You can't say the league is full of nonsense if one of the teams has absurd expectations. In less than five years, MLS will need to leapfrog NHL, MLB, and NBA to become the second biggest sport in the county as Don Garber promised a little over ten years ago. Now that's a league having absurd expectations, but it still wasn't a league full of nonsense.
MLS has made incredible strides in 10 years time with their expansion and with their building and owning or controlling of their SSS. I've never seen a progression like this in any sport. They failed in Tampa, Miami and then with Chivas but everything else has been positive. NASL would be lucky to be where MLS was in 2004 or 05 in 4/5 or even 10 years time. I don't believe they will be though.
It's the Cosmos, reality has no bearing on what they say or do. Its sad really because I want them to succeed but they're not going to waiting for a stadium that will never be built and hoping for D1 status that will never come.
Their new tv deal is $2.6 billion a year. What's that, twenty times the MLS deal that includes USMNT games? I'd hope they get viewers.
I'm just pointing it out there that the NBA has the lowest attendance among all the major sports leagues and there are many teams (i.e. Minnesota, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philly, Denver, Phoenix, Indiana, Orlando, New Orleans) that don't draw much. Yes, I know it's only 2-3 thousand less than the total capacity of the arena but if you have nine teams that has 3,000 empty seats in a 18,000 arena, in my opinion you ain't big league. The NBA isn't even on a major network, it's on TNT. Who even watches TNT? What's on TNT? MLS might not be there yet in terms of television audience but it trumps the NBA big time in terms of attendance. A bad turnout at an MLS game is average for 11 NBA teams.
That is an astronomical figure. I agree MLS would be lucky to one day come close to 1/4th of that amount but then this new NASL will never even dream of it either. The only way I see the NASL pulling off some sort of big time 1975-1979 pushing of the needle is if they try and make a Pele like signing in both Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi, hopefully sooner than when they are both pushing 38. Then maybe people will flock out to their games. The way it stands now, regardless of their name or D1 or D2 status, they are still a minor league and I still don't believe they will overtake MLS anytime soon. I mean I hope they do because I really want them to succeed but I don't see it.
Just do some googling when you are ready to face the truth. NBA is far more popular, has much higher total attendance with higher ticket prices, has more star power/brand appeal, and has much better ratings than pro soccer.
Total attendance doesn't mean shit. The NBA plays more games than MLS. You know who has a higher total attendance than the NFL? Every other pro league out there because they only play 16 damn games a season. The NBA has an average attendance of 17,804 for the 2014-15 season. MLS? 19,148 in 2014. And that was MLS with Chivas. Look, I'm not gonna argue with you about the popularity of the NBA. It's obvious it's more popular than MLS. But it's not more watched than MLS. And read this Time article before you tell me about "ticket prices" and "higher attendance". http://business.time.com/2013/01/14...l-arenas-even-when-cheap-seats-are-1-or-free/ Even 2 years ago when the article was published, you can't get on single MLS ticket for $1-$8 but you can or could, I don't know I don't go to NBA games, get an NBA ticket for that exact price. Truth hurts, doesn't it?
Dude, you are living in the same fantasy the Cosmos COO is. Don't you think maybe playing more games is part of reason why attendance is lower? Or maybe it is because the NBA is in more small markets. Consider this when comparing like markets (i.e. markets with both an MLS and NBA team) the MLS average is 17526 and the NBA average is 18522. (2014 numbers)
The latest number I've seen has NBA attendence as 21 million vs MLS 6 million. I love posts that go "I don't like a sport/league so it must be unpopular".
It doesn't matter if it's Kansas City or San Antonio, if a league has higher attendance it has higher attendance. If the NBA would work in Kansas City, why not put a team there? Why not flip off SKC and proclaim the town to be there's? The teams are where they are for a reason. The teams' attendance are where they are for a reason. It's not a competition. The figures at joint markets really doesn't have much relevance. I just gave attendance figures proving MLS draws more than the NBA. It's not a matter of hating basketball or loving soccer. In fact, I'd wish soccer would dramatically decrease in attendance. It'll make the place more quiet just the way I like it. Here are the attendance figures so you can judge for yourself. NBA: http://www.insidehoops.com/attendance.shtml MLS: http://mlsattendance.blogspot.com/2014/10/2014-final-attendance-update.html?m=1
Draws more at 6 million than NBA at 21 million. wow the new math. NFL draws more than the MLB now I guess. lol.
To be fair, taking out Seattle probably has a significant effect, if OKC was still in Seattle the 2 averages would be a little closer.
Yes it would, which is kind of my point the differences are not significant, and can be highly affected by the market. Considering that the NBA is in 12 more markets (2014) than the MLS, many of which would be on the smaller end for the MLS, and most likely decrease the average attendance to equal or lower levels than the NBA. I can also guarantee if the NBA only played 30 games in a season they would build larger arenas, and have higher attendance numbers. He is just looking at the raw averages, and not taking into consideration all of the variables. A larger percentage of NBA games also occur on weekdays which has a dramatic affect on attendance. As it stands comparing the NBA to MLS is not a one to one comparison where you can look at the raw numbers, and make a fair assessment.
The metric that matters is unique customers, for want of a better phrase. Total and average attendance are BOTH nonsense figures as a season ticket holders for an NBA team is counted more than double the number of times than an MLS one. This number isn't in the public domain, though you could conceivably guesstimate it if you had the total number of individual tickets sold divided by the average number of games attended.
If everyone here actually read the article, they'd realize that besides the comment about becoming D1 in 5 years, nothing Stover said in that interview was nonsense.
The latest NASL rumor and the updated map to account for it ...... http://www.twiceacosmo.com/2015/4/9/8378413/nasl-expansion-rumor-miami-fusion-fc (Quote): "According to reliable 90 Minutes Strong sources, Miami Fusion FC, a new team that is set to debut this year in the National Premier Soccer League, already has "plans in place" for a move to the North American Soccer League in 2016 or 2017."
Expired. Looked it up on TESS. Now owned by Intelisport Inc. 19495 Biscayne Blvd., Suite 800 Aventura FLORIDA 33180 Here are the logos they trademarked: Here's the NPSL press release with the primary logo in color: http://www.npsl.info/home/869918.html
....and ESPN....and ABC. Also, the NBA plays 82 freaking games. They play more home games than NASL or MLS play in a season.
Here's the 90 Minutes Strong link, and the new logo on the updated map ...... Miami Fusion Returns, Aim For NASL Expansion http://90minutesstrong.com/2015/04/miami-fusion-returns-aim-nasl-expansion/ (90 Minutes Strong Quote): "It will be interesting to see if the MLS Miami Supporters will embrace the NASL Miami club, or burn it to the ground as they hope their MLS Star brings his talents to South Beach." SO, by 2017 MinnyU out & MiamiFC in (if the rumor is true). And Beckham still can't get the MLS Miami going. For sure, the upcoming NYCosmos Cuba game in Havana will be the test for how much the Cuban-Americans in Miami will be willing to Support MiamiFC getting into NASL.
No OKC? Their still active apparently according to the commish's recent comments. Virginia Calvary was though dead but Mark Simpson is still seeking out new ownership. Slim chance for them though.