Pre-match: San Jose Earthquakes - FC Dallas (Saturday, 6/8) pregame thread

If they want to sell more concessions, they should simply open the gates earlier. The Quakes open two hours ahead of game time, which I appreciate. Some MLS stadia open only an hour in advance. Audi Field was opened 1.5 hours in advance last weekend.

 

Thanks for the detailed explanation. While I like being able to watch games on TV when the team is away, I hate that TV has influence on how games are scheduled. I assume the reason the actual game tickets reflect the network scheduled broadcast time is to avoid confusion between the two, but if I'm going to a game in person, I don't actually care about the broadcast time. There's got to be a way to solve this problem that doesn't mislead people. I guess I'll just have to look at the TV schedule to see the end time and just work backwards to the start time.

So rather than selling concessions, it's just a cynical plot to sell ads. Does anyone actually watch pre-game coverage for the content? I assume people just tune in thinking the game is going to start, realize it isn't yet, then go do something else for a half-hour until the game actually does start. Meanwhile, they leave the TV on and the Nielsen ratings report people watching stuff that they aren't actually watching, perpetuating the farce.

Can you all tell I hate how sports are presented to consumers?

 

How do you feel about sitting on the tarmac beyond the announced departure time for your aircraft?

There's no harm in getting to the stadium a little early.

 

I won't go into my tirade about how airlines operate here. It's not relevant and quite long-winded.

In the grand scheme of things, no, it isn't as if my life is drastically hurt due to this. But we do have a limited time on this earth, and thanks to 40 hour (or more) work weeks, even less time to spend our free time how we'd like. I don't think it's a whole lot to ask that MLS publish their actual expected kick off time so people can plan around it more accurately. It helps fans and I would venture to guess, would have next to no impact on the network's ability to sell ads.

 

The Quakes' 15/45 thing isn't TV-related (the TV times for these games remain at :00 or :30 as they always have been, and the MLS website and opponents still list the games at :00 or :30), and it might be an attempt to boost concessions, as in reality nothing in particular happens at those published start times.

I think at least once they did the 15/45 thing for one of these 2 1/2 hour national TV games, and that caused the game to start 40+ minutes after the time on the tickets, so it's a little bit of an improvement to drop that gimmick for these situations.

Different sports handle this differently--look at today's MLB schedule and you see 7:05, 7:07, 7:10, 7:40, and those are supposed to be the real start times. TV networks will list the time they come on the air for pre-game, but the league just shows the real times. The NBA, on the other hand, seems to just publish the TV start times, and usually the games start about 10 minutes later. Nobody else that I know of does the Quakes' 15/45 thing that gives a time where nothing in the stadium nor on TV actually starts.

 

Maybe I will camp out Friday night, just to be on the safe side.

 

This is what I wish MLS did. I know the start time isn't going to neatly hit the hour or half-hour. You have the national anthems to sing and all that. But baseball does a pretty good job of giving you the approximate time.

I wonder if this is related to the non-fixed timeframe of baseball games compared to sports that are played within a defined amount of time. I guess there's more incentive to give an accurate start time since the duration of the game could vary a fair amount. You have fairly predictable time frame for games that are supposed to be played with a finite amount of time.

So yeah, the :15 and :45 minute start times serve no purpose to fans attending the game since the game will always start after the hour or half our mark by a few minutes, and not fifteen minutes before.

 

I think the main reason the Quakes mislead on the start times is that they want fans in their seats when the game starts so they are not trickling in late, standing in the aisles looking for the seats, and inconveniencing fans trying to watch the game. I remember back in the Buck Shaw days being irritated at all the late arrivees. The rows at BS were like 40 seats long, and being on the aisle it was always up/down/up/down letting people by.
There is of course the concession angle, which I am sure plays into the decision as well.
And it looks better on TV having fans in their seats at kickoff.

 

This is interesting to me in regards to the MLS marketing debate between (and I'm generalizing) appealing to Millennial's vs soccer mom types. As Tom Fox mentioned in that podcast recently: MLS 1.0 screwed up by going after the soccer moms and these newer expansion teams have an advantage by building a product that is more accessible to Millennial's by building SSS in urban centers by bars and whatnot.

I'm grateful that we have our own SSS, since it means that the crime that was us losing our Quakes can't happen again any time soon. I realize the Bay is a different beast, but I'm jealous of Portland/LAFC that their stadiums are downtown. I imagine if Avaya was by the Shark Tank or something, we'd have far more actual sell outs.

I'm a single, 28 year old living in SF and I much prefer these day games so that I can still go out Saturday night. That said, I've been going to games since the Clash days and I remember playing in tournaments during the day and then hauling down to Spartan Stadium with my folks at night. I totally get that parents have their own kids games/ activities during the day time.

TL;DR - At this point in my life, I prefer day games. However, I realize not everyone does. I wonder what the data trends look like that the marketing people at SUM would be analyzing. If MLS is shifting their focus to the millennial consumer, will there be more day games in future years?

 

I'm an old fogey now, so pardon my stupid question, but why can't you go out after a 7:30 p.m. Saturday game that ends at 9:30 p.m.? There's nightlife in San Jose, too.

 

Hah, well I definitely have done that both in SJ and back in SF after games-- don't get me wrong. But by the time I get back it's already 10 or 11 and im pretty tired from the commute and the game. It's just easier to watch at home if I have plans at night.

For example: I'm stoked about the start time this weekend because I'm going to an event that has been on my calendar for a while at 6 pm. I'm glad I don't have to choose between celebrating Wondo and going to the event.

This is just me of course. I'm just generally curious though what SUM's plan is moving forward as far as start times go based on their acknowledgment of the market that they want to tap into for MLS 3.0

 

This is it. Our ticket rep told my wife this a couple of years ago.

 

It seems the plans are the same as they have always been--Saturday nights are the preferred time unless national TV dictates something else. The Quakes have had a lot of day games because of the Univision timeslot, and Univision is apparently quite interested in showing Almeyda's team.

We haven't had a hot day yet this year. That makes a difference in the comfort level of the day games. It's easier to deal with that at Avaya compared to Spartan. Sunny day games at Spartan always seemed oppressively hot, even if the temperature was not much above 80. Day games at Spartan tended to get terrible attendance, even by the Quakes' modest standards, probably because of it being a difficult time for the youth soccer types.

 

At least I might catch some of the game before i have to head to the airport and pick up my Grandson, and his Mommy and Daddy...if its on Univision and not the local station, I’ll get more practice listening to Spanish.
Go Quakes!

 

I doubt this is true. Avaya is not exactly in the middle of nowhere. It's a few miles away from downtown. And its location didn't stop it from selling out when it opened. A bad team did.

 

Cummings and Godoy got their callups so they're off the roster for this one..

We're going to get slaughtered..

 

So irritating that MLS plays during these international breaks.
Our central midfield is now gutted with Yueil and Godoy gone. Judson and Felipe perhaps???
---------------------------Wondo--------------------
-------------------------Vako/Eriksson------------------------
Hoesen------Felipe-------Judson----------Espinoza
Shea/Lopez-----Flo------Affolter-----------Tommy

 

Hi

From the MLS SITE:

• FC Dallas continues to see their roster lose depth as international call-ups continue to pull players from the midfield. FC Dallas will continue to miss Paxton Pomykal, Edwin Cerrillo and Brandon Servania as they play through the U-20 World Cup and Pablo Aranguiz, who left before the Seattle match. They will now be missing Bryan Acosta and Carlos Gruezo, who have been called up to their respective national teams as well.

In the meantime, we will have Espinoza and TT back, so it’s not as dire as all that. I never thought Beerking was also a drama queen...

 

Oi!

 

With both team missing key players, it will be a test of the depth and how the coach deals with the situation and the players available. Some teams will need to change the formation and approach. I think Almeyda will keep the same system and just plug in players available. If we play as good, then it is a positive sign that the system works, the player gets it and we should worry less how we sustain the season. If not, then we have works to do to prepare the bench or look for other players fitting the system in the future.

 

The alternative is extended and compacted schedules, which really hurts players. I would much rather watch some substitutes play during an expected scheduled game than be forced to wait for a by week and then watch players exhaust themselves as they play three games in ten days.

I would recommend looking at this game from a different angle. It's an opportunity to see more of players that we don't really know all that much about yet. Judson got minutes early on, and looked promising, but fell out of favor. Same with Lopez. These guys could be motivated to perform well now that they've been given an opportunity again. Plus, the team has so many options in midfield, they can do all kinds of things. Defensively, things are a bit dicier.

Most of the players that have undergone this treatment under Almeyda's coaching have responded well, so I have hope the team will play better than we might expect. Ultimately, I'm not really worried about the team losing, so long as they are entertaining. The team is still likely far from complete in terms of roster, so getting a chance to see what more of the current roster can do has value outside of what the result of the game is.

 

https://www.tvmax-9.com/somoslasele/seleccion-mayor-Panama-Montevideo-Uruguay_0_5320717879.html

This says: Julio Dely Valdés, señaló que esta vez será un partido distinto, gracias a la incorporación de otros jugadores de la talla como Román Torres, Harold Cummings, Aníbal Godoy y Michael Amir Murillo, entre otros

Julio Dely Valdes is the coach, and he says "this game will be different (from the previous meeting between Uruguay and Panama which they lost 3-0) because of the incorporation of (high) stature players like Roman Torres, Harold Cummings, Anibal Godoy, and Michael Amir Murillo, among others".

So I think we have no Godoy or Cummings. No Yueill (unless they send him home after tonight's start vs. Jamaica (pretty please)) or Lima. No Kashia. I think the loss of Cummings and Kashia is bad. We don't need both on the field (in fact we don't want), but we do need one of the two. The drop from Cummings to Affolter is big and dangerous.

 

Yueill will almost assuredly be back. He is ineligible for the gold cup since he was left off the original provisional roster. So no reason to keep him in camp.

Lima may or may not be selected for the gold cup. I'm guessing he probably will be. We'll find out tomorrow.

 

There is another friendly on Sunday against Venezuela, won't he stick around for that as well????