The "Thoughts That Don't Require Their Own Thread" Thread IX

MLS is considering using Instant Replay. Combining MLS' great efficiency with the "quality" refereeing we've seen, this could equate to three hour soccer matches

 

At first glace, I assumed they were considering stopping games and letting Instant Replay's Simon Borg deliver his call. RED,RED,RED,RED,RED,RED!

 

So, you think it's a coincidence that the great players stay away. Cool.

And Henry is willing to fly to Seattle and play on their turf, so why not ours?

 

I don't think that people that would go to 1 game per season to watch Beckham or Henry would just convert to STHs. Although Beckham didn't play in the game you mentioned, he has played at Gillette. If they had a good time because they watched Beckham play and maybe they were excited to see him score, how do they then become STHs to watch games that won't include Beckham? The "positive experience" was watching Beckham play, becoming STH won't replicate that "positive experience." Let the suckers get duped into buying tickets to watch star players, and when those star players don't play, and the Revs (hopefully) win, that can be another "positive experience" that can also draw repeat customers.

Finally, on the extra $1M in revenue, you realize MLS has a salary cap, right?

 

You realize there are ways to spend $1m that don't involve direct player salaries, right? Like, to pick something at random, more or better international talent scouts.

 

Sure, that's still under the notion that watching a star player in 1 match will lead to 2,400 new STHs, from people that aren't really interested in soccer, but just want to see Beckham (or another star player) in 1 match.

 

Beckham was weird, because he was a cultural person as well. But people who are coming for Kaka, or Villa, or Bradley, or Dempsey, or Henry, or Lampard, or any other "star player" are already predisposed to watching soccer. 2400, no, but 100 a game? Sure.

 

Salary cap. Lol.

 

Saw Kyle Beckerman in a Sobey’s supermarket in Upper Tantallon, Nova Scotia last week. His buddy pulled down an absolutely ginormous bag of chips, the size of a bedroom pillow.
“Hey, check this out, man!”
“Riiiiiighteous, duuuude!”

Well, he sure looked like Beckerman

 

That's not what I said at all.

I think that proves my point - their turf isn't any better than ours.

50,000+ crowd and a showcase match - I can't imagine why he'd suddenly be willing to take a chance with his precious knees.

 

You're making my point. It's not about the turf, it's about the team, and the reason you know I was talking about the team, is that I said I was talking about the team. To refresh your memory (underline added for emphasis):

 

The strength of schedule for the remaining games has be analyzed, taking into account average points per game at home and on the road, and the Revs came in 4th easiest. the bad news is that the other 3 teams are all competitive eastern conference teams

 

I also looked ahead to the rest of the year, and it sure looks like there are quite a few games we can reasonably expect to get all 3 points. Then again, we better get a lot of points, since we have already played more games than just about everyone. Montreal has like 7 games at hand on us, so even if they take 1/2 the points, there's 10 extra that we don't have...

 

Not with out needle movers!

 

So Henry plays in Seattle, but not NE because of Bob Kraft?

 

Henry doesn't come to NE because Bob Kraft is bad at running a soccer team. How many more times do you expect me to say the same thing?

 

So, even though I said in my original post that the numbers were completely made up, you fixate on the numbers and ignore the greater point.

Many, many people, including myself, brought people to that game. Fact, not opinion. These people were soccer fans, just not MLS fans, drawn in by Beckham. They had a negative experience because they spent money to see Beckham play, and didn't get what they paid for. They never came back. Fact, not opinion.

How much money MLS could potentially have made off of them is impossible to calculate, but it is greater than zero, which means lost revenue.

 

FWIW, I (like may others) am frustrated with the Revs inability to not only replace players who have left the team, but to add new players from outside the league to improve the team. Most other teams seem to be able to do that. That is not the point of this post.

I am almost equally frustrated with the lack of soccer journalism in the Boston and the region. Either all the complainers here (myself included) are off base or the local soccer journalism community cannot be bothered to take a real look at what is going on in New England. I am leaning towards the "they cannot be bothered" side of the coin. Perhaps they cannot be paid? Perhaps, their employers could care less because soccer is not a revenue stream? Perhaps they feel like if they did any negative or investigative reporting that they would lose their access/credentials or get the cold shoulder? Or does it mean, that their is no audience for such stories? Do soccer fans not care? Do they not care about the Revs? Is having a team enough so why rock the boat? Do they not care about MLS? Are they afraid of Kraft? Do they not want to beat a horse when it is down? Do all of the journalists think it is somebody else's problem/job? What is going on? Are they all on the payroll?

Who are the New England area soccer journalists? Not the fans or Revs fans with websites, but actual journalists? I am looking for journalism, not fan opinion or spin. People who ask the real, hard questions of those who run soccer in New England. Are there any dedicated soccer journalists in the area who focus on the Revs or MLS? I don't think so. That is part of the problem. Since they were mentioned, what are the best Revs fan websites?

Nationally, the same issue exists. Soccer journalists at the national level seem to keep their heads in the sand as well. Look at all the FIFA corruption, CONCACAF corruption, shady dealing, MLS shadiness, crap reffing, etc that has gone on and continues to go on while the US Soccer journalism community sits on the sidelines. These have been open secrets for a long, long time.

Who are the real US Soccer journalists? What have they actually done that is journalism and not just USSF or MLS PR, being a mouth piece, recounting story lines, or game summaries? Who, if anybody, asks the hard questions and looks deeper than just the surface level?

 

Yours points are valid and realistically they apply to all Journalist. With the death of newspapers, came the death of journalism. What newspapers that do exist today are owed by major corporation and are, for all intents and purposes, nothing but PR machines. Gee, the owners of the Red Sox own the Globe; Amazon owns the Washington Post, etc. There use to be an argument that the internet will be the watch dog of the future. That hasn't come to pass because there is no filter that the majority of the blogs go thru to verify information accuracy. They throw out what ever rumor that they hear, to hell with facts.

 

Almost certainly, some came back - although no one can say for sure how many. Your statement isn't fact or opinion - it's overstatement.

 

If they go to instant replay I may become a full time Eurosnob.

 

Small potatoes, but if the President of a sports franchise cannot exert influence on how its merchandise is sold....

....then who does control what Revs merchandise is sold...(?)

Big fan of @NERevolution but can't fathom how still there r no infant kits avail (or anything besides a bib) cont... @RevsPrez @CathalConlon

— Roon (@Roon_VT) August 8, 2015

@Nick_Lamphere @NERevolution @CathalConlon if you are looking online, we don't control the store, I believe the ProShop has a few things

— Brian Bilello (@RevsPrez) August 8, 2015