The point I was making is that CL matches give international "fans" more opportunities to "see" their team.
I guess Shrewsbury are safe - pun intended - with this experiment as, even if they are promoted to the Championship - they would presumably have two years to comply with all-seater requirements.
They are also very well managed both on and off the field. The contrast to the "clown management" at nearby Blackburn Rovers is... interesting.
The pub in SF I watch soccer in is packed for lunchtime CL games when one of the English teams is playing.
That's why I think a pro/rel pyramid in the U.S. should start from the ground up. If the top level gains enough support without the "major" league status points that attract the MLS audience, then slipping down a level would carry much less risk of a mass fan exodus. Given how MLS has established itself as, well, itself for over twenty years, I really wouldn't blame LA Galaxy fans for bailing if MLS had changed the rules overnight so they were relegated this season instead of getting a Zlatan-class restart.
They sacked their coach mid-season and replaced half the squad ahead of this season. What makes you think they didn't care?
Probably 150. Most packed for Arsenal - huh - games. Fox and ESPN show some games on their apps - another way some will watch.
It's only natural that people want to see the best in the world. How many Americans would watch the Commonwealth Games when they an watch The Olympics?
I seem to remember lots of US fans being fixated on Fulham for a while. I wonder how that could have been?
No no no. Feyenoord are far too historically known and previously successful to be a hipsters casual Euro side club. It's either FC St Pauli or St Etienne. For your US team, it must be as vague a reference as possible. If you can find a club that is still brewing in the mind of a bored, independently-wealthy soccer enthusiast with just enough disposable cash to rent a school field for half a month, and who is acquainted with a fledgling amateur-in-name-and-remuneration-only league (let's call it NPUTSL), that should be your club. After 5 years of wearing a home-made scarf and tight-fitting cotton tee in reference to the club (crest is probably a shield with a Sigur Ros album cover in the middle - not officially, just your interpretation of the concept), the prospective owner decides he's better off investing in a casual meth habit. You're left to lament "If not for the lack of pro/rel...".
I remember when I went to college... it was in 2010, so funny, kids in South Carolina knew nothing absolutely nothing outside of EPL and Madrid and Barcelona. This frat kid that used to play club soccer was talking crap on FIFA, he chose Liverpool. I used to be good at FIFA when I was young but not anymore, anyway, kid talking all this trash saying he was going to beat me, I wasn’t even good anymore but I picked Napole. It was so easy to beat him, playing through balls to Lavezi and Cavani, they were too fast, I destroyed the kid.., he never heard of neither of those players or the team, to all these “cool” kids, South American soccer is “garbage.” Too funny, I bet he will never forget that day. I like people that follow random teams for whatever reason. I still follow the Charleston Battery kind of since I have good friends in Charleston.
I probably have watched 2 full EPL games my whole life, they are obviously not the best. Americans don’t even know what they want at this point, I’m just waiting for pro rel to take off, we will be more serious about soccer by then.
Skjelvik is on $900k per year, Ciani is on $600k, Perry Kitchen is on $500k. Those are expensive non-DP salaries for MLS. Ola Kamara, the non-DP starting forward, is on $400k. In fact, most of the new signings were defensive players.