MLS/USL thread [R]

[tigerdave]

Cool. I got a feeling Drew Carrey will be in the house. We usually meet up at Fuel and then head over to Occidental Park 90 mins before the match and walk with the band to the stadium. Lot's of fun.

I'll have to look that up, since the last time I was in Seattle (other than to use the airport) was in 1990. o.O

[BayernWake]

Cool. I got a feeling Drew Carrey will be in the house. We usually meet up at Fuel and then head over to Occidental Park 90 mins before the match and walk with the band to the stadium. Lot's of fun.

Occidental park? Sweet name. Is it by chance on the western side of Seattle? :cool:

Well, no trip to Columbus for us. Lost 2-1 in extra time. Now to concentrate on league play.

That sucks. Cleveland/Columbus would've been interesting. Also, one less home game for me to attend. :(

Maybe he didn't think it was possible to get MLS in Cleveland.

Columbus is the only home in Ohio for "fringe" professional sports, apparently...

[Dirt McGirt]

Occidental park? Sweet name. Is it by chance on the western side of Seattle? :cool:



That sucks. Cleveland/Columbus would've been interesting. Also, one less home game for me to attend. :(



Columbus is the only home in Ohio for "fringe" professional sports, apparently...

http://www.seattle.gov/Parks/park_detail.asp?ID=323

About two or three blocks from the sound. It smells like piss on most days and it's a bit sketchy. Game days it's fine.

[BayernWake]

DC U-NI-TED, clapclap, clapclapclapclap

That's my first choice. Here's what immediately comes to mind whenever I think of the MLS clubs (and if I'd support them if I didn't have a team).

CD Chivas USA- The Mexican club. If you like Mexico, this club's for you.
Colorado Rapids- New colors, new logo, new look. Unfortunately, they play at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, and I work at Dick's and hate it there. Bastards. Other than that, they're uninteresting.
FC Dallas- Something about their fans that irk me. And to me, Texas and soccer don't mix.
Houston Dynamo- Orange kits are reserved for Holland.
LA Galaxy- I really have nothing against the Gals.
Real Salt Lake- Still a stupid name. Does Utah have a lot of Spanish history or something?
Chicago Fire- Despite the hilarious name (think: New Orleans Katrinas), I wouldn't be interested.
Columbus Crew- This is probably the only other MLS team I could support. I just like the colors and the name...and the stadium.
DC United- Coolest name, coolest uniforms, coolest colors, most passionate fans (all personal opinions).
Kansas City Wizards- Boooooooooooooring.
New England Revolution- I hate Red Sox fans. Other than that, a good choice.
Red Bull New York- aka Commercialism FC. I hate what Red Bull did to Salzburg's club...don't like them in NY either.
Toronto FC- Toronto freaking LOVES the beautiful game. Glad they got a team.

Anyway, if I were you I'd support DCU, the Crew, or the Revs.

WOW have my opinions changed over two years plus! New June 2009 BayernWake team-by-team reviews/comments

Chicago Fire- McBride: legend. Blanco: a huge bitch. Get a neck.
Chivas USA- I actually have a lot of respect for Chivas. Maybe because they're good.
Colorado- I hate Dick's Sporting Goods. And where the shirt sponsor?
Columbus- Goooooooooooo Columbus! Crew Stadium rocks. The Nordecke needs to cut back on the organized swears though.
DC United- The first team I supported. Don't support them anymore. Still...respect.
FC Dallas- Contract this team. Get a shirt sponsor.
Houston- Good team with good support. Still, fugly shirts.
Kansas City- They play in a minor league baseball stadium. How much longer will that last? Also, get a shirt sponsor.
LA Galaxy- HDC- great stadium (so I've seen). Too many Beckham fanboys/girls.
New England- Need new jerseys.
New York Red Bulls- Looking forward to their new stadium.
Real Salt Lake- Still the stupidest name in sports.
San Jose- Interesting team. Don't know much about them though.
Seattle- Great support, could eventually turn into an MLS power.
Toronto- F--- Toronto.

[Toon³]

Why are the Germany, Bayern and Newcastle boards so much more civil / intelligent than any United States or MLS board? I still don't understand.

Because the vast majority of the people who post on those boards are dicks, not just regular dicks but foaming at the mouth inbred, mercury in the water, dropped on their head when a child DICKS.

And there is nothing more fun than messing with them :p

[City Dave]

Stop trying to steal their essence!

[BayernWake]

Because the vast majority of the people who post on those boards are dicks, not just regular dicks but foaming at the mouth inbred, mercury in the water, dropped on their head when a child DICKS.

And there is nothing more fun than messing with them :p

They are dicks of the "cheesy discharge" variety.

[HoosierToon]

Bayern, I love your breakdown of MLS Teams.

I've always been interested in what MLS is doing and aside from a glorious year of supporting/attending Chicago games (Bocanegra, DMB, Razov, Thorton, Etc) I've not had a real fire in the gut to support any club.

I now live in NYC so going to Fire games is out of the question, and until RBNY move into the new gorgeous stadium (15 minute train from my apartment!!!!) I refuse to go to Giant Stadium to sit in an empty stadium.

I've really caught onto watching Seattle games just because they are fun to watch. They are fast, inventive, and Kasey Keller is my guy! When you get to watch them play at home it's an added bonus.

My intentions are to purchase season tickets for Red Bull Arena next year and go from there. I support the league fully (I probably watching 4 games a week?) and frequent the MLS Boards, so there is a chance that I could one day have a passion for one of it's clubs.

[BayernWake]

I'm always glad to hear that people are supporting MLS! It's really not bad, and MLS games are fun to attend (I've been to Crew and DCU games).

[HoosierToon]

In it's short time, MLS is starting to gain some major market share in Seattle and Toronto.

Average Attendance:

Seattle Sounders FC: 29,715.00
Seattle Mariners: 27,137.97

Toronto FC: 20,288.10
Toronto Blue Jays: 22,839.93

[City Dave]

How can you show a gain by showing only one year's attendance numbers? You got MLB and Toronto numbers from last year? And I'd imagine that MLB decrease might have more to do with what's happened in the economy over the past year than MLS stealing their fans.

Also, MLB = 81 home games/year, MLS=15.

[tigerdave]

How can you show a gain by showing only one year's attendance numbers? You got MLB and Toronto numbers from last year? And I'd imagine that MLB decrease might have more to do with what's happened in the economy over the past year than MLS stealing their fans.

Also, MLB = 81 home games/year, MLS=15.

Seattle really needs an SSS.

Average for Toronto last season was 20,119 according to MLS Daily, down 15 from 2007. So it's consistently getting good support but to say it's gaining is somewhat misleading. The gain is marginal at best.

The Sounders scarcely drew more than 5,000 in the USL, so you can attribute that gain (at least attribute it to MLS, that is).

[HoosierToon]

Geesh, sorry City Dave.

Just showing some pretty solid numbers for MLS in comparison to their local mainstream sports brethern.

And by the way, wouldn't the economy effect MLS games as well as MLB games? Or is MLS recession proof?

[tigerdave]

Geesh, sorry City Dave.

Just showing some pretty solid numbers for MLS in comparison to their local mainstream sports brethern.

And by the way, wouldn't the economy effect MLS games as well as MLB games? Or is MLS recession proof?

You used two bad examples, Kyle. No one gives a shit about baseball in Toronto and the Mariners have been awful for years.

[HoosierToon]

So then shouldn't the debate be reworded?

Original Debate: "The MLS can never compete with the big four mainstream sports in the United States."

Updated Debate: "The MLS can never compete with the big four mainstream sports in cities with successful mainstream teams."

What's the next evolution of the MLS detractors?

[City Dave]

Yeah, you showed solid numbers. But you implied there was a trend. One data point cannot show a gain/loss, trend, or what have you. That was my issue. My comment about the economy also could not apply to only one data point. It was tied into my call for more data. Specifically addressing that if you posted data from last year and there was a drop in baseball attendance then it couldn't solely be attributed to MLS's presence.

It's not that complicated.

And what's with your strawman debates? Is anyone in this thread saying those things? I'm pretty sure most of us here in this thread aren't "MLS detractors", we're just realists.

[tigerdave]

MLB attendance is down 6 percent from last year, and the chief complaint is high ticket prices (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/mariners/2009442736_basenotes10.html), not the local football side. Granted that could mean more fans at a Sounders game than a Mariners game because the tickets are so much cheaper, but that's not necessarily an interest in soccer as such and is pure conjecture.

[Dirt McGirt]

All I know the city is buzzing about the Sounders still and it's seemed to have muted interest in the Mariners who usually hold sway over the sports media during the summer.

[tigerdave]

All I know the city is buzzing about the Sounders still and it's seemed to have muted interest in the Mariners who usually hold sway over the sports media during the summer.

Which is incredibly strange considering the M's took two of three at the best team in the NL (I was there for one game!) and have a real chance of being .500 or better in August for the first time since...2001 I think.

[tigerdave]

Continue discussion here (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=18219168#post18219168).