For those of us who have followed MLS since 96', surly now we have arrived. Level of play, stadiums, international transfers to and from, ESPN coverage, NBC coverage, FSC coverage of CCL, podcast, webcast, MLS live, MLS direct kick, expansion to 19 soon to be 20 teams, MLS constantly rumored destination for players (regardless of age) worldwide, average attendance pushing 20k (no thanks to CUSA), and expectations for even more. Maybe the most telling indicator of the leagues success is that we all bitch and complain more than ever! I friggin love what has happened since 96'!
Hardly been a straight line... Initial Excitement (1996-1999) Dark Ages (2000-2005) Expansion and Stadiums (2005-2012) No way have we arrived yet, though--we have to achieve North American supremacy and up the TV ratings. Beating Liga MX teams consistently will help--convince people that watching Galaxy-Seattle on a Saturday night is better than watching Atlante-Puebla or Jaguares-San Luis, for starters.
It's only gonna get better as revenues and salaries increase. Talent from South and Central America will increasingly find MLS an attractive option when standard of living is factored in.
Because the standard of living is so much higher here than Europe or Asia? I doubt many will fall for that. Relative anonymity and lower taxes are better arguments IMO.
Which Latin American MLS player said something like this? When asked how he liked playing in America, he said "I love it! The checks don't bounce!" I don't think I have the words exact, but it was along those lines. ------RM
New fans (of both new and old teams*) showing up over the past few years don't realize this, but for just about the first decade of the league, there was a constant fear/threat that the league could fold after any given season. It was a nerve-wracking time to be an MLS fan. (It started to change slightly when places like Crew Stadium and the HDC were built, because you knew that with permanent soccer stadiums, they needed to fill them with soccer content to justify the costs, which made MLS's prospects look a bit better. Though it obviously could have been "other" soccer content, be it national teams, women's, or another new men's league. Only when stadiums started popping up yearly was it obvious that the league was here to stay.) * - As a Crew fan since 1996, I've met lots of people who've been there since game 1, but I've been really impressed with how many new fans have started coming to Crew games over the past few years. Not to mention how many "younger" adult fans that have recently become season ticket holders, who have mentioned to me that they remembered and enjoyed coming to Crew games as kids, and are glad to be back now that they're old enough to buy their own tickets. To see a generation now that has grown up with MLS is an amazing thing.
The only thing better than that, is being able to foster a new generation of MLS fans. *Father of two*
Its an amazing thing to witness. Makes you emotional inside. Remember when Florida had two teams. I actually liked the Miami Fusion as a franchise and had their own little stadium. Andrew Shue was an MLS player as well as a Melrose heart throb. For all the greif that Anshutz, Hunt, and Kraft get they are the reason that the league is where it is now. The growth of the league was planted in their belief that it was possible and they were willing to loose millions in the beginning to prove it. Funny how having a professional soccer team seems like a no brainer for cities now but not to long ago it was an incredibly risky proposition with no help from local government. Now they are clamering to get an MLS club. As a 96 er and a fan of one of the Original 8 (I don't count Earthquakes because they folded). their is a pride that in a few more years my club will be 25 yrs old. To bad I wont be alive to see their hundreth. My team is part of me because since its inception me and my extended family have been fans. My dad is, My brother, my cousins , my nephews all LA. I also do have a vested interest in the league and cheer for clubs when they play other teams from other leagues. Its all been a fun and stressful time.
depends on where we are talking about, but I wouldn't downplay that aspect. You also have to factor in lots of leagues and teams having a hard time paying their players, that's a complaint I have definitely not heard of within MLS. EDIT: so true.
This is bizarre. There's literally thousands of clubs around the world where the checks won't bounce ... If anything MLS is a low ball league where it's hard for many players to excel financially. Most other leagues in the world structure their pay with performance incentives which sweetens the pot. And players don't worry about getting traded America's draw is that it's America. The culture clash is less extreme for Latin players. Every MLS city has a Latino community to welcome them. Thats a huge benefit over moving to a cold grey town in Ukraine, China or somewhere ...
You might be referring to an incident early in Christian Gomez' time in DC. After practice, he was rushing to leave to get to the bank and get his paycheck deposited, fearful that the money wouldn't be there if he waited. IIRC, it was Jaime Moreno who told him not to worry, that in MLS the checks don't bounce. Now, the players have negotiated direct deposit. Ah, progress.
I miss one of those uniforms... By the way, it was very quaint of Portland to do a throwback to the Rapids' '96 uniform.
I faintly remember another case where it wasn't a DC player who said almost what he quoted. It has definitely been brought up several times over the years though.
No ,but our uncle Phil is and he decided that your city was not worth the toilet paper he used to pay for the team. So he gave the team to Houston. In his great wisdom he also gave us Landon Donovan. So you are not original. You closed business, there was no soccer. All pros left town. The closest thing you had to an MLS team was on your playstation.
Yeah, and a lot of MLS players have hailed from Central and South American countries whose leagues feature many teams that are not in those "thousands" you estimate. Trust me, the financial reliability of MLS has been a selling point to talent from the south. ------RM
Every time I see this photo, I think to myself, "I can't believe a group of adults sat in a room, looked at that, and said, "That's it! That's the look we want."