It has been over 3 months since the tour has ended. What are some of the impacts? Does the 'a rising tide raises all boats hypothesis' perceived to be correct? Is soccer perceived to be more 'cool' than before? (judging by the number of students wearing Man U stuff in Seattle, I believe it is a big yes). Did the tour in some way help MLS? A-league? Did the tour help soccer flourish in America? What can be learn from this Tour? (probably US is an emerging soccer market with huge $$$ potential. No wonder there are plans for World Club Championship in the U.S. for 2005).. Hype/Publicity sells.....Manchester United Tour brought people to see Manchester United (3 sell-outs). When Man U was not present, the games were not sell-out even when the teams were the like of AC Milan, Juventus, Barca or Boca Jrs. Probably next year, a Real Madrid, Liverpool + some other teams tour would be best named Real Madrid/Liverpool Tour (can I get my 0.0000001% of the profits for my idea Championsworld? Anyway, I am hopeful that a MLS team will get to participate.
The impact on MLS? Not much if any. Same old TV ratings (i.e. 0.2 on ESPN2) and attendances (7K-15K for a typical game). The impact on big European clubs? Big. They will all scramble to schedule their summer pre-season tours in the US in order to load up a jumbo jet with US Dollars. The "gold rush" will be on every summer. Of course, not all of them will make the big money. For every Man U or Real Madrid that will hit the mother lode, there will be the likes of Blackburn Rovers or Borussia Dortmund that will go home empty-handed.
Question: Is anyone maintaining an Oliver archive? Seems like a false characterization of MLS attendance is just par for the course, but that "gold rush every summer" line is worth revisiting.
I actually think that it will help TV and attendence ratings, but due to the fact our season is almost over the "boats won't raise" until next season. I think that it did win over some new fans that will follow the European game and then come over to the domestic game in the summer.
There is a great archive of all kinds of websites. Try this: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://soccertv.com
There has been little to NO impact on MLS..... thus the tour had no impact on soccer in America.... unless the results are really about what happens next summer if MLS teams join this coup of Euro footy specials....
Was the tour supposed to help soccer flourish in the US? Was it supposed to help A-League or MLS? Why Liverpool? I think the tour was to make money for the teams and CW. I also think CW will bring Real Madrid, Ajax, Bayern Munich and Arsenal.
Somewhere on these threads it was said that the Champions Tour proved that the WUSA was an "embarrassment."
I'd agree, I even say that it proves that the MLS must continue to improve the quality and be competitive with these teams if they want to convert these fans..
I think that as far as MLS goes the only thing that the Champs tour did was to show that there is indeed a fan base out there that can be reached. They'll come along slowly.
I think the tour was successful in letting real fans get a chance to see their heroes in person for the first time.
I immediately jumped on the chance to go to Cleveland and see Celtic play Boca Juniors. It wasn't much of an attended fair but the atmosphere was great, it was all Celtic supporters.
Yes, I went to the Barcelona game in Boston and the ManU game in New York. Both were great, and the ManU game was fantastic.. Remember though, this tour was billed as a "once in a lifetime opportunity" to see these stars. Who knows if the attendance/interest would hold up if it became a yearly tour. i doubt it. Well attended? yes, as well as the first year, as the novelty wears off? no.. Expect the attendance to drop.. What I liked most about the games was the crowd. They knew the teams and the players, and the "kiddy" atmosphere and horn blowing that exists in the MLS was nonexistant (thank god.) That in itself made it more enjoyable..
The groups.google archive is one nice resource to study his unmatched magnanimity and grace over the years. For example: http://makeashorterlink.com/?E23231376
Yes and no. Yes, it showed that there is a fan base for some big clubs. No, it did not show that those fans can be reached or converted to MLS fans.
The impact of Man U/ChampionsWorld Tour on soccer in America As MLS is now in the process of reaching out to the Latino futbol fan base here in the states; this tour showed us that there is a large euro snob fan base that still needs to be reached for the future success of MLS.
Re: The impact of Man U/ChampionsWorld Tour on soccer in America I think the euro-snob fan base can be broken down into two groups, expat euro-snobs and American bred fans soccer fans who share the euro-snob view that only the Europeans can play attractive soccer. The former are going to be difficult to win over, the later less so.
Re: The impact of Man U/ChampionsWorld Tour on soccer in America with that tour, I am starting to believe that there are more Eurosnobs (those that ignore MLS completely yet mostly are American citizens) than MLS fans. If they focus their attention in their own backyard the National team would be a lot better and so would the domestic league. 15 k attendance would increase to 30 k. Rating would double = a paid TV contract = $$$ to spend to build soccer stadium and increase cap salary, buying a few good players. I guess they want a taste of the chicken, but do nothing to nuture the growth of the egg.
Re: Re: The impact of Man U/ChampionsWorld Tour on soccer in America I love MLS, and have made 3 two hour drives to see both the Metro and Rev play. But when the spectacle came to town, well Boston...I went to see Juve v Barca as well. Those teams have a bigger draw then MLS and the level of play is much higher, but the big reason MLS doesn't draw well is the poor management in most cases. The Metros should certainly be doing better than 15,000 a game, same for the Revs, but poor management has turned away fans for one reason or another. Out west San Jose is a problem child. Something needs to be done, but I don't know what. I've never seen the place, but I've heard it isn't in a great neighborhood and they also drew poorly for the US v Wales match. KC v Dallas isn't going to draw 30,000 fans for some time, but if the Metro v Revs drew 30,000 that would be fantastic and the leagues best chance for success.
Re: Re: Re: The impact of Man U/ChampionsWorld Tour on soccer in America I am curious to what you mean by poor management. I figured that maybe it is MLS mgt itslef, or the feel for the large stadiums (empty), that was the problem.. I dont see what the individual managers can do to have a dramatic impact. I am not disagreeing w/you, but am curious what you mean. Maybe an example could help?
Re: Re: The impact of Man U/ChampionsWorld Tour on soccer in America Actually, I think the ex-pats will be easier to win over because they know and understand good soccer. The American-bred Eurosnobs seem more concerned with being a soccer fan than supporting soccer. But everything is a long road in U.S. soccer so let's not get too mpatient. You can't grow until you build a base. That's happening now.
Re: Re: Re: The impact of Man U/ChampionsWorld Tour on soccer in America good point. The American bred Eurosnobs seem more concerned about "image" than good soccer sometimes..
A) Do Europeans sit around and obsess about ways to grow European basketball? I'm just curious if other parts of the world are so obsessed with getting their non-soccer-sport injected into the mainstream as we Americans are with soccer. B) The MLS is great, I love having a domestic league. But until I can see [example]Thierry Henry[/example] score a goal for KC, I'll still be more intrested in European and South American soccer.