But people don't buy premium seats and suites in a morgue. The "supporters section" is a big part of the show.
Considering soccer is the only sport that has a supporters section and premium seats and suites don’t have issues selling out in other sports, I’m not sure how accurate your statement is...
The way I conceptualize it is that the big four are harvesting a legacy of deeply rooted mass common appeal that they are uniquely positioned to sell. In premium seating they are able to package elite status-consciousness in a sort of quasi civic-minded salt of the earth register. MLS doesn't have that legacy branding to exploit. And they have a product that has been shown elsewhere to be more conducive to being democratized mass spectator entertainment than any other, and indeed MLS has achieved its greatest business success in that direction. The American capitalist culture is such that the option that gets immediately laughed out of the room is good-faith service of the customer, few places more so than the big four, but that sure seems like the wisest business direction for MLS. That way lies fan growth, which remains the lifeblood for the foreseeable future.
Certainly college football student sections serve as the equivalent of supporters sections, and yes, I think they are very much part of the show. I'd argue that leagues that claim to make all their money from TV should susidize fan sections to make the TV product better. The English Premier League should do this, many games are a lot less fun to watch because the crowd is so quiet. There is precedent for this by the way with half time shows. Act don't charge what they could, but then require the crowd to wait outside for access. This encourages the young and enthusiastic to in the front of the crowd, instead some corporate old baby boomers.
Yeah, if you think the EPL should encourage supporter groups instead of actively fighting against them like they're doing now, you don't know anything about the history of English hooliganism, don't know what's going on with Nazi groups in Italy and Eastern Europe, and don't know about the violence in South America. No thanks.
I don't thinkIi have ever watched a game on tv and thought it less fun to watch due to a lack of crowd noise.
And the two best game atmospheres I've attended in the last couple years were a USWNT and the Gold Cup final. Neither has much of a supporters section aside from a tiny, almost inaudible group of AOs at the ends of the stadium. Having the normie fans engaged and into the game is what makes the atmosphere special. Sometimes the supporters groups are good at making this happen, sometimes not.
True the South American groups sound crazy. I guess I wasn't thinking of fan groups per say, just parts of the stadiums, whether because they have safe standing or students, that are more active and sing, some EPL are quiet. But yeah, true, we don't want violence, unsafe stadiums, and other anti-social behavior on the up. Really? I think crowd reaction and energy is part of the show. It's lame watching sports in a empty or passive venue.
It can be part of the show, sure, but I enjoy watching the skill on the field regardless of any crowd interaction.
That's a big jump though. I mean, you're right. in some areas helping the groups could be a bad idea. But, for example, current English teams helping SG's grow safely might be a good thing. I'm not saying they should or shouldn't, just that there's a continuum between "work against them" and "Nazi hooligans".
Yeah I was being a bit harsh. Just looking at the history of how these groups tend to evolve, and it's not something I want. If we could somehow keep the groups having a positive energy, I'm all for it.
I have. English clubs tried half-time shows, or rather Sky TV did, and they were routinely booed. Liverpool fans complain they can't sit together because of the number of tourists in the Kop. Certainly Anfield can seem dead for anything but the big match ups.
The price paid for being a global brand in 2020... and for that big trophy they won last summer in Madrid.
Maybe its because I'm a fan of another English team, but I can't see going to Liverpool and buying a ticket in the Kop. That's for the team's supporters, not me. If I'm going with a friend who's a Liverpool supporter or something, then yeah, but on my own? No.
Lots of Americans, especially sports fans that don't like soccer, have "going to an English soccer game and singing with the hardcore fans" on their bucket lists, So I can see it. I'd think Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham would get the majority of those folks though.
AKA "getting to London is easy, getting to Manchester or Liverpool takes work". (Speaking as somebody who has done it, though it wasn't really work)
A lot of the English hooligans didn't stand with the regular supporters. The Chelsea mob sat in the lower tier of the East Stand at home and infiltrated the home sections at away games. The worst of the Liverpool hooligans stood in the Anfield Road End.
Personally my favorite type of atmosphere is the entire stadium just reacting to the game. A single section going ape shit singing and dancing while the rest of the stadium is a library doesn't do it for me at all.
A few years back Crew hosted a summer friendly with West Ham. Some characters showed up,claiming to be from the ICF and tried to start fights in the Nordecke. CPD just dragged them out and wrote them tickets.
Yankee Stadium really stepped up after being heavy handed initially and gave NYCFC supporters a lot more leeway than they do the Bleacher Creachers. I just hate that "Come on City boys, make some fkin noise" has become an anthem of sorts.