MLS stars begin endorsing USSF candidates ahead of election https://www.yahoo.com/sports/mls-stars-begin-endorsing-ussf-021759812.html
People who want MLS to change its schedule are the same people who constantly shit on MLS and fellate Europe. Hard pass.
Disagree, the problem is not all our kids have a Euro passport. If they did, I expect to see a whole lot more kids skipping MLS.
These are small voices. Landon? Jozy? MB90? It would be kind of chicken shit for them to sit this one out. ORrperhaps they've been asked not to give support publically (Jozy, MB90).
That's as dumb an assumption as "people who are okay with the current structure don't really know the game." Pass.
The game is two teams of 11 players trying to kick or head a ball into a goal. That has absolutely nothing to do with the schedule of the league. It's funny when people don't understand that.
If MLS went to a fall-to-spring schedule, wouldn't it end up taking a winter break almost as long as the current MLS off-season?
With smart scheduling it could be a bit shorter- say dec 15 - late Jan. It would mean places like Orlando play at home for weeks on end in feb, while Minnesota doesn't see a home game for like 4 months though
They buy any MLS because it is bundled with the USMNT and USWNT games. No other reason they are showing regular season MLS games. They might buy playoff games as a stand alone. But you saw this year that moving those games away from NCAA and NFL football hurts fans, attendance, and ratings. There is no consistency, games are all over on weekday nights and then there is the November FIFA break. It all makes no sense. No FIFA break in May. No NFL and NCAA football. No real MLB. NHL and NBA playoffs go forever and are not national events. IOTW, no NBA or NHL playoff game gets higher ratings than a November/December NFL game. NFL average ratings are 3X NBA playoff ratings and 15X NHL ratings. Here in the NYC area, it has been cold, there has been snow, but we've also had spells of temps in the 60s and this weekend will be around 50 for a high. Too much is made of the weather. MLS started as American Style Soccer. They have always tried to get the NFL fan to start watching and have always ignored the millions of soccer fans already in this country. The EPL, on in the morning, gets higher ratings than MLS on TV and probably dominates merchandise sales. Here are the things MLS started with to make it American Soccer: No draws Clock ticked down No Pro/Rel Playoffs Conferences Enforced Parity Spring to Fall Calendar Clubs are franchises Some were so bad they were nixed in a matter of years (No draws, clock ticked down), others are probably not deal breakers as they work in Mexico (playoff) or are understandable given the size of the country (conferences). But the enforced parity, baseball schedule, and lack of pro/rel hasn't brought many NFL fans or MLB fans to the game in any serious way. Maybe MLS, with the nudging of close partner USSF, needs to try and get all those fans that show up at ICC exhibition games, USMNT games, Mexico national team games, or watch European and other American leagues on TV. Time to take the training wheels off.
That's what I do now? Dang. I miss the days when I was getting rich on MLS-shill payola. But seriously -- I'm down with the calendar change because of the transfer windows, and I think there are creative ways to do it. It could be an Apertura/Clausura thing, but assuming you want to align the summer break with whatever major international tournament is going on, the spring season would always be way shorter than the fall. That's why I have a couple of suggestions -- pick one or both (or something else): 1. Use February to play Open Cup games in neutral venues in the warm-weather cities or indoor facilities (domes or that weird warehouse in Michigan). 2. Play a single-table league from July to December and then a shorter tournament from March to May. On another note -- when I was whipping through Wikipedia to get some info on league calendars, I saw a note on one South American country suggesting they changed to a calendar-year model to STOP losing so many players to Europe. I can't remember which one. I need photographic memory (or to store every marginally interesting thing I read in OneNote or Diigo).
Forget the windows for a moment. If you gave MLS fans the choice between (1), (2), or (3) 'the current MLS season' , I would think most MLS fans would pick (3). Don't you? So there's a pretty high hurdle to get over for wanting to switch seasons. Right now, transfers are just not that important and most can be accommodated by MLS by transferring players in or out in their mid-season. Not saying it will be that way forever (I don't know), but at least wait until then to switch.
If you think Atlanta is going to trade Almiron or Martinez during the middle of the season while they are trying for a championship, you got a screw loose.
No I agree. Again, I'm more concerned about buying than selling. The Galaxy have managed to bring in major players in the MLS summer window, and there is certainly cost and it requires careful planning, but it can work. I think most teams also will be willing to sell some of the younger players that are earlier in their careers. Atlanta is an interesting case. They certainly have been successful buying players in the MLS off-season, suggesting that it certainly can be done, particularly from leagues in South America (where we should be buying anyway). What I don't know is how much their model is going to be about flipping those players. If the market for Almiron or Martinez is so weak during the winter that they can't effectively sell, then it will be a problem for them. I just don't know whether that is their plan or not.
Liga MX is already July - December and January to the end of May. Of course they have 3 weeks of playoffs in each "season". That's 17 games each "season" before the playoffs and Liga MX isn't exactly taking long breaks between matches. I think a 20 game fall and 10 game spring is feasible. I don't think playoffs would exist at that point. Even shifting games around for temperatures. That is likely 5 in the spring and 3-4 in the fall. That is basically extended road trips for cold weather teams. The problem is going to be the spring, but more precisely end of Nov - End of February. There are essentially 25 MLS teams at this point. 12 of them are cold outdoor stadium. Nashville isn't exactly pleasant during that time. For a few, it's rough until April. It's not going to be an easy fix. The Irish switching to a summer schedule in 2003 and Scotland were looking at it few years ago. I have a feeling of the one team that was the strict no while 10 of the 12 said they wanted to look into it. The interesting thing will be what happens for the 2022 World Cup which is played late Nov - Dec. If MLS keeps the schedule, then they probably need to end no later than the first week of Nov.
Again, too much is made of the weather and acting like the entire country north of Florida is unplayable in winter. It will be 50 at Red Bull Arena all this weekend. Mid-January, and it would be beautiful soccer weather this weekend. It is hit and miss certainly, but the NFL plays playoff games all across the northern part of the country during January. Nobody talks about the insane temperatures the players have to play in during the Summer in the South either. An NWSL player collapsed from heat exhaustion last year. Entire sunny sides of stadiums are empty.
Even if I bought that this is true, it is because MLS has never been able to attract most fans of Liga MX or European football to watch MLS. So, certainly what few fans they have might like the status quo. We are talking about growing the game and reaching the larger number of soccer fans who are not MLS fans. These fans enjoy the "hot stove" aspect of the transfer window. When ESPN FC and every soccer outlet in the world is buzzing about transfers in July and August, MLS gets zero interest, zero attention. Transfers and club business are not important in your opinion. But for all the rest of the world they are a significant, almost the most important part, of what a football club does and how it engages with its fans. I would tend to think the world is a better indicator than one MLS fan on a bulletin board site.
Don't forget that the ability to play soccer in cold weather and the ability to get people to buy tickets to watch games in cold weather are two different things. There certainly are days in January when the temperature is good for soccer, like the ones you cite. There also are days when it is not. I have seen plenty of temperatures under 10 in recent weeks. The NFL does sell tickets in January, but those are to fans worked up to a frenzy by playoff fever (like the ones here in Philadelphia right now). They aren't trying to sell tickets to fans of 3-13 teams in January. MLS in January of a fall-to-spring season would be trying to sell tickets to games in the middle of a long regular season, including games between a ninth-place team and a 10th-place team. A tough sell. Here is what I would like to see: Regular-season games from Aug. 1 to Dec. 15. Break from Dec. 15 to Feb. 15. Regular-season games from Feb. 15 to May 15. Playoffs (very abbreviated ones, obviously) from May 15 to June 1. That doesn't completely avoid the blistering days of summer, but at least some of it.
Seems you're still making bad assumptions and your second has literally nothing to do with the first.
If MLS had not gone with the global academy model, then ROI from transfers would not matter. They'd have instead focused on the draft like the NFL/NBA but alas, the soccer system here is nothing like the NCAA system with football/basketball. When you invest millions in academies, start USL teams for development, have countless youth affiliates, coaches on the payroll, the intent to develop from 11, 12, 13 on up, then not getting a decent ROI with transfer fees is a glaring problem. Transfer fees are a simple result of good development. It's business 101. It's having possession of an in demand product or asset. It's a byproduct of our system/structure/rules though. It's as if we want to dip our toes into global market yet don't commit and have long list if restrictions which work directly against academy investment. I've long found it interesting to sit back and watch the league boast about academy investment, Garber even claiming ATL has one of the top academies in the world despite it never developing anyone(it poached talent like Carleton) yet at the same time there's endless restrictions working against getting any ROI from that academy investment. There's no way MLS doesn't want a Pulisic or McKennie or Gonzalez flourishing here and then sold for 8 digit fees. But I'm not convinced they understand why that ain't happening. They're so focused on short term profit and control they miss the boat on longer term greater profit. And that's why aligning the summer windows makes a lot of sense. Outside expansion fees MLS struggles to turn profit. There's close to 2 BILLION getting spent in Europe in the summer window, massive potential revenue and they aren't a part of it.
This is my favorite dude so far, even though his day job is as a weaselly banker lawyer, which he brings up oddly often. But he talks about policy, is very specific, and is semi-practical, although I'm wondering what it will all cost (for that he's going to get his weaselly banker clients to pitch in, but read the fine print). What I liked most was he suggested posting up in every state to have a regional scouting network and partial training option. This is very similar to what I suggested, although my idea was more strategic than he laid out, because states are different sizes, and they should try and cover what MLS doesn't between their major and minor league clubs. Least was his opinion the men and women should be the same because they're providing a service rather than it being a business. It's still a business, and I doubt any other countries do it this way. Kowtowing to the p.c. climate and reinforcing the message football is for women in this country. Also can't help with incentivization for talent and motivation for the men. This is what we need to accumulate the most. But finding more talent is a much bigger key, so that supersedes. Just think they should just give the men and women an equal % of revenue generated that year. Nobody could reasonably complain about that. Hopefully he's just being persuasive in that regard to gain necessary votes. - Wants international calendar with winter break. But acknowledges MLS is a private business. I don't think would be able to convince them. - Thinks pro-rel would be ideal, but we're a ways away from that with the league buy-ins. Wants to improve lower leagues in time being for when it would actually be justified. - Understands pay-to-play club system very embedded in culture. Seems to realize it won't go away because of how lucrative it is. But wants to cut costs on all ends significantly, having solidarity payments as an exchange for one. Coaching badges reduced. Coaches paid more. Get players around better coaches earlier. - Doesn't believe in a national style. Too big and diverse of a country. Play what fits at every level and fit in. - Manager should be selected as an inclusive and transparent process.
Bummed to hear the debate among US Soccer presidential candidates set for Saturday in Philadelphia is no longer a debate but rather a few minutes with each candidate separately. Wanted to see some back-and-forth between them.— Subscribe to GrantWahl.com (@GrantWahl) January 16, 2018 They continue to be working right out of the DNC playbook to steer this election.
So I take it you were a great college player in your day? (Seriously, folks -- I get the concerns about Carter. I've said many times that I'm not endorsing anyone but that the two candidates I would NOT endorse are her and Cordeiro, at least for now. But the "she's not a soccer person" talk -- you know what? Let's call it what it is. It's sexist. Period.) The Winograd interview was terrific. Great thoughts on pay-to-play and equal pay.