Bradley: MLS Insider - 11/7/02

Good article, but as far as the opening line, "this might be the craziest offseason ever...":

I have to say that I hope last winter's events go down as the craziest ever, in what I hope is the league's long, long history.

 

"The Open Cup final was a more aesthetically pleasing game, but it's a shame that Columbus fans (other than die-hards) just didn't get it. I've heard a lot of fans complain about Chicago hosting the Open Cup final in '98 and '00, but Chicago fans understood the Cup concept and came out to watch."

So, I guess Columbus fans don't?

That makes two disappointing Cup finals in a row at Crew Stadium, attendance-wise. What's the deal?

 

Bradley lite.

The tease "crazy" without real discussion.

Trades are dime a dozen in MLS.

You want crazy, he should dive in and tell us what he's heard - or even thinks - about the more fundamental league changes that have been hinted (2 leg playoffs, midseason break) or rumoured (Euro challenge games or MFL cooperation).

Player movement happens every season. It's standard. Not crazy.

Substantially changing the structure of the regular season is more intriguing.

 

Well, you could say it's THREE in a row, if you count the USOC of 1999, which was played there, too. But I'll cut them slack for that one, and last year's MLS cup because CCS was a neutral site, AND because 9/11 probably had a lot to do with people not travelling to it last season. But they should've done better with the USOC of 2002.

And by the way, some of those hard core supporters I saw on the FSW crowd shots looked more like my aging parents than any conventional stereotype of a super-fan. Which is a good thing. Too bad there aren't more of them, yet.

 

First one was pretty obvious (meaning the '99 USOC, not MLSC '01). This one I don't know. But it might move one to re-evaluate one or more of the following:

1. One's expectations;
2. The name recognition and concept awareness of the Open Cup; and/or
3. The true number of die-hards there are.

 

Aside from England, most dometstic cup games draw lousy attedance. Why should we be any different?

Columbus is a tiny city. It should be enough that they will go to Crew league matches. I don't think we should expect anymore than that. A small city is definitely not the place to hold a neutral match.

 

ummm

-they fill up crew stadium for other games
-they fill up blue jacket games
-they fill up ohio state football games... which seats around 106k

i think it's large enough


if you are going to come up with insanely stupid arguments, please do everyone a favor and flail your body in traffic, or something equally stupid, to truly realize your potential

 

Not rippin' on ya, J, just sayin'.....

Which are scheduled months in advance, which give you plenty of time to arrange groups, which are played in decent weather, which are recognizable as part of a league competition, which are played on weekends (for the most part) and which have, if you've ever been to a Crew game, lots and lots of teenagers (I've always been amazed by that)

100% capacity, you're right. In a gorgeous new arena for a new team in town in a traditional league.

Big difference. You've got some 40,000 folks with an immediate vested interest by virtue of the fact they attend school there (college sports has that inherent advantage), and, I'm guessing, a whole bunch more who don't go to school there, but who have what you'd call a very strong primary connection to the team in question. Oh, and then there's the fact that college football is several times more popular than MLS.

I think it's proven it's large enough to support an MLS team and they have a staff that does a nice job. I'm not sure the size of Columbus as a market has a whole lot to do with the attendance at the US Open Cup Final.

Well, that should be in the FAQ (if there was one). You and I could both come up with a whole lot of folks who could use that advice.

 

there was pretty much no advertising done for the open cup finals... i just wanted to let it be known that the size of columbus had nothing to do with how many people came to the game



for the record, at large universities like ohio state, a large number of the students don't go to games... no idea if there is a consistent percantage... i could tell you at illini games, it's over half the students that don't go... but our apathy level is rather high

games are often bigger deals with alumni and area folks

 

Dude, put down the crack pipe. Tiny?

 

I'm with ya, jm. Just sayin'. And you're right, there is a substantial part of a college campus that doesn't go to football games (I'd be speculating as to percentages), but what marketer wouldn't want to have that size pool of potential customers who you know at least have a vested emotional interest in the product?

Ohio State had 48,477 students on the Columbus campus in Fall 2001. Even if 75% of them don't care to go to football games, that's 12,000 who do. Plus alumni who still live in and around Columbus or in Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania who will go to games.

My point wasn't that that had anything at all to do with the Crew, only that it was kind of an apples/oranges thing. Ohio State has a captive audience, one with a passionate connection to the football team that's, if not imprinted on the DNA, at least very strong in the makeup of those people. It takes more than seven years to imprint that on soccer fans (though the Crew have obviously done a nice job).

And Columbus is obviously large enough to support an MLS and an NHL team. Though the Miami area for some reason isn't. But that's more apples and oranges.

 

One of two possibilities hear.

1, he hasn't been on bigsoccer for a while to find any leads.

or

2. he doesn't want to use up all of his stuff at once.

 

I think we can assume that OSU's percentage of the student population who attend home football games is comparable to Michigan's, or maybe even higher.

When I was at UM, the student body was around 35K. The student section of the stadium is ten of the 44 sections, or 22.7%, or 24,970 seats. Even if you assume that some students share season tickets, and that some tickets are sold to non-students, it's reasonable to expect that 20,000 students are in the stadium on any given Saturday, or roughly two-thirds the student population.

It may be that at universities which don't have the winning expectations OSU or Michigan have, the students aren't as rabid about attending football games, but it's still probably at least half....maybe less for students who have to travel significant distances (like UCLA) to the stadium....

 

I was there. Promotion of the game was a joint effort between the USSF, the Indiana Youth Soccer Association and (to a lesser extent) the then-D3 team (now in the A-League, just barely). They did do a nice job, there was a lot of radio and print promotion of the game, and they did go after the "soccer people". The place can seat a little bit more than that, so "sellout" might be a misnomer, but there were a bunch more folks there than for any soccer game held in Indianapolis that I can think of since the Pan Am Games in 1987.

 

Hope you feel better about yourself. It must be nice to sit back and call people stupid across the internet without having to say it to their face. Thats real big of you.

 

You've again proven your lack of reading comprehension skills. I said Columbus is not big enough for neutral games. In fact, if you actually could read (I'm hoping somebody will read this post for you), you would notice that I wasn't criticizing Columbus. In fact, I was defending them on two counts.

 

For the purpose of hosting a major competition, Columbus is a small city. I'm surprised at the reaction here. I think Columbus is great for MLS, but shouldn't be expected to carry a bigger load.

 

Like claiming every sportswriter in America is a soccer basher?

 

Re: Re: Bradley: MLS Insider - 11/7/02

Thats what I get for sticking up for you. some friend you are.

 

Please - take this brand of crap over to the Rivalry Board. I beg you. No - really - I beg you.

Topper