Not really. I mean I don’t have Apple TV but there are a lot of games on Fox where superstars don’t appear. The league has 29 clubs and they don't play a balanced schedule nor does each club face other teams with the top names. Leaving out the 5 clubs in LA, NY and Miami, no one has stars but each team has their own stadium and they are selling out quite a bit. Also, the teams with the superstars in MLS don’t always win much in the end and many times they end up struggling. Miami finished at the bottom last year and should have been relegated anywhere else in the world. Giorgio Chiellini's and Carlos Vela's LAFC lost the final to Columbus who had a bunch of no names. You can argue that the level isn’t that of the top 5 leagues in Europe or that it is a glorified second division with lesser funds but the games are still pretty exciting.
San Diego is coming in next year I believe so there will be 30 clubs! I agree, way too much but for the size as big as the US and Canada, its not all that many. I mean with the exception of the 2 LA and NY clubs, there are hundreds of miles between one club to another and many big sities fon't have teams.
Milan -Salernitana 3-3 final… Two very moving speeches from both Simon Kjaer and Oliver Giroud after their farewell game. Giroud is going to LAFC but not sure where Kjaer will end up. Pioli also gave a nice saluto.
Viagem segura! Meanwhile, Olivier Giroud scored in his last game for AC Milan. He has scored 48 goals, 20 assists, and won a Serie A trophy. The 37-year-old definitely left his mark at Milan. As a Quakes fan I don’t care too much for LA teams but am sure Giroud will do well at LAFC.
Yes I remember as if it were yesterday! Milan killed them 4-0! Marco van Basten was still out with a long-term injury. Also injured was Gigi Lentini. Franco Baresi and defender Alessandro Costacurta were both suspended. Fabio Capello used Filippo Galli and Maldini in the ceter of the defense. GK Sebastiano Rossi RB Mauro Tassotti (c) LB Christian Panucci CM Demetrio Albertini CB Filippo Galli CB Paolo Maldini CM Roberto Donadoni CM Marcel Desailly RM Zvonimir Boban CF Dejan Savićević CF Daniele Massaro Stefano Nava came on for Maldini in the 83rd minute.
Looking at that list again, check out how many players (7) who’s surnames end in the letter ‘i’! GK Sebastiano Rossi RB Mauro Tassotti (c) LB Christian Panucci CM Demetrio Albertini CB Filippo Galli CB Paolo Maldini CM Roberto Donadoni This won’t happen in todays Serie A!
The nearest MLS team to Salt Lake City/RSL is Denver/Colorado Rapids. That’s a nine hour drive one-way if conditions are good and you speed. AMTRAK is a 12 hour trip. Air travel is obviously much faster but is also typically expensive for that route. We are 20 year RSL season ticket holders and are avid supporters. We have made the trip to Denver to watch RSL exactly one time in the 20 years. I worry a bit about the future of MLS. It’s financially healthy at the moment, largely due to new franchises buying in at $500 Million. But imo the league can’t simply keep on adding franchises ad infinitum.
Not all teams play each other though. What I think they are going to do is make it into a regional league or spltting it in half. East -West or North and South.
I agree, and I don’t like it. What will happen in, say, an East-West arrangement, is that in Salt Lake City we will never see the watchable teams from the East nor the star players in that league. Yet Garber will make sure that there is inter-league play featuring the stars and big markets. For example, using current and soon-to-be rosters Inter-Miami would definitely play LAFC in Inter-league play.
Garber is a sort of puppet commissioner. I give him credit for helping the league grow and all but after 25 years in charge, I think he has overstayed his welcome and has succumbed to big businesses and sponsors. The Apply TV which I don’t subscribe to or agree with is helping the owners on one end but its not helping smaller clubs on another. I am glad though that the league is on current financial ground and not on the verge of folding. There hasn’t ever been a North American circuit in place who could boast that claim.