Thanks to Don Garber for taking the time to answer those questions. Now... He makes the logical connection between LEVEL OF PLAY----MLS TEAMS IN INT'L COMPETITION---HISPANIC FANBASE as one of three major targetgroups. It's right there in his responses--the level of play needs to increase so MLS can show what it's made of against Mexican League and Central American teams, which will in turn earn it more respect and followers among Hispanic fans. Yet.... He punts on every question concerning bringing new talent into the league. First on the Beckham question (#4), then on the Valderrama, Donadoni question (#10), then on the general on-field talent question (#12). On 4, he hides behind the Denmark-Norway part of the question and doesn't answer the other except in vagueries ("we review our team salary budget every year....") On 10, he starts out with "This subject requires a delicate balance" and ends with "We'll keep you posted", hardly inspiring confidence that anything of significance will be done. On 12, he bends the "on-field talent" question to "we must invest in the appropriate resources if we want to show improvement" and "our technical committee has generated some innovative ideas." Again, that hardly sounds like bringing in foreign talent (forget big-name stars, I mean more Christian Gomez type players), it sounds more like youth development or something. ---All in all, for those of us who believe the key to tapping into the Hispanic and Core constituencies (2 of his 3 main targets) is greatly improving the level of play on the field, these answers were hardly encouraging.
We also got solid confirmation that CONCACAF Champions Cup and the new MFL/MLS Champions League are in fact two different tournaments. We also found out the the new MFL/MLS competition will happen in 2007 in a reduced format, with the "real" format in 2008. Another issue that all of BigSoccer should notice is the amount of thought that the league has given to all the issues mentioned. There's a lot of attitude on these boards that "MLS is a bunch of idiots, how do they not see that [fill in the blank with your favorite issue]". In fact, there are smart people running this league and they are mostly aware of the league shortcomings, as evidenced by Mr. Garber's responses on the marketing, TV production, youth system, and other issues. I think that the reason changes don't often happen as fast as BigSoccer wants them is due to lack of money, lack of other resources, or general league approach of being conservative with their decisions. We should consider giving the league a bit more credit.
I'm glad the players were allowed to give insight here. The more immediate the incentive to play hard, the better.
Seriously, I'm currently watching the Twins play the A's in the playoffs. I'm sick and tired of teams like these just going out and outspending everybody on their way to the playoffs...
Nice of the commish to respond to those questions...even the loaded ones. My favorite quote: Can we pose 20 questions to the execs at ABC/ESPN? Q1: What were you smoking?
Actually, the model (currently) used around the world is a big reason why (so many) leagues (and teams) are in financial difficulty.
As ideological in nature as those questions were, they weren't much but a trap for Garber. He answered them about as well as they could have been.
That's good point. I haven't been following MLS for that long, but I can already tell that most of the griping that goes on is merely fans who are mad the league isn't the EPL or La Liga. This is a country where gridiron and baseball rule! Don't expect a perfect league overnight. We're lucky to have a competitive league in just 10 years. I mean, some of our teams have actually won matches against Mexican clubs that have been around for nigh a century. Be patient, I say, and we will see results (we already have).
Honestly I thought Eric Wynalda was pretty good over the World Cup. He wasn't calling games, and it suited him much better. The pbp is where ESPN deservedly got the most criticism. Also, you have to realize, he had to try and generate semi-intelligent discussion with some of the biggest nutjobs in the soccer universe - Georgio Chinaglia, Alexi Lalas, Brent Musberger, and Julie Foudy. Good luck there.
Yes, but is the point of a league to make sure everyone's finances are in order or to provide a viable, exciting competition that people want to watch?
At first i read this and I thought you might be serious but now I'm not so sure...beacuse i know the A's are known for being the best run small baseball club in the country right now while the twins seem to be doing even poorer finanicially than the A's. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/33/Rank_1.html Either way just thought i would point it out
That voros guy doesn't know anything about baseball. I'm sure he was serious. Revenue sharing in baseball is fairly significant now however, and the small markets aren't nearly as small as they were even 10 years ago. By some estimates, thanks to the luxury tax, the Royals made 20 million in profit last year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voros_McCracken
First, thanks to Mr. Garber for responding. Hopefully now that BS and MLS have an official relationship this will be an ongoing conversation. That said, the answer to this question is quite misleading I think. D.C. hasn't been in the playoff chase for quite awhile. Anyone well ahead of 4th place in their conference hasn't either. Plus, he mentions the NY-KC game on the final weekend as being huge. And it is, if advancing from the qualifying stage is huge. Even so, what he doesn't say is thanks to MLS, both NY and KC's games this weekend aren't all that important. If KC wins 99-0 and NY loses 99-0, the only thing that changes is that a draw is good enough for KC in the final game. If NY wins 1-0 and KC wins 999-0, a NY tie on the final day gets them in (they'll win the head to head tiebreaker).
You know.... what I don't think the don realizes (nor any of the marketers for that matter) is how you turn kids into life long fans. You would figure the league has been around for 11 years... the league has been catering to youth for 11 years. All these kids should be fans now, right? Well, they're not.. why? Because you're STILL MARKETING TO KIDS AND THEY'RE GROWN UP!!! You don't get kids to like stuff by marketing it to them. You get kids to like stuff by marketing it to grown ups. Think of cigarettes. How do they get long life customers? By putting people in face paint? no. By making it look like a cool, ADULT thing to do, because every teenager wants to be thought of as two things... cool and an adult. It's just so ********ing frustrating and annnoying.
From a network point of view, Wynalda was exactly what they wanted; a loudmouth with no brain. Whatever he said did get some BS folks here talking.
Put that in perspective, though. It's nothing like how badly the indoor game was marketed. Now those guys didn't give a shit about the adults. Take everything you don't like about the noisemakers and the jock rock and how the tickets were distributed etc etc and raise it to the tenth power. In Dallas, it was actually quite successful in its way, but still a dismal long term strategy whose doom was sealed when they got an outdoor team. (Also, we don't really know how successful that tack has been in MLS's milder version. A 10-year old in 1996 is still only 20 today). I do think you have a certain point here. 12 year olds aren't interested in anything as much as whatever the 16 year olds are doing, and so on.
Agreed. Idiot, but entertaining idiot. And reasonably professional on air. Didn't trip on his words, no Balboa monotone, etc.
This brought you out of the woodwork, didn't it? He didn't say they were marketing exclusively to youth, Brainiac. And the St.Louis Steamers just spent the last two years marketing exclusively to adults, with the owner saying he didn't want any kids at the games. Three things happened: 1. Kids and families still went to games. 2. Not appreciably more adults went, at least not in the young demo they were looking for. 3. The team lost a boatload of money and is gone. You can't choose your demographic. Your demographic chooses you. Now go shut up and sit down.
What was funny to me is that comment came from DC, where I totally fail to see the problem. Our fans aren't dominated by teeny boppers (though there are plenty there, and there's nothing wrong with that), there's more than enough marketing to adult demographics, and more than enough not-appropriate-for-kids elements in the atmosphere.