I attended the game and thought the announcer with his ending # of blaring intrusions about this and that product was very annoying and seriously hampered the atmosphere. The atmosphere is what brings fans out instead of watching in the comfort of one's home. The people in charge of HDC are not investing for the longterm health of the game - in my opinion.
Welcome to Big Soccer! It was MUCH worse at the first game. This time it seemed that at least the announcement times were chosen a little more carefully. The first match he would have done an ad while Pele was on the pitch. There were lots of complaints and I'm sure they listened. Lets see what happens next time and note when they are doing them.
The strange thing is that I did not even notice the endless annoucements during the first game...or it did not bother me. I might have been too busy soaking in the great atmosphere to notice or care. After reading the complaints on this board last week, I did notice it during the second game. Thanks BigSoccer, you ruined the HDC experience for me OK, not really.
I guess I'm one of the lucky ones too who can tune out stuff like that at a stadium. Many can't and I'm glad they listened to the complaints and did try to lessen it.
Yes, too much advertising can become a distraction. But, I keep telling myself, LAG does not do these for free. That means, this is an additional income stream for them, and, more importantly, it means some businesses actually want to be associated with MLS/LAG/Victoria Street. Ultimately that's a good sign. If this thing is going to last, it has to become a money making venture at some point. The ads are just one indication it will. The quality of the companies advertising is also indicative of MLS sustaining itself. Who remembers, in year one, we had announcements at the RB about the Galaxy's "official" jalapeno?
Cien springs Fish on a fast counter attack. The crowd start to roar in excitement at a possible goal. Then across the PA comes "Galaxy fans, please divert your attention to the scoreboard at the North end..." Yeah right. D'oh.