Agreed. My read is that most casual sports fans in the US don't hate MLS, they're simply ambivalent to the league and/or the sport. Joe Citizen knows about his local teams and the national brand name teams and players in the popular sports because the hype and news about folks like LeBron, Brady, the Cowboys, etc, permeates pop culture. MLS dipped their toes in that water with Beckham but otherwise the league is as nationally relevant as, say, the American Athletic Conference in college sports. In another generation more of the casual fans in the country will have grown familiar with MLS brands and hopefully we've created/acquired another star or 2 to draw more interest. Eventually it will reach solid niche status like the NHL.
Perhaps, but they're a small segment of the overall population and it's only part hatred and some frustration. Even if MLS has great attendances the on-field product is decidedly poor compared to even leagues like the Eredivisie. And I'd wager that there will ALWAYS be folks like that because you can find critics of even the Bundesliga, EPL, and others all over the net. Everyone has their style preferences.
Copa MX Guadalajara/Monarcas on Univision Deportes: 672K https://t.co/Lua613qybW— Sports TV Ratings (@SportsTVRatings) April 20, 2017
Decidedly poor compared to Eredivisie? I don't agree with that. I think we are now within 20% or so in terms of quality behind Eredivisie top-to-bottom. Sure, PSV, Ajax, Feyenoord are much better. However, for example, none of the (I believe 4) Groningen players that recently came to MLS appear to be difference makers and some don't even start. Groningen is currently 10th. Roster values of each of the 3 bottom teams in Holland are under EUR 12mm according to transfermarkt.de, which is the level of Minnesota and San Jose.
Maybe, and in hindsight "decidedly poor" may be too harsh. But there are still plenty of MLS games where some comparably basic skills are left wanting, largely because many of the players aren't as finely honed with their ball handling like their peers in countries where everyone grew up with a ball at their feet, as it were. It's the phenomena where some fans are turned off because they see the struggles with first touch, positioning, etc. MLS has come a looooooong way in this regard but it's those abilities across the board that are, IMO, the biggest difference maker between them and, say, Liga MX. Our best teams do well but deeper down the line the talent drops off, especially beyond the best 5-7 players on the teams. But that's just my perception, and I trust MLS to continue their progress that in several years it would be a moot discussion anyway.
The academy push has been around for about a decade now. The first group of U12s should be coming out of the system right about now. Lets have this conversation in 5 more years when those first U8s, who have been steeped in their club's soccer style and drilled with the ball all their life, hit the field with the first team.
Apr 10-16: World Soccer Talk 1070k - América / Querétaro Univision; 669000 UDN; 401000 968k - Tigres / Chivas UniMás; 465000 UDN; 503000 889k - América / Necaxa UniMás; 412000 UDN; 477000 826k - Southampton / Man City NBC; 784000 Unvso; 42000 816k - Man Utd / Chelsea NBCSN; 816000 —; — 761k - Tigres / Pumas Univision; 482000 UDN; 279000 748k - Juventus / Barcelona FS1; 391000 FOXD; 357000 701k - Toluca / Monterrey Univision; 522000 UDN; 179000 542k - Barcelona / Sociedad beIN; 139000 beIE; 403000 447k - West Brom / Liverpool NBCSN; 415000 Unvso; 32000 401k - Toluca / Cruz Azul —; — UDN; 401000 390k - Sporting / Real Madrid beIN; 134000 beIE; 256000 383k - Bayern / Real Madrid FS1; 383000 —; — 377k - Orlando City / Los Angeles Galaxy FOX; 346000 FOXD; 31000 361k - Crystal Palace / Leicester City NBCSN; 361000 —; — 340k - Leverkusen / Bayern FOX; 282000 FOXD; 58000 327k - Puebla / Cruz Azul —; — UDN; 327000 298k - San Jose Earthquakes / FC Dallas UniMás; 256000 UDN; 42000 284k - Pachuca / Chivas —; — Unvso; 284000 260k - Spurs / Bournemouth NBCSN; 260000 —; — 241k - Querétaro / Tijuana —; — UDN; 241000 211k - Anderlecht / Man Utd FS1; 211000 —; — 203k - Atlético Madrid / Osasuna beIN; 57000 beIE; 146000 198k - Philadelphia Union / New York City ESPN; 198000 ESPND; — 188k - Chiapas / Tijuana —; — UDN; 188000 180k - Chiapas / León —; — UDN; 180000 174k - Crystal Palace / Arsenal NBCSN; 174000 —; — 96k - Dortmund / Monaco FS2; 96000 —; — 92k - Atlético Madrid / Leicester City FS2; 41000 FOXD; 51000 88k - Dortmund / Frankfurt FS1; 88000 —; — 82k - Thorns / Pride Lifetime; 82000 —; — 82k - Valencia / Sevilla beIN; 8000 beIE; 74000 65k - Bremen / Hamburg FS1; 65000 —; — 61k - Darmstadt / Schalke FS1; 51000 FOXD; 10000 53k - Pachuca / Morelia —; — Unvso; 53000 50k - Betis / Eibar —; — beIE; 50000 50k - Granada / Celta Vigo —; — beIE; 50000 43k - Inter Milan / AC Milan beIN; 25000 beIE; 18000 31k - Sociedad / Sporting beIN; 7000 beIE; 24000 26k - Athletic / Las Palmas —; — beIE; 26000 18k - Vitória / Sporting CP —; — UDN; 18000 18k - Angers / PSG beIN; 18000 —; — 18k - Hoffenheim / Mönchengladbach FS2; 6000 FOXD; 12000 17k - Ajax / Schalke FS2; 17000 —; — 14k - Marseille / Saint-Étienne beIN; 14000 —; — 11k - Wolves / Brighton beIN; 11000 —; — 10k - Armada / Deltas beIN; 10000 —; — 5k - Bristol / QPR beIN; 5000 —; —
They also put games on USA during the playoffs. I wonder what they'll do with Olympic hockey now that it's relegated to being a secondary competition...
Pretty sure I saw one on CNBC as well. I know when they put a secondary EPL match on CNBC the ratings are usually very poor, but the dynamics of the NHL are much different. Most casual viewers who watch the EPL probably just watch whatever is presented as the marquee match on NBCSN, whereas NHL fans may be more interested in other matches for geopgraphic/rivalry reasons.
Here are what I believe to be the final 2016 numbers, but not broken up by each channel. http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2016/10/27/Media/MLS.aspx
ok, I looked at the last full post @Stupid_American American made in 2016 and I tried to break it down by adding the last few ratings he did not add to his list. FOX 5 games - 658.4K average. FS1 25 games - 157.04K average. FoxDeportes 30games - 34.56K (includes 5 simulcasted on big fox) I get 275K average for both Spanish and English. ESPN 28 games - 290.17K average. ESPN2 4 games - 201.5K average. For ESPNDeportes SA only had 1 listed at 72K (I am not sure if the other info is available) I get 279K excluding Spanish. UND (network) 25 games - 69.08K (missing info for 2 games). Unimas 19 games - 166.79K (missing info for 8 games) Univision 1 game 827K.
Here is the info that is missing from 2016. Most ESPNDEP UNIMAS Game 11: N/A - Weather Delay (KC vs DC) Friday 9:30pm 5/27/2016 Game 12: N/A - Simulcast on Univision (LA v SJ) Saturday 10:00pm 6/25/2016 Game 17: Unknown (LA vs HOU) Friday 11:00pm 7/15/2016 Game 18: Unknown (RSL vs SJ) Friday 11:00pm 7/22/2016 Game 19: Unknown (SJ vs NYC) Friday 11:00pm 8/5/2016 Game 20: Unknown (VAN vs SJ) Friday 11:00pm 8/12/2016 Game 21: Unknown (CHI vs ORL) Sunday 4:00pm 8/14/2016 Game 22: Unknown (SJ vs HOU) Friday 11:00pm 8/19/2016 Univision DEP NETW Game 5: N/A (PHI vs ORL) Friday 7:00pm 4/8/2016 Game 24: N/A (KC vs HOU) Friday 8:00pm 9/9/2016
You'll have a hard time finding those missing numbers, I suspect. You're better off just hoping SBJ or one of the other Sports Biz outfits gives you an accurate ratings average for the year. Finding game-specific numbers at this point isn't worth the trouble. Just in case someone on this thread wants to pick up where I left off in 2016 (including but not limited to exporting this data into something more data-friendly like Excel or Tableau), I dumped all of the historical ratings data we have into a Google Drive folder that's accessible via this link. The data is accurate from 2012 to 2016 (in the format we use now), but I also included a file that includes year-specific averages and major event numbers (MLS Cup, the ASG, etc.) going all the way back to 1996. The one major caveat I'd mention is that I haven't yet finalized the 2016 playoff numbers, so it's presently incomplete. I'll try to update that file later this week. It's about halfway done, so it shouldn't take much more time to complete.
Possibly, but as I've read on comparable boards for college sports and such the effect might prove neutral compared to other options. In other words, if ESPN takes a hit that will be indicative of the whole industry, in which case it will hit other sports, too. But live sports content remains the premium and whether ESPN or another outlet the league will be able to find a home, just as will the NHL, the Premiership, etc. Hence the value of the established online options. So while the next contract may not be the straight up windfall we would all hope, it will be inline with the value of sporting content and will find a home some where, somehow.
Sports ratings will go down as more use other platforms but IMO what's going on with ESPN is largely self-inflicted by interjecting politics into everything. In that case it's not indicative of the industry as a whole.