I think the problem in understanding our attendance woes comes from the basic approach to sports. In many countries, sports, including soccer, are approached as a semi-government organization. Everyone is allowed to participate and no discrimination is allowed. Raise your team, compete, and if you win, you advance. Much of the infrastructure is paid for through taxes. In the USA, sports are purely a business. In fact, they are the only legal monopoly. An ownership group is not allowed to have a big-league pro-team until they get the permission of the other big-league owners. This can involve some really shady politics and dealing. Some local governments pay for stadiums, especially for baseball, but I haven't seen much tax money for pro-soccer stadiums. The use of tax money for stadiums involves even more politics and shady deals. Some colleges have small soccer stadiums, but they too are private organizations and don't support pro-soccer. Pro-soccer, at this time, is being paid for by a few very rich businessmen, both in MLS and the A-league. If you tick them off by relegating thier teams, well, bye-bye pro-soccer. I would prefer a system by which sports were about fair competition for all, and tax money, when used to support professional sports, were distributed more evenly and openly, but that's just not the case here. OK, now can we return to talking about the Cup? I think Atlanta has a chance against KC next week.
Well, if KC plays their full team, including Meola, I don't see them giving up goals. If they rest a few guys though, it will be anybody's match
righttt!! like YOU have any ideas on how to increase the attendances i saw that a couple of years ago in BS but i won't bother to look for it if you don't want to believe it it's your problem
Funniest thing ever. Thanks. Hey, sonny - I'll let you in on a secret: One of us has actually marketed soccer in America before, and one of us lives overseas and doesn't have a clue how American soccer works. Care to guess which one is which? Now go away.
well one of us probably made a lousy job since he's not doing it any more perhaps that's why you think you should be a proffessor to understand soccer "in america" so let me tell ya i'm a soccer fan for 20 years now and i DO have a clue on how soccer works and i believe that what is working so fine in so many countries should work at the mighty USA as well it maybe depends on some details but it can be done
Yeah, that's why. You're an idiot. Not a professor, no. Just have a brain. Sorry, you don't qualify. The devil is in the details, isn't it? So far every single "suggestion" you've made, in this thread and in others, about how to "save" soccer in America has been totally idiotic. You haven't presented a coherent strategy yet. You just think if we do things they way they do it "everywhere else in the world," it'll just take off. You're wrong. As usual. And now you're just embarassing yourself further. Well, you would be. But you seem to have this innate ability not to be embarassed when you say stupid stuff over and over and over and over again.
Stop. You're killing me. Seriously, everytime I read one of your posts I burst out laughing, then when my boss looks over, I have to pretend like I'm having a coughing fit. She must think I've developed TB. So, Kenn, what lower-division sides do you think might knock off MLS teams in the upcoming round?
I don't know - it's rarer than you think. Coming into this year, MLS teams were 71-23 (.755) against teams from the lower divisions, with 16 of the 23 lower-division wins coming from A-League sides. I'd say Portland has a chance at home. The Revs aren't real good, I don't know what Rochester's chances are of nicking that one on the road. But it's just a guess that those two might be the best chances. If no one pulls it off, it'll be all-MLS the rest of the way, and that's not interesting.
Kenn,you keep insulting me and you are doing it well but you haven't suggested a SINGLE WAY on how to increase attendances besides disqualify my ideas that's because you haven't got any right? now if you do not mind i'd like to continue with the USOC discussion
No, it's because that's another thread. We're not talking about my ideas - we're talking about your non-ideas. I didn't bring it up. You did. It's not going to be government interference, it's not going to be pro/rel, it's not going to be eliminating the playoffs, it's not going to be single-table. It's going to be time and manpower. Mostly time. I realize that's not what you want to hear. But I'm not going to go into a dissertation about how best to improve soccer's standing in American sports culture because I have to get to work.
why is it not interesting?? that's how you promote the USOC?? who gave you that job in the first place i wonder
Kenn I think it's obvious that you are trying to railroad this conversation into something other than the Open Cup. I really wish you could stay on topic.... It's too bad the U.S. has a "Free Press" and the gov't can't force the media to cover sports. I'm going to write a letter to my senator right now, I'm sure there is nothing more important on Dick Durbin's plate right now than ways to get soccer into the headlines. That being said on Sunday PW and I and a few others were talking about our game coming up in Cowtown. I hope we can pull it off but I just don't have a very good feeling right now about that game.
c'mon!! you've had a 38 pages thread in the MLS forum a year ago and you haven't gave any ideas then besides insulting me like the rest of the herd look,it'll probably never happen but theoreticaly it can be done like it has been proved in so many places around the world
Yes it can be done, but Communism has already proven not to work in most of the world. Now is there a government that can force the media to cover certain things in westernized democratic nations? Even if there is, freedom of the press is a cornerstone of this country and the government will never be able to force the press to cover something they don't choose to cover on their own. You're not simply suggesting a change for soccer your suggesting that we throw away a basic element of what makes this country great. What if I said that soccer in Israel would grow and get more attention if the government just gave total control of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv over to the Palestinians? Your circular reasonings for why you are taking a more pro-active stance than Kenn are ridiculous. Your great helpful ideas are similar to suggesting that we hold the final on Mars in order conjur up more media coverage for the Open Cup. Why not suggest something realistic to Kenn like, "Start your own soccer media outlet that will give the Open Cup more coverage?" Oh wait....
kenntomasch & Y&B POWER. Fox Sports World is looking for the I-Max Soccer version. You both would fit the bill and Max Bretos would be the ref for Bill Wolff.
Japan is a democratic country as far as i know and there the government forced the media to cover more soccer for the sake of the WC after that it came naturally what you are really saying is that soccer will never become popular in your country no matter what you'll do it's a shame man and Kenn is even worse than you.he claims that the USOC QF will not be interesting if all the teams qualify are from MLS that's horrible news to soccer in america i mean imagine an english fan say the QF of the FA cup is not interesting because there aren't any lower division teams left in the competition...i would agree that it's nice and welcomed to see lower division teams in a latest stages of a national cup competition but as a soccer fan i'd NEVER say "it is not interesting" not to have one
I have a problem with the situation here in Minnesota. The NSC instead of working with the Thunder and professional soccer in Minnesota has decided to schedule a US U-17 match to be played against Canada on the same day as the Thunder vs. Galaxy match. I don't quite understand why USsoccer would allow for a US friendly to be played 20 minutes from a USOC match? Ok other than money; but I would have figured USsoccer would see that splitting the soccer community between two of their events would not be advantagous for promoting the USOC.
Really? Got something to back that up? No, that's not what we're saying. And that's my opinion. An MLS-only US Open Cup from the quarters on in is no different than what we see week-in and week-out in the league. And yet, whenever I hear about how great the FA Cup is, it's the David/Goliath thing...and it's the great stories like the second-division side that makes it to the semis. Not about how great it is when the last eight teams are all Premiership teams. Well, that's you. What's interesting to me isn't what's interesting to you. And what I consider common sense has obviously eluded you as well. You're a thickheaded, relentless dunce.
the japanese media has promoted soccer deliberaely before the WC that's a known fact otherwize the people there wouldn't be so histerical about it there's a difference between a regular season MLS game to a "do or die" USOC match and you should know it by now(assuming you are a real soccer fan) it is obvious in a well traditioned soccer nations with the league and a national cup competition i admit it's more exciting to have lower division sides in the higher stages of a national cup competition but to say "it is not interesting" not to have one it is an underestimating of soccer and particulary the USOC
Ooooh, you mean "do or die" as in "Gosh, if we don't win this, we won't have a chance to win a tournament nobody cares about?" You're right, that is pressure. Ohmygosh. If we don't beat the Rapids Wednesday night in some suburb, it'll be a disaster, even though we'll play the Rapids twice more during the league season, in a competition that's actually attended by people and televised nationally. By the way, play the "real soccer fan" card again and I'll bury you some more, jackass. You keep applying the way things are "over there" to the way things are "over here" and they're just not the same. Get it through your f-ing skull. If it's a "known fact," it should be easy for you to back it up. You're just making stuff up because you have nothing. Nothing.
you don't care about the USOC coz you haven't got a soccer tradition well i live far away and i DO care about it in fact the only time i was really sad is when the Metros have lost it was in the USOC final last season not in a meaningless regular season games that's how things are in a well traditioned soccer nations and with an attitude like yourselves it would never happen the japanese media covered more soccer before the WC how can i prove it?? i haven't got Japanese newspapers from 3 years ago and even if i have i couldn't read it i know this because i've read the israeli papers that wrote about it