I haven't played in extreme cold (lowest I've experienced while playing was about 35), but I've played in direct sunlight when it was 110+ and humid in Dubai. I'd take the heat any day.
You're still talking about average temperatures. In the middle of the US, though the average temperature may be similar or higher to much of Europe, extreme cold weather is more frequent without the sea to moderate temperatures.
I think some of the smaller Central European leagues take a longer winter hiatus due to weather, don’t they?
Only including 34 regular season games, NYCFC had three stretches of more than two home or more than two away. They had four at home, four away, and three at home. From May 4 through July 7, they played four away and then four at home. They had three at home on September 7, 11, and 14. In their five seasons, they have had four game homestands and four game road trips three times. They have never had five or more at home or five or more away.
Something I didn't see here, and gets overlook, is kickoff times. Colorado days in February and March and much more pleasant than nights. Most March days are pretty good, nights are freezing. By the way, this comes up with college football in November with U of Colorado in the Pac-12. So many miserable night games when the days were beautiful. And, more to the point, when England and other European countries (not all, I know) play through the winter, the tradition was 3PM kickoffs. Even today, the EPL and the lower leagues are mostly daytime kick-offs. So if MLS, with it's relatively low national TV numbers, could keep cold weather teams to day games in Feb and March it would help. The national TV games for Fox and ESPN (with evening kick offs) can stick to warm weather cities that time of year.
Sure, but it's pitch dark by 4:00 pm in England in the dead of winter. I believe lower-level teams who play then might have earlier starts so they don't need to use lights. A lot of people don't realize how far north it is, and the reverse is true in the summer. Years ago, I played on a team in Belgium, and it the summer we played at 8:00 pm on a field with no lights. We never had a problem with daylight, even at the end of games. I felt really bad for the 3 Moroccan guys--one year Ramadan was in the summer and since they couldn't eat or drink water during daylight hours, it made for a long-ass day! I know I could never, ever play a whole game (especially at the end of the day) without eating or having even a sip of water...
Yeah, what's with you guys playing your home opener on 3/7 at 7:00 at night? As nasty as it can get in early March around here, at least we're playing at noon. The scheduling gods aren't doing you any favors.
Even in March, attendance tends to be better for 7pm kickoffs than day games. Not surprised that we have no home day games scheduled this year. From a personal preference I'd much rather deal with a 7pm kickoff, even in March, then have the game in the middle of the day.
For what it's worth, the cities I listed in Italy have climates that are moderated by the alps (blocking cold air from moving south), much more so than the sea, as none of them are on the peninsula and the smaller Apennines tend to block any moderating air from the Mediterranean, though the Adriatic has it's effects. In addition to what I said above, wintertime tends to be humid and foggy in the north-central and north-western cities I mentioned, and damp cold feels colder than if the air were dry. Haven't really done the research, and haven't lived in central European countries to have a great idea of climate in coastal (parts of Spain, parts of France) vs. not (most of Germany, Austria, parts of France, etc). I imagine it's a bit colder and snowier.
But significantly fewer days of rain. Seattle averages 152 days with precipitation per year, while Dallas only averages 78. Seattle also only averages 155 days of sunshine per year, while Dallas averages 235 days. Here's a fun site I found that shows the average number of hours per day of sunlight. It makes me depressed to see how little hours of sunshine Seattle gets. Seattle: https://www.weather-us.com/en/texas-usa/dallas-climate#daylight_sunshine Dallas: https://www.weather-us.com/en/texas-usa/dallas-climate#daylight_sunshine
Cleveland, the eternal city, is south of Rome, latitude wise. But the Romans don't have tourist attractions like Cleveburg.
Well at least Cleveland can be said to be loyal--they love their Cleveland Browns over there.. The cleveland brownie is an all time great team logo! Just think-- in a parallel universe we could've had Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati all in the league and playing annually for the Ohio Cup. It's the same parallel universe where the Red Bulls, NYC and the Cosmos are all in the league together.... Thankfully for TX in the present reality they can enjoy Houston, Dallas, and Austin all in the league (although San Antonio might've been a better choice!) And of course the Golden State has the Galaxy, LA FC, Earthquakes, and soon Sacramento--but sadly no San Diego for the foreseeable future...
I didn't realize that. London, which is in southern England, is north of the whole USA except for Alaska. Penzance, which is the southernmost town in England, is about 59 miles north of Angle Inlet, MN, which is the northernmost town in the contiguous states. Glasgow is so far north that in terms of latitude, New York City is closer to Miami than to Glasgow.
The Gulf Stream makes Europe warmer. It's instability causes Europe's ice ages I believe. Though North America has had continental ice sheets, so maybe I'm not getting that part right.