Good article on challenges MLS faces

Well it's really hard. He made the point that the MLS market is completely fractured, and this is true. It's not only that you have the English, youth crowd, older crowd, ethnic crowd, but within all of those crowds, they are even more segmented.

Who knows, attendance this weekend across the board was great...maybe this is a harbinger of things to come.

 

Rather than switch away from youth soccer as the primary target, I'd like to see MLS raise the amount of attention it gives to the immigrant fanbase and to the die-hard U.S. fans.

If MLS could obtain a nice 3-way balance between those diverse groups, I think it would be well on its way to becoming a near-major sport like the NHL.

 

First off, thanks OKComputer for the link.

I gotta say that for my money the way to go is to cater to the passionate fan base. Make the experience good for the folks who bring the drums, and scarves, and jump up and down. Recognize that these are people having a good time - not semi-riotous hooligans. Try to keep 'em a bit away from using too much offensive language but don't get all hopped up the first time someone gets hoisted on someone else's shoulders.

I clearly remember my days as a young American living in England. I went to see the local 3rd division (now called League One) side on a weekly basis. I was just a tike and the product on the field was nowhere as good as your average MLS team today but it was incredible to me because of all the atmosphere supplied by the older passionate fans. 4-5,000 fans a game on average but it was fantastic.

Then I came back to the US. Watched the Philadelphia Fury play in front of a similar 4-5,000 "fan" crowd per match in cavernous Vets stadium. The product on the field wasn't inferior to the product in 3rd division England but guess what. The games were no where near as entertaining.

MLS needs to realize that what can set it apart from other sports is as much the atmosphere in the stands as it is the "product" on the field. Treat these fans nice, keep 'em in line but don't get all hyper, and you'll see that this is what will bring you repeat customers even when the match on the field is less than stellar.

I sure hope Alexi can bring to fruition his vision of focusing on the adult crowd. I'm a DCU fan but I hope Red Bull can continue to reinvigorate the league....as long as they lose regularly on the field

 

The crowd in DC today seemed to be in perfect balance. Some kids, lots of latinos, die hards and even some white chick with lots of tatoos.

Now all we need is for the rest of the league to catch on. Believe me, if more games were like the one in DC today, MLS wouldn't have such a hard time earnings fans. Not cause the soccer was so great, but because it was such a great experience. It's not about getting freakin youth teams to buy tickets, it's about getting people to care about these clubs. MLS PLEASE LEARN THIS ALREADY. Thanks in advance... Cruiso

 

Man.

How could I forget that all-important 4th leg of the MLS attendance chair: the Biker Chick faction.

 

it will be nice to see what the technical committee can come up with, and if they can come up with anything by MLS Cup 2006.

BA is on the technical committee, so maybe he can rally the group and get something useful out of it.

Don't know if Garber has any interest in the NFL Commish vacancy (or if there is already someone else lined up), but I would think if Arena can't catch on as a manager in Europe, he'd be a fine candidate for a MLS Commish should Garber move on.

also, the repeated good news on ESPN and Univision picking up production costs and earning the ad revenue for having to pay a rights fee for 2007 and beyond is an extremely positive step for the league.

however, i do wonder if ESPN will have production decisions that go against what SUM has done, and if ESPN will do more annoying game interuptions (although I don't recall any side-by-side advertising in the 4/1 ABC game -- didn't catch the NE/LA match, were there side-by-side ads there?).

MLS certainly has a tough audience market to conquer in the US (and an expensive world player market to navigate), but interest and support from big names like adidas and Red Bull (and now even ESPN and Univsion -- even if that was forced by Fifa with their tournament broadcast rights) will allow MLS to stick around and thrive as stadiums get built.

 

I like the way this article linked the competition side of things with the marketing picture. I think AEG is quite dismissive of this perspective but I thing it is very important.

A MLS season ticket (which I buy) feels like a placeholder for the future (when the stadiums are all there, the players don't leave for key games, expansion has turned making the playoffs into a meaningful reward and when my owner actually has incentive to help my team win).

I hold a season ticket because I have blind religious faith in the game. Many fans come because it is something to do with the kids a few times a year. But this article correctly identifies how the market can become much bigger when the competition and resulting rivalries blossom.

It had never dawned on me that the tv rights deal might actually help force the issue. It's sort of ironic actually.

 

The amazing thing is this would not cost very much. Alot of these immigrants, my parents being some of them, do not know when MLS teams are playing. Many of them do not read of follow the popular press, but rather their locally produced newspaper or radio station of native origin.

My sister used to work for a ethnic radio station and for 100-200 bucks the league could by a segment for the local team in every radio segment for the entire year. That is reasonable advertising.