Baseball already has divisions - MLB, AAA, AA, A. There just isn't promotion and relegation, but the minor league teams are farm teams. There are teams all across the nation. And baseball does just fine.
There are teams all across the nation? You don't say? Here I was thinking we were talking about professional sports...you know, the one that actually matters? And as far as I know MLB has 30 clubs of such kind, leaving quite a large number of densely populated cities without professional teams. One, I was clearly talking about promotion/relegation in baseball, so why you felt the need to bring up minor leagues is beyond me. Two, I don't care how fine its doing, as I didn't question its current standing in the sporting landscape. That said, it'd suit me just fine if the sport was wiped off the face of the earth tomorrow. I stand by my point that the country's socialist approach to sports has been advantageous for soccer. You can keep thinking that farm teams are an adequate substitute for a professional team.
You're forgetting the existence of college football, which does have divisions, though no pro/rel. College football is hugely popular in the US, and in many cases (such as parts of the south) college football is the most popular sport. The NFL is a relative newcomer to the football scene in the US. Portland isn't a huge city. It's not the most attractive market for the NFL or MLB. So, that just leaves the NHL, NBA and MLS. Portland might be able to economically support an NHL team, but I don't know if there's a market for hockey there. And baseball does have a pyramid in the US, it's just that there is no pro/rel among teams, but rather players. There are minor-league baseball teams all over the country. Many minor-league baseball teams are professional teams. There are a number of divisions ranging from semi-pro up to AAA. At the top, the teams are completely professional. And, in terms of "mattering," minor-league teams matter just as much, relatively-speaking, as lower-division teams in European soccer pyramids. That is, though a AAA has no way to win the World Series, division 2 (or lower) teams in soccer pyramids don't have any realistic chance of winning their national championships, either (heck, in England's case, all but maybe 4-5 teams in the entire country have no chance of winning the national championship). You keep using that word, but I don't think it means what you think it means.
Minor league players are professional and the teams matter to quite a number of people in cities all across the country. You said you would love if baseball had a pyramid system when it already does. The players are promoted and relegated. It's not just me thinking farm teams are an adequate substitute. Millions of people across this country think they are.
In Germany, clubs are not businesses but sporting associations. They are owned by their fans (club members). Surpluses are not put into the pockets of owners but reinvested.The clubs are not run to maximize profits or marketing effect for their owners or for self-aggrandizement of billionaires but in the interest of the supporters. These may be rather short-sighted and emotional at times (the recent troubles at Cologne and Schalke are examples) but their main goal is the the long-term survival and sporting success of their club - which can not be said for most of those mafia types who own clubs in the EPL and probably in the US too.
Just an FYI, Paul Allen was going to buy the Penguins before Lemieux swooped in as savior of the franchise. The Memorial Coliseum's first tenant was a hockey team, and the current Winterhawks have gotten 4-5k avg for decades. There is a fair market for hockey. Fun fact, the Portland Rosebuds were the first American hockey team to reach the Stanley Cup Finals.
Not that it affects my opinion either way but, apparently, this person has taken upon himself to make a video about ways to improve the coverage of soccer on TV. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX5hkcMcK2o&feature=youtu.be
At the risk of repeating another's comment, let non-believers understand that soccer is a game, a culture, a world. No other field sport has all players moving all the time. Tell them to look at the ballet, the art and creativity. But, you can't tell them, can you? They must discover it for themselves. The supporters, organized into groups with songs and chants are a plank of the identity of any club. The club is the church, the synagogue, the mosque, the PTA, the political party, and the American Legion of the sport. Whether the squad wins or loses, the loyalty and identity is with the club. Back to the field and the game; let the unacquainted investigate the build-up, the chance, and the ball movement. Tell them the game is much more akin to basketball rather than gridiron football. The recent Barca - Real "clasico" had an audience of 500 million, for a league game. Let them think about that.
wow that was pretty amazing, I had never thought of it like that but I find myself easily agreeing with him. Well done.
We won't have to... The game will sell itself, as it has done throught the rest of the world, when it gets the same marketing support as the other sports in this country does. Soccer/football is world's sport because it is. when it's shown more broadly here then it will seep into the psyche as it does everywhere else. WE are no different than the rest of the world, WE only think WE are. WE see more EPL games than MLS games, that's why the EPL is popular here ... MONEY follows Marketing.
We have 4 season tix, my daughter and I go and we use the other tix to bring her friends (in their 20's). We have turned a few people who've never been to a game into regular fans now. The pregame beers and being in the insane supporters section didn't hurt!
i think that more football academies in every part of the USA will increase the popularity of the sport, that the adults that like football encourage their kids to play football, if not, fotball in the USA will suck forever
What surprises me is how few of the kids who play watch soccer. My 9 year old is fascinated with the Premier League this year and English soccer in general. Several times he's commented on how he has no other kids to talk about it with, even at the soccer academy he attends. And I doubt it's that the other kids are watching MLS rather than EPL.
Its because many parents get their children involved with soccer as a social activity or a way to get exercise, not because the children themselves actually like the sport. As such many kids on youth teams see it more as a chore than as something they would seek to do on their own time.
Such sarcasm...he said Football ACADEMIES...not Youth Soccer Organizations where everyone gets a trophy, and mommy drives the kids in her SUV.
I'm sure it occurred to you that I was replying to the second part of that statement where adults encourage kids to play the game. I'm sure it also occurred to you that people often quote more than the bit they're replying to. Because you're so good at inferences. Yes, oh, so good.
That, and the fact that while parents worship the NFL, they are at the same time hypocrites that will not let their own precious little children play the game.
Guess you've never heard of Pop Warner and High School Football. Whatever the amount of people who are "hypocrites," there are no lack of football players regardless. Those parents can be hypocrites all they want. there's an equal amount that would let their children paly.