"Deserves"? There is no such thing. Over the last 22 years DC United has failed to capture the attention of the public and sports media in DC. Other cities have done much, much better, and in those places you can at least make the argument that soccer is a "major" pro sport. That is simply not true in DC, and sadly, I have my doubts that Team Machete can get us there. They'll get "equitable treatment" when they win, pack their stadium, and effectively market the team and sport. Until then they don't "deserve" it.
Some years ago when Jason Levien made it to a pre-game Screagle tailgate, I got a chance to meet him and have a very quick chat. The subject of marketing and advertising DCU came up. I told him, to his face, that in a sports market as congested as the DMV, if "we're not shouting, we're not being heard." He blinked his eyes and looked at me like I was wearing Talon's headpiece. It made no impression on him.
In one of the polls sent by the team office, I commented that although I saw a team logo in the new Safeway at the Waterfront metro, you wouldn't realize it was for a soccer team if you weren't already familiar that the team was called DC United. I would think the BID or the team could make a display at the metro or the store at least linking the team to the nearby Audi Field. I think DC United had a cross-marketing plan with the Caps at one time, I wonder if that is still around.
I wonder if someone will drag the banners that were mounted on poles outside of and mount them somewhere near Audi Field. Though, um, I didn't many games at RFK last year, so maybe they disappeared.
Dan Kohner said: ↑ People do care about MLS, just look at Atlanta and Seattle. If you look at the attendance figures, MLS averages more fans per game then the NBA or NHL. Mentioned elsewhere, you can't fit 39,000 into a hockey/basketball area. So yes several do and several, DCU for one, don't. More people attend a single NSCAR even than an entire MLS team home season. Fair comparison? No
Last year's lowest MLS attendance average was Dallas at 15,122. So for 17 games, that's 257,074 total for the season. NASCAR's largest track is Indy, with a capacity of 257,325. But that race hasn't been anywhere near capacity for attendance in many years. Last year's crowd was estimated at 35,000.
The better TV coverage gets (plus local hotels bleeding traveling fans dry) the less reason there is to attend in person. Add to that the venues and their local dumb police trying so hard to discourage tailgating, it can be more trouble than it's worth if you're not willing to go early and be there all day (things I am fine with so I still enjoy the races in RVA but refuse to ever go to Pocono or Dover again). NFL is having terrible attendance problems as well. The league discounts them mostly but camera shots don't lie TV has made the sport way too boring to enjoy in the stadium, there is no action without TV showing 3 replays between every play and hyping something that almost happened during the last play. TV ruins everything after a while - either by changing the rules to build in more commercials or by, weirdly, covering the sport too well and making it better to watch at home Personally I feel you can't get the same experience at home you can from the track for NASCAR, no way to get the feel and smell at home - without burning your house down. But if you're not into that part of the experience you sure get a ton more real-time info from TV (and even more from radio) than you do at the track. Even with being able to rent scanners to listen to the drivers in real-time. Indy is a dumb place to have stock cars, it's too flat for real cars. Plus, Indiana. Other tracks don't have as bad of a problem. Bristol is a huge venue (in terms of seats) and always sells out. As for MLS, even Channel 8's terrible coverage provides a home viewer with better info than you can get live in the stadium so I don't blame folks for watching at home instead - you go to a United game the last few years for the tailgating and the supporter atmosphere as much as anything else - and both are in trouble if not non-existent this year. I still don't feel like TV does a good job of letting you see plays develop in soccer so I still prefer attending live.
It's the same problem with the movies. As home televisions and theater and high-def become somewhat standard (and with my smartTV hooked up to the internet for real-time stats), staying at home becomes that much easier. Prices don't help. There will always be people who prefer going out to the game and enjoying the crowd, but staying at home is a viable, economical, and equally enjoyable option.
Actually 20;years ago, we did get great coverage and we were marketed very effectively. But stadium failure after stadium failure wore the organization down and resulted in changes in ownership.
I recall that time, too. We got a bit more coverage than now, but no one can argue that the city was swept up in DCU's early MLS Cups. That's how we got on this topic – the team has never been in the place that the Caps are right now (where winning a league championship captures the attention of the public in a big way).
It's a factor, sure, but come on. They have big home TVs in Atlanta and Seattle and they are getting 40K+ per game.
I'm here four years now and always wanted to see any DC team win their respective championship and so it turned out! Only been to a few Capitals games but found it enthralling. Also do understand the argument that DC United should be included in headlines about last DC team to win a championship but the top 4 sports in this country are so mammoth it is hard to penetrate. I can sympathize as the english league totally overpowers our league at home. Anyway really enjoyed the parade and seeing Ovi lifting the trophy!