bingo - if some of what FIFA wants our owners decide is in their best interest it will happen - otherwise it wont. And I am fine with that fact.
If only. We cannot bid successfully without the support of Mexico and to a smaller degree Canada. If either of those two want it, their case (since we were the last in the region to host) would be helped. I actually don't think we will bid for 2026 OR if we do it will be joint with Canada.
Those people that say we need FIFA more than FIFA need us, why do we need FIFA? Since the 1994 WC which required us to get MLS started, what has FIFA done for the U.S.? Nothing. Since then we have a stable and growing league and a National Team that is expected to at least make it out of the group stage every WC. FIFA didn't do any of that, the USSF and MLS owners did. What's to stop them from continuing to improve with or without FIFA's help? We don't need FIFA. FIFA may not need us either, but we don't have to kiss Blatter's ring for any reason.
I don't think we have to host the World Cup to use it to build a fan base -- we just have to achieve in it. This isn't '94, when the majority of the nation hadn't even been introduced to the highest level of the sport, when previous World Cups were only partially on network television, if at all. These days, even people who hate pro soccer understand what the fuss is about. If anything, the World Cup not being held here could conceivably build the fanbase more, because MLS would not have to be shut down during the tournament. By scheduling games to follow national team matches, MLS could better capitalize on the excitement. Not that having the World Cup here wouldn't be a good thing, but trust me, losing it isn't the end of the world, or even that big of a deal. ------RM
Actually the influence would've been started today if US won the bid. All the headlines, coverage, and exposure of the sport.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/steve_davis/11/29/us.2022bid/index.html It's not the end of the world, but it's obviously huge plus for the business.
Exactly. You and Matt have hit the nail on the head. This is a chicken-egg thing. It's the "what has to happen first?" question. What this decision tells me is that MLS needs to do what is in the best interest of MLS. It can not nor should it depend on a FIFA World Cup being hosted in the US nor should they wait until the US national team wins a World Cup. If MLS wants to be a top league they need to do what they should to go all out to achieve it. At some point the waiting has to stop and they have to go out, be bold and hope that if they build it, interest, ratings and everything else improves and follows.
MLS waited until the 1994 World cup in US. It all started with 1994 World Cup. Too bad 2022 World Cup could've been a real opportunity for the MLS 2.0.
Ignoring your normal Seattle-baiting douchbaggery (what would you do if we didn't exist?) the waiting I refer to is what MLS would be holding back until some seminal moment. Garber said if the World Cup was awarded to the USA MLS would move towards becoming one of the best leagues in the world. Why wait? Go ahead and be bold and do it. It's clear there are plenty of fans of the sport in this country who do not watch MLS as it is now. Take the risk and improve the product and perhaps more of these people begin to watch the games and fill the seats.
FIFA can take all their coercion to adhere to their standards and shove it! I hope MLS never moves to an fall-spring schedule or adopts promotion/relegation simply out of spite towards a horrifically corrupt FIFA. F Sepp Blatter and his flunkies. Sorry for the rant, I'm just really p!$$ed off right now.
I don't think Garber was saying "We're standing around waiting for us to get the World Cup because it'll make us awesome." I think he was saying that getting the World Cup would be a big, swift afterburner boost to that end that MLS would benefit from. A boost that MLS can't really get on its own, because this is something that's out of their hands. That's a lot different from saying "We can't do anything on our own, and if we DON'T get the World Cup, we're screwed." The league has been improving ever since 1994, with no expectation of ever getting a World Cup again (until several months ago) or any realistic prediction of the USMNT winning one. It's improved, and it will continue to improve. Getting this would have been awesome, but my opinion on the league hasn't changed one bit since 10:45 eastern. Plus which, any boost MLS would have gotten really wouldn't have kicked in (in my opinion) until sometime around 2020, give or take a year. Which means we'd have still had a decade of growth/change that would have had nothing to do with the World Cup, outside of maybe building a venue or three.
Been there, done that, had a great time at the Cotton Bowl in '94. Yup. And... yup. The most amazing thing about this experience is that you still have people think that these things come down to the soccer or the merits of the bid. We've got a respectable national team and a respectable league, we graded 100% on the technical report, and we'd have all the stadiums ready to go if it were being held next year. And who got at least 10 votes on EVERY SINGLE BALLOT? A nation with a population smaller than the Austin metropolitan area who'll have to build 12 all-new air-conditioned stadiums and whose national team can't even dream of qualifying for the World Cup on its own. Said differently: Jamaica and Northern Ireland each have populations larger than Qatar. They've both qualified for the World Cup on their own. And if either of them had put in bids, they would've been laughed out of the room. That should tell you that all this discussion about the season and promotion/relegation and what effect it had on our bid is so much masturbation from people who have fixations on the subject.
My view is this. I get to watch MLS for 8 months a year and get to go to around 17 games in person every year. If it takes us doing something that might ruin that experience (like switching to a schedule that ends up financially crippling the league) to get one month of soccer (albeit really good soccer) and possibly get to see one game live (at the cost of probably what my season ticket is now) then I'm not interested. Seeing MLS for the rest of my life trumps seeing the World Cup.
In the autopsy that will surly follow this, I hope Garber and the owners have a hard think about their relationship with FIFA, and more specifically CONCACAF. If US Soccer doesn't have the guts to press for it, it's time for MLS to talk with their SUM friends at the FMF -- who tried to address this mess to be fair -- about demanding reforms.
Doesn't make a lick of difference, does it? It's like talking to the hottest chick at the party all night before the little douchebag with all the cash takes her home.
It's worse than that. It's like talking to that hot chick, and finding out at the end of the night that she's a hooker and is interested in only one thing. So, yeah, she left with the little douchebag with all the money, but at least that means you don't end up getting herpes. I think this experience has been very useful. Though I enjoy the WC, it's not worth it going down the cesspool of corruption required to win.
Why is everyone against FIFA? Just because MLS has been the retarded step-child of NFL. It's your loss you can't get the act together to change the system in MLS. WC 2026