Crew rallies past Fire to end regular - Daily Herald(AP) Fire loses finale as regulars rest - Chicago Tribune Burn ends season on positive note - Dallas Morning News (note that Kreis did win MVP for the Burn...) Noonan reaches goal: High-scoring rookie solidifies starting spot - Boston Herald They know the score - Boston Globe Only the schedule can stop streaking Wizards now - KC Star Note to 49ers: Let Brandi kick - Oakland Tribune
Idiot of the Day: MLS will never be as good as the NASL - Oneonta Daily Star "The people came to watch our games. A minimum of 50-60,000 people per game." Oh really? "Although fans show up for MLS Cup championship game, regular-season MLS games typically draw around 10,000." Oh really? If you round down, I guess. "Sometimes they show MLS games in Brazil, and I'm like, 'Who are these guys?'," he said. "The best players bring crowds in for the game. They should do the same today to bring people back to watch the games. Not 5,000 or 10,000 people, this is not a professional league." Oh really? Tell that to first division teams in France, Spain and Brazil that draw those exact numbers. "Like it or not, the MLS is Triple-A soccer and will never be the NASL." Thank god for that. Crew finds antidote - Cbus Dispatch
That NASL story made no sense. The author complains about no star power in the MLS but then later says that was the downfall of the league in the end. So does he want them to make the same mistake twice? Not to mention how factually inaccurate the story was. The NASL in its best days never averaged more than 14k. MLS has already beaten that mark twice. Dumb article.
The kid - and that's what he is - got an e-mail from me with many of the same points. Too bad he had such a hardon for Carlos Alberto that he couldn't get his facts straight. I told him that just because Carlos Alberto is too stupid to know anything about MLS and Girgio is too tainted by his ChampionsWorld employment, don't ignore what the league has accomplished. I can't wait for his reply so I can point out his interview with Garber earlier this year where Garber told him attendance was "nearing 16,000" average.
I think the author was actually quoting Carlos Alberto who said that the lack of star power hurts MLS. I usually don't respond to articles like this, but I did e-mail the author to point out that average attendance in the NASL peaked in 1980 at 14,440, while average attendance in MLS was higher this just concluded regular season. I also offerred the opinion that perhaps Carlos Alberto and Giorgio Chinaglia, two former NASL stars, lack a little objectivity when comparing the NASL to MLS.
Some nice analysis by FDA in this article. Good to see he's got his head out of his ass at least for one story.
Avg attendance in Brazil, 2002:....................................................................... ............................................................................... ............................................................................... .............................................................................. .............................................................................. ............................drumroll....................................... .............................................................................. .............................................................................. .............................................................................. .............................................................................. .............................................................................. ........................................................10,703!! http://www.geocities.com/worldfootballrankings2003/Top125Leagues.html
South American soccer definately has passionate and vocal supporters, but it does amaze me sometimes when I'm watching games on FSW from either Brazil, Argentina, or even Mexico (yes I know it's not in South America) I'm often suprised at how empty the stands are. Maybe it's an unfair parallel to make due to differing infastructure and economic realities but a good point to make none the less.
First division clubs in France, Italy, Germany and Spain that averaged less than MLS last year: Guingamp Strasbourg Valladolid Rayo Energie Cottbus Le Havre Nice Montpellier Troyes Auxerre Perugia Piacenza I've only been to games at Rayo and yeah, the atmosphere is better than a Crew game, but... Basically, I'm sick of the idea that there is some pre-conceived "first division attendance" figure, below which you can't be taken seriously.
My response to a punk Jeff, I recently read your article in regards to MLS will never be as NASL. I am 29 years old and I can assure you that your age shoudl not be an excuse for you to do some research in reagrds to your article. First off a simple check on stats would reveal that MLS averages 15k a game for the regular season. More the the NASL ever did average as a whole. EVER! in its entire history. You start by saying that MLS will never be as good as NASL. It will when the finanical footing of the business is sound. When has all of their own stadiums and good lease deals to be able to sustain players salarys and still make a profit. What good will it do if MLS goes and spends 300 million bucks to bring in all these players only to then go bankrupt 5 years later?? What good will that do for American soccer?? See what that true proof of intellignece and wisdom is to learn from the mistakes that the NASL did. They did more to hurt sport of soccer here than to help it to be honest. The NASL stupidty allowed the american media to dismiss it as some sort of fad. Soccer and MLS will have to spend years trying to overcome the stupidity of the NASL management. Unfortunately uninformed article writers like yourself are aldo things soccer has to overcome, but we will. One day. Tnen we can bury poor writing like this with the nostalgic bantering of fiormer overpayed over the hill osccer stars of yesteryear. Cheers