News: 06.19.2009

Discussion in 'MLS: News & Analysis' started by eubh223, Jun 19, 2009.

  1. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Men's pro soccer could mean a league other than MLS (Alton Telegraph)

    Watching the other guys advance 70 of 102 times is "essentially the same?"
     
  2. tab5g

    tab5g Member+

    May 17, 2002
    congrats to Toronto.
     
  3. Dave Brull

    Dave Brull Member

    Mar 9, 2001
    Mayfield Hts, Ohio
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yes, when you are informing your soccer market that its not getting an MLS team.

    Sadly.
     
  4. tab5g

    tab5g Member+

    May 17, 2002
  5. VioletCrown

    VioletCrown Member+

    FC Dallas
    United States
    Aug 30, 2000
    Austin, Texas
    Club:
    Austin Aztex
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I wonder how that compares to the results between the top two leagues in England. Seems like there's plenty of data there to get a comparison.

    Not that I disagree with your comment. Just curious how the results compare.
     
  6. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Just a guess, but the bigger English clubs have more depth and can prioritize their Champions League efforts, for example, over the League Cup or even the FA Cup. But it would be worth a look to see how often lower-division teams beat upper-division teams in England.

    Then again, for teams outside the Big Four in the EPL, I'm going to guess that the gap between most (not all) EPL teams and most (not all) Championship sides is not as great as the gap between most MLS teams and most USL teams. But that's just a guess - I haven't run the numbers.

    Damn you VioletCrown, now you've given me something to do.
     
  7. tab5g

    tab5g Member+

    May 17, 2002
    I'd also like the see the comparable data from Italy, France, Spain and Canada.
     
  8. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Tell you what, you take those (Canada? WTF?). I'll take England, but only last year's FA Cup.
     
  9. Stan Collins

    Stan Collins Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Silver Spring, MD
    Shoot, I can tell you without even looking up all the results that TFC's all-time GD in NCC play is positive. . . last night's 6-1 pasting of Montreal helped that out quite a bit :)
     
  10. Stan Collins

    Stan Collins Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Silver Spring, MD
    Right, I can't fault him for the PR spin under the circumstances.
     
  11. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    From the 3rd Round on, when EPL teams joined the FA Cup competition this past season. Premier League teams advanced in 25 of 30 instances in which they faced clubs from lower divisions (16-4 against Championship sides, 4-1 against League One, 2-0 against League Two and 3-0 against non-league clubs). That's 83.3% of the time.

    Championship sides were just 4-16 against Premier League sides (obviously), but were 10-1 against League One, League Two, and non-league clubs.

    I don't know how that holds up over time, nor am I inclined to figure it out right now. I would imagine that somewhere, someone in England has done the work already.
     
  12. arkjayback

    arkjayback Member

    Mar 29, 2008
    Le Mars, IA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I never looked at the rest of the rounds. But back some time ago, I looked at finals and semi-finals appearances. Lower division teams in England, Spain, France, Germany, and Italy all made it further more times than did USL teams.
     
  13. arkjayback

    arkjayback Member

    Mar 29, 2008
    Le Mars, IA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    As an outsider, I love to see Paulson standing up for his MLS investment. I know the people are concerned about the prices, but it seems like their ignoring the economic and community benefits. They're only a few hours away from a ringing endorsement of what their Timbers could be. Yet, they're still fighting Paulson every step of the way.

    Paulson's attitude should quiet any worries about the Timbers.
     
  14. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  15. tab5g

    tab5g Member+

    May 17, 2002
    This is certainly potential good news for those fans who'll be at MLS pre-game tailgates in summer 2010 -- they'll be able to listen to some of the World Cup on the radio. (Most likely just for those MLS Saturday or Sunday afternoon matches, given the time zone discrepancies.)


    ----
    For the first time, the ESPN Radio Network will offer play-by-play coverage of some of the tournament's 64 games.

    Details are unclear, including how many games will be made available.

    The announcers for the radio games may not be on-site in South Africa next summer, but in a studio in ESPN's Bristol, Conn., campus. That is often the case for international matches carried on ESPN TV, a cost-saving measure.

    ESPN Radio has hundreds of affiliates around the country that carry its NBA and Major League Baseball feeds. How many can be persuaded to air soccer games, especially in small markets, is an open question. ESPN also has five owned-and-operated stations, including in the country's top-three markets.
    ----
     
  16. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Oh, if it's a situation where the network affiliates have to clear it, you can absolutely bet that there will be many ESPN affiliates who choose to go with local or other programming. Unfortunately.

    Luckily, there are a lot of ESPN Radio affiliates around the country. And the games will be (largely) during the day, depending on where you are. But if it's soccer or a local talk show with avails and they can talk about baseball or the upcoming NFL minicamp, we're going to be toast.

    XM carrying the games last time around was a good thing. I wonder what will happen with that in SA.
     
  17. VioletCrown

    VioletCrown Member+

    FC Dallas
    United States
    Aug 30, 2000
    Austin, Texas
    Club:
    Austin Aztex
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm sure there's ways to figure it out for other places, but I'm selfish. Checking my local ESPN Radio station, they run national shows -- Colin Cowherd and Tirico and Van Pelt from 10-2. But local stuff on either side of that. I'm sure we won't get the early game on the radio unless they somehow end up under a lot of pressure from fans.

    It will be interesting to see what happens, I have to say. Because there's a lot of people now that watch the World Cup.

    Not expecting it. Just curious.
     
  18. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Just follow the money. Even a syndicated show makes money for an all-sports radio station. A local show - even more.

    The PD of the ESPN affiliate here is a soccer guy. And I'm not even sure what he'd do in that situation.
     
  19. VioletCrown

    VioletCrown Member+

    FC Dallas
    United States
    Aug 30, 2000
    Austin, Texas
    Club:
    Austin Aztex
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Effectively 70%

    heehee. I know one of kenn's buttons.;)

    Well, we were specifically talking about the USL1 and MLS, so *if* we're going to compare broccoli to broccoflower, we should only look at EPL and Championship. Which, for just last year, was 80%. It would be better to have the 100 games we have to go on in the Open Cup (about 5 years of data should do it), but as a very rough first guess, USL1 is closer to MLS than Championship is to Premier League. Assuming the Open Cup measures anything.

    Shall I make any more entertaining assumptions?
     
  20. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Which isn't close to "effectively the same."

    Someone else will have to run the last five years' worth of data. I'm going to guess it would be around that number, not significantly off either way.
     

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