It probably says that most of their fans (and there are some) aren't on BigSoccer. You'll probably remember that, pre-Beckham, there were far fewer Galaxy fans on BS than their in-stadium support would indicate. Even now, post-Beckham, the Galaxy is not particularly well-supported on BigSoccer (despite the constant appearance of a few of their more annoying fans), partly because they have other on-line forums and partly, I suspect, because on-line soccer discussions are simply less popular in certain markets. Keep in mind that, when we're talking about Chivas USA attendance, we're not tlaking about the worst-supported team in MLS history-- not by a longshot. But even those other teams had more of a presence on BS, so I'm not sure BS presence is that meaningful here.
agreed. but that only brought them back to the '96 level (ten teams) after the 2-team expansion in '98. i don't see MLS as a business (growing to 16 teams) would need to (suffer from) a correction/contraction of teams (well if ChivasUSA can right its ship). the league and business model are stronger, and there are many factors (Garber, SUM, a more diverse group of I/O, bricks and mortar) that have changed the foundation for success of MLS over the last six years since the 2001 "reverse-expansion". i think the folks at MLS HQ are taking a prudent strategy and pace to expasion up to 16 teams (or perhaps even 18 teams in they next 3-5 years).
I'm no longer a fan of the NHL because my team was moved, but I think alot of fans will point to the fact that there really was a dilution of talent and some of the sunbelt markets haven't worked out as well as expected. It's a little chicken or egg with the relationship between expansion, labor troubles and a general sense of the league's decline. My own impression is that expansion created and was carried out on the back of unrealistic expectations about how much the league would grow as a truly national league-- and those expectations were shared by the players, which is what led to the labor strife. But expansion never led to a national footprint-- it never led to that growth. Then the labor strife had pretty disasterous effects on casual fan support. That said, the NHL is probably better attended than ever. But it just doesn't seem to have the Q rating it once did...
I am pretty sure all the MLS 1 teams should be making a sizable profit before an MLS 2 is even considered. and I am pretty sure we are years away from that happeneing
When MLS expanded the developmental roster a couple of years ago, I thought that was to generate more US players for expansion. But then they exempted the developmental players from the expansion draft. But I don't worry about the talent getting diluted. Talent works in a bell curve. For every Landon Donovan you produce, there will be 10 Carey Talleys or C.J Browns or Brian Carrolls. Just giving another 28 players a chance means that more of them will have an opportunity to step up and blossom. The MLS draft has never been a very good prediction of relative talent. There's guys playing regular in MLS from the bottom of the draft while quite a few #1 draft choices are playing in USL. In the long run, the overall pool of quality players will continue to expand, just like it has for the last 12 years.