Sepp to MLS: ‘You Stink’
Posted on December 31, 2012 3:57 pm
In an interview with Al Jazeera over the weekend, FIFA Grand Poobah for Life Sepp Blatter took an astonishing whack our our own beloved Major League Soccer and expressed disappointment over the fact that, despite “18 years” of trying, MLS has not displaced the NFL or NBA in the hearts and minds of American sports fans.
While comparing the progress of soccer in the US with what’s happening in China, Blatter told the reporter “In China definitely we have no problem for the future of football…” but
“The problem in the United States is a little bit different. Don’t forget, soccer, as they call football there, is the most popular game in the youth…
“But there is no very strong professional league, they have just the MLS but they have not professional leagues which are recognized by the American society.
“It is a question of time, I thought…when we had the World Cup in 1994, but it is now 18 years it should have been done now. But they are still struggling.”
Now we all know that Blatter is the next best thing to a complete imbecile, and it’s usually a bad idea to take anything he says seriously, but this is remarkable stuff, even for him.
Leaving aside the fact that having the head of world football basically calling MLS a failure is not likely to help the league much credibility-wise – either here or abroad – it’s also pretty much untrue, making it both stupid AND potentially harmful.
Since parsing Blatter for truth is a waste of life I’ll only mention in passing that soccer (‘as we call football here’) is actually third in youth participation in the US after basketball and baseball (and would be fourth except that a substantial number of parents refuse to let their sons play American style football until they’re in their teens).
I’m also not going to waste your time running down the list of stuff like attendance, number of teams, number of stadiums, TV contracts, sponsors, team valuation and all of the rest of the evidence which disproves his contention.
Neither would I suggest that MLS is a massive top-tier world class football league, and I know of no one who would suggest otherwise. It’s a work in progress, make no mistake.
And I will only mention in passing the fact that the league started up in 1996, so it’s really been 16 years, not 18; the fact is that in 1994 there was only the roughest outline of a plan for a league in place. It didn’t have a name, an office, a logo or employees, let alone teams, players, locations, stadiums or owners.
Furthermore, if he had the first clue back then he would have known what the attendance numbers were for the previous professional soccer league in the US, which is surely relevant given the fact that everyone wants to assure me that MLS is practically the same damned league and if I say otherwise I need to be soundly beaten.
(Unlike Sepp, you can have actual information rather than fever dreams on this topic by paying a visit to the indispensable Kenn Tomasch who, when he’s not saying mean things about me has one of the most useful websites in the soccersphere.)
It’s worth noting that in 1994, when Blatter was envisioning the glorious future of soccer in the US, the NASL had been gone for barely ten years. And since this is the year when MLS finally matched the NASL’s 16 year lifespan, we’re not comparing apples and bowling balls here.
Perhaps Sepp would like to examine the gradual building process which leagues like the NBA – a stone cold loser in the 1950′s which was in a whole lot of trouble as recently as the 1980′s when Magic and Larry made it relevant – took to achieve their present position.
Or the NFL, for another example, which sucked baseball’s tailpipe for decades until the 1960′s when Pete Rozelle invented printing money.
“Struggling” doesn’t begin to cover where those leagues – or pretty much any professional league you can name – went through to get where they are today, and that includes the big fat football-playing piles of revenue which we know and love in Europe today.
Of course we all know Sepp’s solution to the problem, which is “conforming to the international calendar” which as far as I can see would do exactly jack squat about making soccer more popular in the US. What it would do is make it easier for FIFA’s federations to suck up the players who they do nothing to develop and use them to make big fat piles of money for Sepp’s cronies to steal, but the effect on MLS revenues would be marginal at best and could actually hurt (Don Garber certainly thinks so, and, well, he’s kind of knowledgeable in the area), but that’s an argument for another day.
What I do know for a fact is that if Sepp’s not going to help – and to be fair, it was Sepp who orchestrated the coup which gutted Werner Fricker like a boated carp and handed the USSF over to Alan Rothenberg, without whom it’s difficult to imagine much of any of what has happened since ever happening – by making lovely public noises about how pleased he is to see MLS growing and prospering and really taking hold in North America and how much he looks forward to its continued growth and progress and how excited he is about the future and blah, blah, blah then he ought to just shut the hell up.
I was cool with all this until I read Blatter’s “Soccer, as they call football there” comment. Now I’m just out for blood.
Yeah, as opposed to that place you put the last World Cup Final, Seppy? What was the name of that stadium again?
His China comparison is incredibly uninformed: Soccer has been huge in China for a long time. It’s just that their national team sucked so much that it never SEEMED as if soccer was big in China.
Question: Is the attendance for Chinese first division league matches high, or are soccer fans in China, like soccer fans in the United States, largely enamored of the big European leagues?
Attendance in the Chinese Super League is worse than MLS at this point. It’s not just that Chinese fans are enamored of the big European leagues (as seems to be the case everywhere outside Europe), but match-fixing scandals drove away a whole lot of fans from the CSL over the last decade or so.
If Sepp is upset with an attendance average of 18,807 per game, and feels that there is “no strong professional league” here, imagine how much worse he must feel about a country in which the first-division attendance average in 2011-12 was only 12,252 (and even that was a record). What country would that be? That would be Switzerland, Sepp’s country.
what an awful man, that Septic Bladder
i like to call him Septic Splatter !
Hey, you’re swiping my “Septic Blatter” schtick. Ok, so neither one of us are gonna win the Mark Twain prize for that.
Roger? really? That’s the comeback to Seppy the Master Cook!! LOL
He didn’t say it had to displace 4 sports that have had decades to flourish, with the aid of taxpayer dollars to build stadiums for billionaires!! Did he?
I know MLS with former nfl honcho TheDon and other nfl greats try and sometimes succeed in getting municipalities to foot some of the bill..but attacking Switzerland?? Really!?
What Zepp should have been more focused on was the fact that after World Cup 94..why hadn’t ALL THE SOCCER FANS embraced MLS yet??? How was it that soooo many USMNT fans, actually, don’t care for MLS??
64k show up at Spain USA but a measly 10k or so show up and pay actual CASH money to see the Revs??
But, IMO, Zapper and his not so awesome command of the English language, which is WAY BETTER than my French or German, even, meant to say all the above!! And why shouldn’t he?
I mean honestly..! Why isn’t the uproar on What did the USSF of that era 87-94 Tell FIFA, was their plan for “A League or ‘Leagues’???
We know he wouldn’t ask us why the President of USSOCCER was a paid employee of one of “The MLS” teams??
Corruption aside, what happened to believing in the game and its success?? I want “SOCCER” to succeed in the USA. If it’s MLS, then great! Game is first..forever and always first, before MLS any team, billionaire a-hole or even Zippo The Clown!
As much as I would like to agree with you, the US does have almost 40 times the population of Switzerland.
Most of whom live much farther from an MLS stadium than any Swiss fan does from a first-division stadium.
The sum of the populations in US cities with MLS teams is still much much higher than the entire swiss population.
Not really fair to compare as USA’s stadiums are much bigger than the Swiss stadiums, so they wouldn’t be able to compete with the US, in terms of average attendance. ALso don’t forget the population difference.
This is very true. A comparison against Switzerland isn’t a level playing field. But I wasn’t trying to say “Oh, look how great we are, we’re better than Switzerland.” I was trying to say that the country Sepp from is satisfied with limited objectives rather that meeting the wild expectations of outsiders, and perhaps he should rein in his expectations of other countries. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
Of course, many people in this thread have pointed out that Sepp’s underlying point, that MLS is still struggling and has not lived up to his expectations, is true. I agree with that, but what does it say about Sepp’s expectations. Did he really expect MLS to overtake the NFL in just two decades? Did he also expect Alan Rothenberg to flap his arms and fly? MLS is well aware of the history of the NASL, which crashed and burned after placing a bet on rapid success, and has opted to go for slow, steady growth instead. It seems be doing a very good job of that, but this isn’t satisfactory to Sepp, who wants big-time success and he wants it yesterday. Sorry, Sepp.
That’s funny. In a post in which someone else is referred to as “the next best thing to a complete imbecile,” *I’M* the one who says mean things.
I’m an editor by trade. I have merely pointed out that you don’t know how to properly use the language. Not mean. Fact.
you must be fun at parties…
nothing worse than a grammar nazi wow
I was an editor once.
I used to tell my mother that I was a piano player in a whore house, just so that she wouldn’t be embarrassed.
I’ve been both an editor and a piano player, though I wasn’t good enough to play in the whorehouse.
I need a new career.
I had 12 years of piano lessons but it didn’t take. I was aa reporter (news, sniff, not sports). But now I edit on the side when I need the cash.
Sepp’s basically making a defense of why the World Cup was given to the Qataris and not the US, in an oblique manner. Mind you, it’s without validity (and I can’t wait to see a Quatari league match MLS’s attendance–about the same chance as building a snowman there) but the overseas press will lap it up without a wimper.
Precisely. Saved me a blog post.
Sepp Blatter, more than any other politician, teaches us that there’s a key difference between a stupid person and a person who says stupid things.
Well, except maybe Joe Biden. But there’s the illustration – me, I like Diamond Joe, so I either shrug off or lap up the things he says that occasionally aren’t, y’know, true or smart or either. Sepp is doing the same thing.
Well, however we feel about Biden, Sepp Blatter is not stupid. No one ascends to that amount of power without a great deal of strategic and tactical acumen.
But I don’t think that he stays up at night cursing our calendar. I think that was LE Eisenmenger reading too much into this, and ESPN plagiarizing the living crap out of her. This seems more like Sepp cheap-shotting the Americans for the benefit of the rest of the world, particularly those in Al-Jazeera’s home country of…I forget where.
To answer Bumbletucky’s comment before – if I were Gulati, I’d say something like “Gee, Sepp has my number, if he has concerns he’s free to call,” and go about my business of amassing evidence to impeach Blatter and pull the World Cup away from Qatar. (If that isn’t what Gulati’s doing, he should resign, but that’s another topic.)
If I were Gulati, I would be trying to get interpol to arrest the fat pig and put him in a cell with Burlesqueoni and DSK in the hopes that they continue their rapacious ways – just on each other.
Al-Jazeera doesn’t have a home country. They split up into mini-cells around the Middle East so it’s more difficult to combat their ignorance.
Cute, but retarded.
If you have an objective observer compare Al-Jazeera’s programming to that of any major US new station, you will find out that ignorance is hiding in plain sight in your own living room.
See, this is why I love doing this blog. When I decide that there’s something I ought to say because I really do believe it but everyone will say I’m a totally paranoid loon so I back down, someone unimpeachable like Loney comes along and says it for me.
Want to know an interesting detail about why Bin Hammam resigned? Sepp Blatter was seen on the sideline of an AFC Qatar qually in deep conversation with the Emir on Friday night. On Saturday morning, BinnyMo faxed FIFA his resignation. It doesn’t take much of an imagination to figure that Blatter told the guy that Mo was toast and that if he wanted to pursue it then he was going to have to be deposed by the investigators, without restrictions as to the topic.
And since Garcia has already allowed as to how his people are looking into the Qatar bid, I’m guessing that the topic might have come up.
The only way to keep it off the table was for BinMo to abandon his bid. Why else does a guy who has spent 18 months and countless millions fighting FIFA’s rulings in courts on three continents suddenly say “Eh, forget it” except that the Qatari royals told him it was time to go?
I once found myself walking down some steep stadium steps behind Seep – I think it was the Brazil WC game at the Rose Bowl – to this day I regret not being drunk enough to stumble forward and put the football world out of its misery.
Biden is an idiot, Sepp is an idiot and you are an idiot.
For those who are assuming you are not being facetious with your comment about Al Jazeera’s home country, that would be Qatar.
Will anyone hold Sunil’s feet to the fire on this one? Grant Wahl says that Gulati will be answering questions about this, but why do I doubt it?
MLS has obviously solidified as you have pointed out and even if it is a minor league, it has reached a point of sustainability… which of course is the main goal in the early phase of any league.
A major challenge to MLS / English Football ability to challenge the big sports in the U.S. in the next 25 years will come from Mexico’s rise as a global power. The average American sports fan (typically White, Male) has a hard time engaging in sports where there aren’t many White, American Male heroes… as we have seen with Boxing being displaced by UFC.
In a world where Mexico is exporting legitimate stars to Europe, is a legitimate challenger for all cups, I think the typical White, American Male will disassociate from the sport… and growth of futbol in the U.S. will have to wait until the demographics have shifted enough to that White, American Males are no longer the dominant segment of the U.S. sports entertainment market.. and that will take a long time.
Similarly… with Dana White salivating to penetrate the Mexican market… I think it will turn out to be a double edged sword… if UFC becomes dominated by Mexican fighters.. it is going to limit UFC marketshare among its bread basket consumer.
“A major challenge to MLS / English Football ability to challenge the big sports in the U.S. in the next 25 years will come from Mexico’s rise as a global power.” – Funniest thing I’ve read all year! Thanks for that one
Not so entertained by the obvious racial/national tension you have with “white American males”.
What tension… just an obvious point.
The typical White U.S. Male will have a hard time getting into soccer if Mexico wins a World Cup & the U.S. is still having a hard time getting out of its World Cup group… don’t know where the controversy is in my statement? That consumer will stick to American Football, Hockey etc.,
If you doubt Mexico’s ascendancy that is your problem… but we shall see who is laughing after the next two World Cups.
I’m guessing from your post that you are not a white American male. Therefore, you’re not exactly an expert to state what their opinions and preferences are.
Take your ignorance and post somewhere else. This post is about Sepp Blatter, not Mexico and inferiority complexes. No more bread crumbs for you troll.
Are you seriously telling me that Mexico winning a World Cup wouldn’t put a big damper on soccer fervor in the U.S.?
All one has to do is witness posting her on Big Soccer over the last couple of years to project out what would happen if Mexico triumphs in 2014.
When was the last time Mexico made the quarterfinals at the World Cup? And the time before that? And where were those World Cups held? I’d like to see Mexico make a deep run in a World Cup, but it’s never happened, even when they’ve hosted.
White American males have no problem watching black guys in the NBA. The average white American male has just seen too many kung fu movies to take a combat sport where you can’t kick seriously.
Mexico 1999 Confederations Champion
Mexico 2 Time U-17 WORLD CHAMPION
Mexico 6 Time Gold Cup Champion
Mexico 2012 Toulon Champion
Mexico 2012 GOLD Olympic Medal
You talk much but the US hasn’t even won a Confederations
Cup. Keep on talking, we keep on winning.
I will seriously tell you that Mexico winning a World Cup wouldn’t put a big damper on soccer fervor in the U.S.
Once you realize that the World Cup is New Year’s Eve compared to the MLS being the bar you and your friends hang out at on the weekends. Soccer fervor in the U.S. is linked to the fortunes of MLS, not the USMNT. That said, a successful USMNT can help move things forward, but the baseline of MLS will always be there.
MexiKampeon, can I have your 2014 World Cup final tickets when Mexico fails to make it there?
Get back to me when MExico wins a World Cup!
Mexico will not win a World Cup before the United States. Not matter how much your little heart wants it.
It’s going to happen we have the young talent to prove it the US doesn’t
Hi-hum…lets talk once Mexico wins a knockout match…couldn’t even do that against…USA!!!!
2013 times are changing its going to happen
Yup!!
That should read “at C-Bus…Yup!!”
There’s a reason why the term Great White Hope exists. You people love to see your own succeed. And that’s fine. Look at all the hype for Michael Phelps or the next pretty boy QB. How many black QBs have the Packers or Cowboys had?
There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m Mexican, and I root for Mexicans because they are Mexican. I don’t know any of them personally.
Sure, everyone roots for non-what-they-are too, but when push comes to shove, we like to see our own succeed.
I hate the Dallas Cowboys to an irrational extreme. But you’re clearly forgetting Quincy Carter.
Not to mention that Romo is hispanic
Oh dear, you seem to be on the wrong site. I think you want “stormfront.org”.
But I was told the media was very desirous for a black quarterback to succeed in the NFL.
The US is in love with RGII, and Cam Newton before, and Michael Vick. I’m Peruvian and I don’t root for Peruvians because they are Peruvians, I root for people that are good, either Peruvian, Mexican or from the United States.
RGIII my bad, RGII is the dad and no-one roots for him.
WHAT! Seriously dude what ever you are smoking I need the name of your dispensary because that is some quality stuff. I am not saying there are not people in the United States who do not like Mexicans and wish there were none (or at least a lot less) in the country that is a fact and sadly I have had to try and talk to these people. But I got news for you, they already think soccer is a pussy foreign sport dominated by brown people with single names. They already hate soccer. One of the main reasons soccer is becoming more popular and relevant is because of the changing demographics. Hate to break it to you Mexico’s success or lack of success will have no negative impact on the MLS. There won’t be a racist backlash (they already tried that and it failed look at Glenn Becks comments about the 2010 world cup and then see the ratings for said world cup)
I don’t see it this way. I don’t think that many sports fans are passively xenophobic like that. Not to mention the growing Hispanic population in the US would likely embrace a “more brown” soccer league (has not seemed to dampen EPL fans’ enthusiasm). Today there are a lot of kids playing a new kind of US futbol(strategic, not kickball). Their ability to play and then watch this sport via cable tv and the internet will prove to make an ever increasing fanbase for the MLS (much like baseball and football on TV did for their current fan bases in the 70s and 80s). Prediction from my seat is continued growth for the next 15 years and a continued understanding and acceptance of a more “international” US pro sport .
“The average American sports fan (typically White, Male) has a hard time engaging in sports where there aren’t many White, American Male heroes.”
Ever heard of the NBA? Here are the rosters for last year’s all-star game: http://www.nba.com/allstar/2012/players/index.html. Not only can you count the number of white American (obviously male) players on one hand, you can do it on one finger.
That is a good point… the NBA’s popularity grew in parallel with suburban adoption of hip hop culture & rap.. I maybe oversimplifying things… I actually live in the suburbs and most of my casual male acquaintances are white… and I have noticed there is a percentage who ardently follow NFL, MLB & UFC while disdaining NBA, Futbol & Boxing.. I have always gotten the sense that is has to a bit with skin color & ethnicity etc., but I maybe overestimating that demographic & underestimating the cosmopolitan, non-provincialist Americans.
UFC has a lot of non-white fighters.
There probably are a few good ol boys left who don’t follow specific sports because of the amount of black or latino players in them but there are very few.. Most of these battles were fought and won over a generation ago. But as I pointed out in an earlier post this would have no impact on soccer because this tiny minority already hates soccer for a number of reasons.
Besides your post being vaguely racist, it’s also hilariously delusional. Mexican football is neither better or worse now than it has ever been. There is no reason to believe that will change, none.
I cover MMA, and I wouldn’t say Dana White is salivating to penetrate the Mexican market. The question came up a lot from the Spanish-speaking media before the heavyweight title fight last weekend, but Dana has been awfully slow in getting a fight card to Mexico. The sport is blowing up in Brazil, which has taken a lot of Dana’s attention.
And as good as Cain Velasquez is, I think we’re more likely to see Brazilian fighters dominate in the UFC than Mexican fighters. We already have A. Silva, Aldo and Renan Barao (interim) holding belts, and we’ve seen Dos Santos, Machida and Rua with titles in the last couple of years.
That’s not exactly new. Who was the first UFC great? What family started it?
Given that, I don’t think white guys are going to tune out if Mexico suddenly supplants Spain and … um, Brazil … as the dominant soccer country in the world. For one thing, Spanish is a lot easier to understand than Portuguese.
This must be why RG3 is so ignored.
Do you know what the average white american male wants to see? His team win. The end. Period.
If it was all about ethnicity, he would be watching hockey*, golf*, or NASCAR; not football (large percent african-american), not basketball (even larger percentage african-american), and not baseball (large percentage hispanic).
*Of course both of these are also largely populated by those darned furriners, so they must not watch those either.
People have left boxing because boxing was seen as corrupt, not because of the rise of hispanics.
For your world to exist fans would be flocking to Lacrosse.
What? white males? I guess that is why the NFL, NBA and to a large degree MLB are 3 of the big 4 sports? check out the racial makeup….and Mexicans aren’t exactly invading Europe, there is still more white American presence…boxing? boxing is losing out to MMA because it is corrupt and has always been so…
He is an idiot but his point was the Mls really has no clout or pull in this soceity. How is he wrong?
Sepp says “it should have been done by now.” Achieving clout or pull in this society is not something that MLS can simply do. Clout or pull has to be granted by others, whose decision making MLS doesn’t control.
Also, as Bill points out, Sepp seems to expect MLS to grow to a dominant position much faster than it has taken other leagues to do so.
Well said Roger. By saying the words “done by now” Blatter is condemning his comments to a short term, unrealistic expectation for a league which by all counts is still very much on the ascendancy.
There was no 18 year plan so the fact MLS has come this far should be applauded, rather than criticized.
Exactly. It’s not that Blatter is wrong – although as someone who is forced against his wil to watch Sportscenter every morning it’s astonishing how far MLS has permeated the conversation; much more than many of you are apparently aware of – but rather that he obviously expected soccer to leap to the fore and become a power in the US sports spectrum in 16 (18) years when anyone with a brain would have known that we’re talking decades.
the J-League did
This is not true. The J-League still has a long way to go before it is in a dominant position. In 2012, the top division of the J-League drew 5.3 million. In 2010, the latest year for which I can find a number on the Internet, the top division of Japanese pro baseball drew 21.6 million.
Guess it goes back to a much discussed topic on these boards which is how do we define success.
If we define it by number of clubs, number of stadiums built, overall financial health of the league, attendance, then I think we could all say MLS has been a success and met any realistic expectations for when the league started.
If we define it by television ratings, quality of play (yes I am a Euro snob) and overall impact on the national sporting mind (basically does the MLS move the meter) then we would have to say it is still disappointing.
the truth hurts
I suppose that if I had ever actually expected MLS to displace a juggernaut like the NFL, the way that Sepp seems to have, then this would hurt. However…
Please point to the “truth” you are alluding to.
0.38 ratings for a final and last game for the MLS star. That is the truth.
Radio silence on this, so far, from MajorLeagueSoccersoccer.com
I was hoping for more from them than doing what my wife does when I say something inappropriate at her work’s holiday party, which is to say, ignore me.
Not really. It was part of their “Kick Off” this morning.
Lucky duck. When I say “something inappropriate” at my wife’s work’s holiday party, I get a little punishment. Ignoring me would seem like bliss compared to the groveling, gutter cleaning and wallpaper shopping which I’m subjected to.
Hey Sepp, check out the Gridiron playoffs starting this weekend, so you can see why football doesn’t take hold here. There are simply better options.
And also, the quality of this league is poor. Its fans drive new fans away. The commentators are idiots. Team identities are kinda dorky. The logo and name of the league…
“… the quality of this league is poor. Its fans drive new fans away. The commentators are idiots. Team identities are kinda dorky. The logo and name of the league… ”
Spot on… basically MLS fans are the Dungeons & Dragons crowd of the U.S. Sports Entertainment Market
So in 20 years we’re going to basically run the entertainment sector, right? ‘Cause that’s what happened to the old Dungeons & Dragons crowd. Or haven’t you checked out your local multiplex recently?
Good point… as the obesity, geekiness & asexuality rates rise in the U.S. that could very well be great for MLS attendance & viewership.
Given your posts so far MexiKampeon, it sounds like you mostly just have an issue with the US and white people. With comments like “Mexico’s ascendency as a world power” and “the obesity, geekiness and asexuality rates rise in the US” I wonder if you expect anyone here to see you as anything other that a troll or some one with an personal axe to grind.
My last comment was tongue & cheek making fun of the Dungeons & Dragons crowd… I have no problem with US and white people as most of my friends here in the States & people I consider family are white people including the mother of my children, and my current girl friend.
With that said… all I have stated, and I think quite accurately even if the politically correct police want to arrest me, is that there is a large demographic of sports entertainment consumers in the U.S. that will have a hard time embracing soccer if Mexico emerges as a major power… does anyone really dispute that?
That is stated differently than your initial post(s). That post painted US sports fans as white and xenophobic. I can agree with your assertion about a “large demographic” being that way, but to suggest that they won’t change or that the younger demographic won’t be willing to embrace an eclectic MLS face in the future is pessemistic and off base, IMO. Also, perhaps you meant the ascendency of Mexico as world *soccer* power in your earlier post. Agreed if that is the case. I see no connection to US soccer waning and Mexico winning the World Cup. Why would this be the case? Heck, if Mexico makes it to the final match, I see a lot of the US population cheering for them and not the competition. Sounds like you might want to broaden the demopgraphic of white guys you hang with. Thanks for clarifying nonethless. BTW: the comment about D&D crowd and soccer fans certainly applies to the Seattle Portland fanbases.
so the current soccer fans are going to become so jealous that they tune out?? US already has plenty of current soccer fans. If Mexico does win one or both of the next 2 world cups, that will increase interest for the U.S. national team over those time spans amongst U.S. fans because U.S. plays Mexico regularly and beats Mexico regularly. There will be far more interest amongst U.S. fans for a U.S. – Mexico game when Mexico is elite or is a defending World Cup champ than there would be if Mexico is merely a good team that usually qualifies for the world cup and knockout stages thereof but usually doesn’t advance far therein. I think any potential ascendancy for Mexico on the world cup stage will not have much of a direct affect on MLS.
I concur with Soaker888 and cwilke1. First off, if someone has a problem with Mexicans (in which case I think they will probably have a problem with other Hispanics as well), to the point where they might not want to follow a sport that features a lot of Hispanics, then I don’t think they’d be a soccer fan to begin with. In that case, a couple of World Cups for Mexico wouldn’t drive them away; they’re not there to start with.
So, in order for your thesis to play out, you’d need people to have a large number of people who follow soccer but who then abandon it simply because Mexico wins the World Cup, instead of just making it to the knockout rounds. It’s hard for me to see that happening given that most the straight-out xenophobes wouldn’t have been following soccer and would therefore be unaffected by a Mexico triumph. More generally, I can’t see any precedent for large amounts of people abandoning a sport they previously followed closely simply because a particular ethnic group or nationality starts to take a significant role. Did Americans abandon the NHL when Russians, formerly the US’ worst enemy, started to play in the NHL?
I have not seen any nationwide studies of celibacy rates as compared to sports attendance and viewership. Would you happen to have a link?
As a married man, I am frequently forced to choose between watching a game or engaging in “relations”. I still watch a lot of games.
I read this and logged on to send you a message asking for you to bash him for this. Of course, you’re one step ahead of the game per usual.
What do you think about a boycott of World Cup tickets and merchandise until he’s gone?
I think Bill is making much ado about nothing. Blatter may very well be an idiot, but he is correct that MLS is struggling (although he didn’t say MLS stinks or anything remotely like that).
As to suggestion that Sunil Gulati try to get the World Cup pulled from Qatar, I doubt Gulati is that stupid enough to do that. A boneheaded stunt like that would not only alienate a lot of other soccer federations; it would affect our diplomatic relationship with Qatar and some other nations in the region.
To be fair, Blatter implied that soccer has not secured a sustainable niche in the U.S. which is wrong… MLS may stink… and I think that was an unintended yet truthful freudian slip from Archer… but SUM Marketing is a gold mine.
I don’t believe that MLS is “struggling” at all. If you want to say that it’s pretty small potatoes in the overall scheme of things, fine. You won’t get much of an argument.
But I think the league’s trajectory, while not where we wish it was, isn’t bad at all.
MLS is a newcomer fighting for market share, fighting for attention and fighting for TV time in a very crowded sports market with a whole bunch of established competitors.
At this point I’m just not sure how much more one could have reasonably expected.
“MLS is a newcomer fighting for market share, fighting for attention and fighting for TV time in a very crowded sports market with a whole bunch of established competitors.”
That is a very sober comment… as is a recognition that MLS has more or less reached a plateau and is certainly not improving at a linear – much less exponential rate… I guess if we want to get mathematical MLS is now in a logrithmic phase pending some unforeseen paradigm shift.
Extending the Loney hypothesis of Non Stupidity… perhaps what Blatter was trying to say (keeping in mind that English is only 1 of 6 or so languages he speaks).. is that MLS is now in a SLOG with no visible way to spark faster growth while China is still in the Exponential phase.
No, Blatter said exactly what he wanted to say precisely how he wanted to say it. It was a very political statement not directed at the U.S. at all.
It was a statement crafted to continue to back the decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar instead of the United States. Sure 1994 was a great success, but look how they’ve cocked things up since then. His statement was meant to provide cover and justification that FIFA made the right decision with regards to 2022, and it had nothing to do with personal enrichment.
AndyMEad: That is probably the most accurate synopsis of what Blatter said and why he said it.