MLS 2013 TV Ratings

The Eurosnobbery has seemed to diminish a lot in the KC area. Part of it due, I think, to the great game day experience at Sporting Park. Converted me, that's for sure.

 

I live in Brooklyn and work in the city and I absolutely agree. Majority of my male friends are soccer fans, but very few of them follow MLS (and even then - mostly because I almost force them to). I don't fully agree with the poster sharing his experience in Eastern Europe. I have not lived there for 20 years, but I stay in touch and constantly follow on the internet. Yes, people there follow EPL. But you will never have a situation like in NY where 80% of soccer fans will almost literally laugh in your face when you tell them that your #1 team is the team from you city.

 

I think that might be somewhat unique to New York. Most soccer fans in the world expect the biggest and richest city in the country to produce a team that contends every year, meanwhile the Metrostars/Red Bulls management spent most of the first 15 years not merely not winning but thoroughly botching their credibility. If they won every year, even in MLS, I don't think you'd have had that problem.

 

So you agree with me, or at least have views consistent with my post that college FB fandom is independent from the NFL?

 

There's a reason we tend to do MNT PBP in the MLS PBP threads here. For many of us, the level of discourse - regarding MLS - in the MNT forums just creates so much noise.

 

i'm a nyrb season ticket holder and attend almost every game.
i don't laugh in anyone's face, but yeah, i don't see myself ever considering an mls team my #1. i'm a fan/observer of the league and of the level of play/player it is able to present. that's where my 'passion' is directed. i don't think there's enough quality at the franchise level yet to engage all that many people in a strong emotional way.
as for nt fans who put down mls, i don't get what they're after. i guess they're dreaming of a nt like brazil or argentina, with superstars playing overseas. i hope they're not expecting that bus anytime soon, though.
the americans i know who are new 'epl fans,' really aren't. they catch bits of it on week-end mornings, don't know anything about standings or schedule, are ignorant about the game itself, and for some reason i can't figure out they run up to you and try to sound idiotically opinionated (they all love van persie but hardly have a clue about luisito suarez). speaking with them, tbh, is both boring and annoying.

 

Eurosnobbery is the absolute worst in my state. Believe it or not, soccer is really big here and it is enjoyed by almost everyone especially the youth. It crosses race and background with the youth. You'll see some poor immigrant kid and some rich frat boy all sporting premier club gear, playing pickup and FIFA and watching european play, but you can't get MLS on in bars or restaurants or have a conversation with anyone about it. It's USMNT or Barça or manU etc.

Especially on college campuses. You should see the looks I've often before wearing MLS jerseys. Most times people ask me what league they're from. Lol.

 

This ten thousand times!!!

I am probably in the minority here, but you give me the choice of any MLS regular season game on TV at the same time as any regular season EPL game, and I will watch the MLS game every time. I watch EPL to watch soccer. I do not give two flying f*cks about any of the teams involved. I will watch the MLS game because i give a shit about what happens in our league.

 

Indeed, for me personally I watch both leagues you mentioned but until Minnesota is awarded a franchise I just won't care more about MLS.

 

One million percent agree. This is me too.

 

you do realize some people became fans of those big overseas teams at a time before there was an MLS or even in a time before there was soccer all over cable or even an internet. i came to being a fan of man utd back in the late 80s/early 90s when they were one of the few teams you could even know existed from here in the US (and because i already liked manchester from my musical tastes).

but your larger point stands in relation to domestic fans having passion, but you cannot really fault how or why people become fans of the teams they do ... even if it doesnt make all that much sense to you. fandom is an odd and uniquely personal thing for most people.

 

When you look at MLS 4 of what should be your premier markets (NY, Boston, DC and Chicago) are saddled with clubs that for a variety of reasons have trouble penetrating into their markets. Whether it's stadium issues, silly branding or bad quality on the field ... or all of the above. Several other clubs like Dallas, Denver and Columbus limp along with their bare bones suburban stadiums. Add to that large swaths of the country that are unserved by MLS.

And this whole time that MLS is going through all these growing pains on all these fronts, there are these other fully mature leagues who are now more available on TV than ever before. Naturally MLS has had to see casual fans lost to the competition.

Luckily the formula for creating popular franchises has been getting fine tuned. The newer clubs are for the most part healthy and are doing most of the heavy lifting as far as the popularity of the league. Little by little the older struggling clubs may join in the reinvention ... primarily probably through new stadiums like KC did and/or rebrandings in the case of Chivas or Red Bull. Hopefully San Jose can take that step with DC not far behind ... perhaps even New England. All the while you bring in new dynamic expansion clubs. Eventually even a club like Columbus will move onto their second generation stadium and eventually over time you start eradicating the negative connotations of MLS as a minor league.

 

i don't know if anyone made that strong a claim, tbh.
i mean, there are people (idiots) who get into fights at little league games, so there'll always be somebody with emotional connection to just about anything. but about mls...
the pnw and kc are the best examples of mls succeeding in drawing local interest. when i watch seattle play, i'm happy to see their attendance. i also get the feeling there's more people there than the product deserves. it strikes me that, in good measure, the seattle thing happened before the team ever played a game. i don't know whether 'passion' is the right word there, rather than 'fashion.' the test of time will tell us more.
personally, i'd be delighted with an mls team drawing >20k on a real, consistent basis. and i think 'passion' for the local side doesn't need to be the main part of that recipe. passion need not be why people attend games.
i do think there's only so much you can say about your average mls player, or team. that, imo, is a true limit on how much passion you can develop. again, to me the passion seems better placed on following the life of the league as a whole. you wouldn't say that about your top euro leagues. and yeah, i think that's a relevant distinction.

 

You're assuming KC fans are getting into the team because we think it's just a super product and don't know any better? I can't speak for other cities, but here I think we're past the point of going solely for the soccer. It's gameday experience, it's community, it's Kansas City. Just kind of what we do (not that we're hugely unique in that). I think it's a mistake to assume that everyone who goes (or even most everyone) to games is a fan of soccer.

 

Who needs a wife when there's a hot European porn star you can find online?

 

My opinion on NE is stadium issue is by far the number 1 issue. Closer to the city if Boston and attendance and being on Boston sports landscape increases.

The Revs didn't take advantage between 98-01 when this area was dying for a championship. Since then

3 Red Sox titles (3 appearances)
3 Pats titles (5 appearances)
1 Bruins title (2 appearances)
1 Celtics titles (2 appearances)
0 Revs titles (4 appearances)

Red Sox,Pats,Bruins have good to great shots again in 2014.

That is a lot to have to deal with and overcome.

 

indeed...

that's not my point. i'm saying the better product will 'feed' more passion than the lesser one. as i said, you can find somebody who's 'passionate' about just about anything, including where it isn't appropriate. but when i attend an mls game, the quality of the product limits the passion, even though there are many times when, it seems to me as i'm watching the game, the crowd would love to be taken to the next level. but it isn't.

but that's exactly what i was saying! 'passion' is not a key ingredient of the mls equation.

you know that's not what i said. i'm talking tix sold before they ever played in mls. instant passion?

this would be a reason for preferring to play in mls rather than watch euro teams. that's not the debate. maybe you could claim it's better to visit a so-so whore house than a hot euro porn site. i couldn't say, tbh.

 

Yeah people seem to forget that. Many years Minnesota Thunder/Stars/United averaged more than Seattle/Portland and Vancouver.

 

The difference I mean is actually attending games vs. just watching them on tv. You can quibble at the analogy, but I can guarantee you that here in KC, at least, interest and passion is directly and powerfully impacted by actually going to games. I've taken or gone with at least a couple dozen people for their first games, and only one wasn't into it, but he was a jerk and hates all sports and was just dating a big Sporting fan. He was one of those who turns whatever seat he has into a corner and sulks in it all game. She was so embarrassed.

Story for you all! You're welcome.

 

yes and no... unless you believe the 100,000 fans going to Michigan, Ohio State, USC, Alabama, Texas, etc. games week and out all went there. Most of those schools also draw their fans from areas with pro football teams (Michigan, OSU and Texas all get as much play as the local NFL teams in their states).