MLS 2013 TV Ratings

This sounds very weird to me. I bought tickets in advance for Saudi Arabia - Morocco and my seats were in the very last row of an upper deck corner section. The stadium was full save for 1-2k seats. For Norway-Ireland, I had to pay $80 (which was HUGE MONEY for me then) for $25 face value ticket, which was again in the last row of section 305.

 

the u.s. is a great country for a wc.
the reasons are: ready infrastructure; many major urban centers; attractive international destination...
but interest in soccer is still far from being one of the reasons the u.s. can be a great choice.
in '94 it would be way of a stretch to say the country got into the wc in some huge way. mass market coverage was superficial.
today would be better, although i'm not sure by how much, tbh.

of course the '94 wc was huge for the launch of a domestic league. 100%. even if on the wc itself they had to put a little make-up.

 

what can i tell you... i was fifty yard line and never bought in advance nor paid full price. and it wasn't hard. there were all sorts of junior exec types unloading tix they must have got for free and didn't care about.
i don't know beyond what i saw, but my guess is that a lot of tix went to corporations in the course of business, so to speak; or even may have been given away. which of course didn't help someone like you buying in the official retail channel.
there was supposed to be a rule, no one even allowed into parking lots without ticket in hand. that was my only concern, that dopes at the lot entrance wouldn't let me in.
but there was no problem. and heck, the ticket windows were open! tbh, i knew i didn't have to sweat tix.
i wasn't at the games you mention, but i did see italy twice for example, which i would say was a premiere draw.

 

Then how do you explain that photo? Clearly taken after a goal, so after the swoosh you reported, yet that upper deck is clearly full and that's a good third or more of the upper deck in that shot, not just the end zone.

 

This is reason that USA is not getting WC now because "international construction mafia" will not allow it. It is not that FIFA bribes official for votes but " construction mafia" who make biggest profit from WC. If USA get WC then there is nothing to build but in Qatar you need to build everything.

 

careful. be very very careful here....
again: i was there. the stadium wasn't full. it's not that big a deal. you were 'impressed' with attendance. fair enough.
as for being drunk. speak for you and yours, asshole.

 

again. i was there. i've described the game, inside and outside gs. pictures these days aren't very good proofs of anything.
at game time there was a large empty central section of the upper deck. the ends were much fuller. so it wasn't a question of late arrivals. the people in the poorer seats were looking around and literally at the opening whistle they rushed in a mass to the better seats. the mezzanine where i was, wasn't full either. (there was a guy some rows behind me, pbl at the only soccer game of his life, who started doing a dog bark at some point and kept it up literally until the end.)

it wasn't a failure, don't get me wrong. but the '94 wc didn't set the u.s. into any frenzy.
and yes, it was huge for the launch of mls. it was definitely enough of a success for that. i mean, the u.s. could do a game here and there before, but this was the whole schabang from a to z. that was the impressive thing.

 

i've testified first hand, you dope.

 

i don't really care about your photo.
i was there. i know what happened.
if you don't want to believe me, i couldn't care less.
i really and truly couldn't care less.
i was there. i saw it all with my own eyes.
oh, i forgot...
merry x-mas to one and all.

 

Game, set and match for this argument.

 

And besides, the point of that was just how good the attendance was, and how that changed a lot of attitudes. It was a huge surprise at the time, but now it's just par for the course. Today the attitude is "Sell out the World Cup?? ******** that, we'll sell out the Confederations Cup."

 

He probably saw a bunch of empty seats (inevitable in a venue that large) and decided its "half full".

 

I agree with a lot of what is being said on both sides, but I think they are missing one other thing:

Schedule and TV times - I am a big MLS fan and will be the first to admit that our league's quality of play is inferior to many leagues in Europe, south america and even central america, but our schedule ant TV times are atrocious. We are asking non-MLS fans to search thoroughly for when games are being played. This coming year's 2014 schedule is no different. We have games in March starting at 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, 6:00, 7:00, 7:30, 8:30, 9:30, 10:00 and 10:30. This is ridiculous, The league needs to provide current and prospective fans with a simpler schedule of when our games will be played

While talent will definitely make a difference, I can't help but think that a simpler schedule and start times would go a long way to in improving television ratings. To do this there is no need to even reinvent the wheel. We simply need to look no further than how the EPL or Bundesliga does it. All or most games are played on the same days and time. I always know that there will be an EPL game on Saturdays at 7:00, 10:00 and 12:30 and Sundays at 8:00 and 11:00. Even the NFL does it the right way with games on Thursday at 8:00, Sunday at 1:00, 4:00 and Monday's at 8:00.

MLS will not improve television ratings until it makes it easier for the television viewers to watch. Television start times and schedule should be the first priority.

 

NHL start times in December: 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, 7:00, 7:30, 8:00, 8:30, 9:00, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30 - 15 different times this month
NBA start times tomorrow through Sunday: 12:00, 1:00, 2:30, 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, 7:30, 8:00, 8:30, 9:00, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30 - 13 different times in the next 5 days
MLB for 3 days in April: 1:05, 1:10, 1:45, 3:05, 3:10, 4:05, 4:10, 4:15, 4:35, 6:10, 7:05, 7:07, 8:05, 8:15, 8:40, 10:10, 10:15 - 17 different times in 3 days
and for completeness sake, NFL start times: 1:00, 4:05, 4:25, 8:25, 8:30, 8:40 - 6 different times each week

Other than the NFL American sports are all over the map with their start times. MLS actually has less start times in your example than any league but the NFL. The idea that this is the cause of MLS's TV problems is laughable.

 

I hate flex scheduling. I get the appeal ... I'm just talking personally. I like seeing the full spectrum of teams ... the ones and top, middle and bottom. Flex scheduling will just mean the network latches on to 2 or 3 clubs and that's all we get.

 

I don't think it will be quite that bad, but yeah, we're going to see a lot more of the top-of-the-table teams, along with the Cascadia clubs (due to atmosphere) and a lot less of the Wooden Spoon contenders.