I thought I heard/read somewhere that the avg attendance for MLS games this year is higher than the NHL was in 2006-2007... does anyone know if this is true? If so, that is great... the MLS is on its way into the Big 4! On a side note, I was reading wikipedia's entry on the NHL, trying to look it up, and came across this sentance: The NHL fan base is also the most affluent and well educated of the four (major US sports). ?? How can they possibly know that?? As soccer fan, I resent this comment...
NHL average attendance last season was 16,961. MLS averaged 15,504 in its last complete season. But average attendance is meaningless because the NHL plays so many more games than MLS. A better look at how close the leagues are is tracking revenue which is reflected in the salary cap. The NHL will have a salary cap of $50.3M per team this year. That should give you a feel for the difference between the two leagues.
Let's also compare dollar amounts for TV contracts between the 2 leagues. Most any way you slice it, MLS has a long way to go to catch up to the NHL.
Yeah, I've heard that too and part of the reason is because it's mostly subarban whites who go to hockey games and also because many people who play hockey attend games and it costs quite a bit to buy all that hockey equipment and skates plus you need to get ice time. I used to be a big hockey fan and I still am a fan but just not as much as I used to be since the league has changed quite a lot since the late 80s or even the mid 90s. Hockey has suffered a lot nationally because of the lockout but local attendance is pretty strong since hockey fans have been called the most passionate of all sports fans in America even if there aren't that many of them. Unfortunately, MLS has a way to go to catch NHL since NHL is still covered by major newspapers and sportscasts while MLS rarely gets covered unless it's just local coverage for a local team. But soccer's profile could really improve in the coming years if they do expansion right and then bring in more international stars like Zidane/Ronaldo to make the game more exciting and help it gain fan appeal.
MLS is nowhere close to NHL and I couldn't care less about NHL. You can't just look at the attendance, you have to look at the revenue difference. Hopefully MLS will catch up to NHL much sooner than later.
In many way, the MLS is far more attractive to advertisers than the NHL. Just look at the number of 20 and 30 year olds that populate this board. That is what will interest advertisers! I'm in the business and a fan and I have seen a change even prior to Becks. The NHL has SERIOUS problems but it seems that their owners are willing to live with those problems for the time being. The MLS has Garber who deals with things head on. I'm very impressed with the leadership in the MLS and how they handle things. I know that I'm not alone in that feeling.
At least you know where to find an MLS game on TV. Thursday nights on ESPN. NHL TV contract is so out there. They are on VS, a channel that not everyone gets. They have a horrible TV situation, although I'm sure they're getting more money than MLS from it. NHL has its arenas more packed than ever before. You can't just look at attendance because MLS stadiums hold more people than NHL. Look up the NBA average attendance. Toronto FC and the Galaxy will beat every NBA team in attendance this year simply because they have more seats in their stadiums.
I think... it's $65 million/year for NHL on VS, $7-$8 million/year for MLS on ESPN/ABC. That's about $1.2 million/game for NHL and $220K-$250K per MLS game. FSC pays about $160K per game. I could have interpreted some stuff wrong, though.
MLS is making their move at the right time here (by increasing the teams, salary caps, tv deals), right when two of the competing leagues, that being the NBA and MLB are having problems. The NBA is going to be in a whole lot of trouble with that whole fixed games/ref/mafia thing, people have been claiming the NBA has been fixed for years and its been proven true. The MLB is about to have one of their biggest records broke and no one is really even paying attention save for same old idiots on espn who still think its an american tradition (it was until steroids kicked in, now football took its spot). Beckham is getting more coverage then bonds is here. I think within the next 5 or so years you are going to see a lot of improvement with soccer in the US. The only trouble is that we can't have our league the same season as the other leagues because everyone is watching football, and there would still be football and probably nascar ahead of mls. Don't even get me started about nascar though.
NASCAR is the #2 televised sport in the country!! Only behind the NFL. I doubt MLS will ever surpass baseball and basketball is out of season until October (i think) so people may forget, or at least be less angry by then. In the long term I think NBA will still be successful. In all seriousness, I think MLS can, at best, hope to beat NHL.
I grew up loving the NHL, and still think hockey is a great sport, but Jeremy Jacobs destruction of the Bruins has pushed me away from the league. On the other hand, I used to be a major soccer hater but have recently (the last two years) grown to appreciate the so called "beautiful game" and would now consider myself far more of a soccer fan than hockey fan. NHL is still way ahead of MLS, but the two are going in opposite directions. Won't be too much longer before MLS pulls even and then passes the NHL.
You sound like a glory hunter. You joined this board in June 2007. Do you know what I call you? A Beckham glory hunter.
Ohh... wow, these are some tough ones.... 1) MLS 2) Predator 3) MLS What about: MLS vs. N. Korea MLS vs. Pepsi (as long as it's not a sip test, I think I'd take MLS) MLS vs. Hillary Clinton Really though, I'd love to see MLS v. Mike Tyson in lights.
Beckham is getting more coverage than Barry Bonds??? What planet are you on?? I wish that were true but Beckham only got big coverage when he arrived in L.A. and then his first game on 7/21 but I've not heard a thing about him since then and CBS and ABC news radio just mentioned how Bonds is just 1 home run away and so did CNN, etc. Even the L.A. times has Bonds story ahead of Beckham but Beckham isn't playing right now but you get the idea. Bonds is getting more coverage now than any other sports event except maybe the Vick dogfighting and the NBA scandal.
considering you need a fortune the size of the sultan of Brunei to afford all the equipment to play the game, I could see how Hockey players are the most affluent. They also do studies on that crap all the time, how do you think they target ads to people? They don't just go on their gut. I guarantee soccer fans aren't near the most affluent. The large immigrant population that loves the game isn't exactly giving Bill Gates a run for his money in the bank account department generally speaking.