Pro soccer in the East Valley? Kick it to the curb

[flippin269]

Some writer from the East Valley Tribune explains why he believes MLS in the Phoenix is "a failure waiting to happen"...

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/93719

[Roundball]

Some writer from the East Valley Tribune explains why he believes MLS in the Phoenix is "a failure waiting to happen"...

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/93719

This guy is full of a bunch of B.S. I would of gone but don't get done with work early enough. On Friday I took my eldest daughter to a Harry Potter party at the local library. (Nothing gets in the way of her Harry Potter;))

[Sundevil9]

He's not totally off his rocker.

His point on trying to draw a direct correlation between Hispanic population numbers and paying soccer fans is spot on.

He also has a point with the over saturated sports market. That's where a group really needs to stand up and show that there's also some under-representation as well. Or show that folks aren't going to shell out a figure north of $500 to take the family of four out to a single Suns game, but are willing to shell out $1400 for 4 season tickets to MLS.

It's bad for the writer to just bash attendance at a made up tournament. It's not like this was a prestigious event, it's just some guys marketing ploy.

He also makes the great Arizona argument that you're not going to do it with taxpayers' dollars. Which is what really shows his ignorance. Exactly how many SSS's out there are pure taxpayer projects? Try none. Most are public-private ventures, some are purely private. SSS's aren't the run of the mill MLB (and any other sports league) rape a community for all its worth scam.

[HSV Hooligan]

He's not totally off his rocker.

His point on trying to draw a direct correlation between Hispanic population numbers and paying soccer fans is spot on.


I actually disagree with you on this. The Hispanic population will show up and pay for tickets for an even they want to see. They showed up in DROVES to see the US-Mexico match in February. I think that the Copa PanAmerica "tournament" is a statistical outlier that doesn't adequately reflect the buying habits of anyone, particularly the Hispanic population. To base any argument on the attendance of this event is misleading - there was poor advertisement, the timing of the games was a deterrant, the price of the tickets was suspect at best, and the teams...well, the teams weren't anything special to write home about. Yeah, I know that Boca is huge in South America, but I think the Mexicans would probably tend to be bigger supporters of the FMF teams than an Argentine team - and I suspect that most fans would only show up to see Boca out of curiosity and not loyal support.

Now, there are two attendance points at completely opposite ends of the spectrum (US-Mex and CPA tournament). The MLS is somewhere in the middle of the two, but you can't estimate the crowd for an MLS match based only upon these two showings, so I would side with the fact that the writer IS off his rocker for trashing an entire sport (and the efforts to bring a club to the valley) based on only one showing of a "promotional" tournament.

[XeneizeAZ]

I spend about $140 on both games from Boca, Friday and Sunday.

Ask me how much I have paid for Suns, Dback or other team in phoenix, ** $0.00 **

I would never spend $70 on a dback or cardinals game, maybe on suns but not even and I been here since 2000, I moved from Los Angeles.

I know a lot of us have a team that we love with passion, I love Boca.

But a local team will be special, We have Europeans, Mexicans, Centro Americans, South Americans that will support the team.
I will love to take my little boy to a soccer game and influence him more about this great sport.

Latinos we don't support much the american football because we don't have many Latinos playing, the asian community supported LA Galaxy when they got a guy from Japan, so there is the answer to soccer, bring what we like and we are going to have a great business.

Phoenix has everything for a soccer team, we have a lot of people and lots of land to build a stadium. We have a lot of land here in the east valley and freeways every where...

I drove from Queen Creek to Glendale 60 miles each way twice in a week, 1 hour and 1/2 driving but for the love of my soccer team I did it...

I have a lot of White friends, please don't take the word white offensive ok, that love soccer and asked me questions. I have a collection of 55 different jerseys in which 15 are from Boca.

Come Arizona, get ready for a soccer team..

[kjkep]

While it is fair to say that this is a saturated market where most kids abandon soccer in favor of another sport or grow out of it altogether, isn't it also fair to say that some of our nation's best athletes are bred in places where they have a top flight team to cheer for? Place an MLS team in Arizona and watch our kids grow with the game along with the rest of the country.

[Sundevil9]

I actually disagree with you on this. The Hispanic population will show up and pay for tickets for an even they want to see. They showed up in DROVES to see the US-Mexico match in February. I think that the Copa PanAmerica "tournament" is a statistical outlier that doesn't adequately reflect the buying habits of anyone, particularly the Hispanic population. To base any argument on the attendance of this event is misleading - there was poor advertisement, the timing of the games was a deterrant, the price of the tickets was suspect at best, and the teams...well, the teams weren't anything special to write home about. Yeah, I know that Boca is huge in South America, but I think the Mexicans would probably tend to be bigger supporters of the FMF teams than an Argentine team - and I suspect that most fans would only show up to see Boca out of curiosity and not loyal support.

Now, there are two attendance points at completely opposite ends of the spectrum (US-Mex and CPA tournament). The MLS is somewhere in the middle of the two, but you can't estimate the crowd for an MLS match based only upon these two showings, so I would side with the fact that the writer IS off his rocker for trashing an entire sport (and the efforts to bring a club to the valley) based on only one showing of a "promotional" tournament.


Uh, you took one part of my post, and then agreed with another other.:confused:

We agree that any true MLS attendance figure will be between these two events, neither is good enough to draw solid conclusions.

[Sundevil9]

I spend about $140 on both games from Boca, Friday and Sunday.

Ask me how much I have paid for Suns, Dback or other team in phoenix, ** $0.00 **

I would never spend $70 on a dback or cardinals game, maybe on suns but not even and I been here since 2000, I moved from Los Angeles.

I know a lot of us have a team that we love with passion, I love Boca.

But a local team will be special, We have Europeans, Mexicans, Centro Americans, South Americans that will support the team.
I will love to take my little boy to a soccer game and influence him more about this great sport.

Latinos we don't support much the american football because we don't have many Latinos playing, the asian community supported LA Galaxy when they got a guy from Japan, so there is the answer to soccer, bring what we like and we are going to have a great business.

Phoenix has everything for a soccer team, we have a lot of people and lots of land to build a stadium. We have a lot of land here in the east valley and freeways every where...

I drove from Queen Creek to Glendale 60 miles each way twice in a week, 1 hour and 1/2 driving but for the love of my soccer team I did it...

I have a lot of White friends, please don't take the word white offensive ok, that love soccer and asked me questions. I have a collection of 55 different jerseys in which 15 are from Boca.

Come Arizona, get ready for a soccer team..


You hit on a lot of key points here.

-- There are many fans like you who're in the sports marketplace and willing to shell out money, but not to the existing teams.

-- You're just waiting for a team to knock on your so you can give them that money.


It's great that you're a Boca supporter, but it's also great (maybe even greater) that you're not opposed to supporting the local team. But I think you're missing the mark on the percentage of Latino players.

Let's look at DC United: Bryan Arguez, Fred, Luciano Emilio, Jamie Moreno, Christian Gomez all are from or have roots from 'South of the Border'. Five out of 27 guys. And that's currently a low point for them.

But every team generally has 3-8 players of Latino descent. The more important things are that young players in this country see MLS, and see that they can achieve in soccer in this country, and that we can play a high quality game.

Good soccer will bring in fans. Not pandering to different ethnic groups.

[XeneizeAZ]

Sundevil9, you said good things too.

When I said Latinos, maybe I quoted wrong. No of course I don't want a team full of Latinos but look at Chicago Fire, 1 player brough 3000 fans when he was introduce to the team.

Pescado Ruiz, when he was at LA Galaxy lots of Guatemalans used to go.
Mauricio Cienfuegos, same lots of Salvadoreños.

right now, New York and Juan Pablo, lots of Colombians.

So, 1 or 2 players and believe me we are going to get a lot of people here.

Not to doubt that local players will also get a lot of support.
Will be nice to see ASU or UA get drafted to a local team.

I just want a soccer team, I will never love it the way I love Boca but I will be there singing bringing my family over for a game.

I will never bring my lil boy for a baseball game, I don't like it and he does not see me watching it playing it so guess what he is not going to get that felling. He is almost 5 and he has 3 soccer jerseys and sings screens with me during the game...Golllllllllllllllllll....vamos vamos dale dale....and he is almos five.
You ask him, who is the best soccer player in the world? and he replies, Maradona :D ... my wife said brainwash...fine...at least he is getting the soccer spirit..

Vamos Phoenix...Vamossss

[Roundball]

I love Boca
Vamos Phoenix...Vamossss
Check out this link:) (http://batanga.sportsya.com/english/news.php?id_estruc=283&id=153247)

[XeneizeAZ]

I know I read that last night....
man I hope they come here hahahah will be hard to support a local team and see them playing vs Boca Jrs from another US city...

I rather see them using only the colors but not the name unless is for Phoenix hahahaha

Man, if we get Boca Jrs here I will buy season ticket for 10 years in advance hahahaha....

[Sundevil9]

Sundevil9, you said good things too.

When I said Latinos, maybe I quoted wrong. No of course I don't want a team full of Latinos but look at Chicago Fire, 1 player brough 3000 fans when he was introduce to the team.

Pescado Ruiz, when he was at LA Galaxy lots of Guatemalans used to go.
Mauricio Cienfuegos, same lots of Salvadoreños.

right now, New York and Juan Pablo, lots of Colombians.

So, 1 or 2 players and believe me we are going to get a lot of people here.

Not to doubt that local players will also get a lot of support.
Will be nice to see ASU or UA get drafted to a local team.


True that a big signing like those gives a team a nice boost, but those are fans of the player and not of the team. How many of those Ruiz fans still go to MLS games in LA? They only show up when Ruiz comes back.

We had that problem here in DC. Raul Diaz Arce is an El Salvadoran hero. He played well here and had a great El Salvadorean following, until he was traded.....then the El Slavadorans only came back when a countryman was on the opposition and they cheered only for their countrymen.

I have no problem if they want to cheer for a national hero, but don't abandon the home team, and don't go out of your way to cheer against the home team.

Maybe it's more an issue of getting the right foreign player. Not just one that'll sell seats, but one that'll look to help grow the team both on and off the field, and become a lifelong member of the club.