the Cosmos.
4. 20k is too big for a stadium.
3. San Jose still has a franchise.
2. KC still has a franchise.
And the number one reason...in the 10th year, this banner year of celebration...attendance is down...dramatically...we should be contracting two clubs (San Jose and KC) and adding Rochester...

[boroboy1]

I've been watching MLS for a few years now on the Aussie ESPN channel and it is getting better and better all the time.

I'll give it a B

Some f the younger playing talent coming through is of the highest quality and the MLS will get better and better

In another 10 years MLS will easily be in the worlds top 10 league s without doubt and will be worth an A :)

[okcomputer]

I've been watching MLS for a few years now on the Aussie ESPN channel and it is getting better and better all the time.

I'll give it a B

Some f the younger playing talent coming through is of the highest quality and the MLS will get better and better

In another 10 years MLS will easily be in the worlds top 10 league s without doubt and will be worth an A :)

I've been among the most critical about the level of play in MLS but you hit it on the head. MLS will be THE league in this part of the world soon. I envision a day not too far off when every premier player in North, central and South America make MLS the primary destination in this part of the world.

[Jamie2UCSD]

Average Attendance

Out of curiousity, and in reference to the SJ/KC bashing, I've done a little looking into "average" attendance at MLS games this year. What I am interested in is the number of fans at the average MLS game - those that are not doubleheaders with England, Real Madrid, etc - that vastly inflate and the numbers for the team lucky enough to host the event. Below are my findings for "average" MLS games, with any excluded numbers in parenthesis:

Galaxy 23,570
Salt Lake 18,256 (40,589 - doubleheader with USA)
DC 16,350
Chivas 11,743 (nothing excluded, although "Home" games vs. Galaxy in shared home field are iffy...)
Columbus 11,691
New York 11,039 (50,807 - England vs. Colombia)
San Jose 10,777
Kansas City 10,129
New England 10,112 (22,108 - Gold Cup doubleheader)
Chicago 10,109 (54,427 and 54,432 - England / Real Madrid games)
Colorado 9,759 (41,987 - people in Colorado love fireworks...)
Dallas 9,030


For whatever it's worth, I thought it was interesting... Kudos to the Galaxy, RSL, and DC for setting the curve. I may have missed other, non-MLS attractions, if so my apologies.