I hope MLS does better next year on draft coverage than these guys did this year. I wasn't able to connect to the live audio coverage all afternoon and didn't have much success with the rest of their coverage. Can it be that difficult? Are there that many MLS fans? I don't think so.
How can a league in its eighth year, and putting on one of the big events of the year fall completely on its face. If this isn't the best example of what kind of incompetents are running the show and that this is truely Minor League Soccer, I don't know what is.
I'm glad I'm not the only person that has had issues with getting the audio. It really takes away from the excitement.
Ya, that website sucked, it was terrible, i got the audio for about 10 minutes inbetween the first 2 rounds, then it disappeard, i couldn't find the link for it all morning, i tried thecrew.com which used to run it and it was good in the past, this matchnight crap has got to go...
How do you figure this is one of the big events of the year? If you were running MLS, could you honestly tell me that bulking up a bunch of servers or buying time on some obscure cable network to broadcast the selection of 20 young prospects and 40 guys who'll never play in MLS is one of your top priorities?
It's more than that though. It gets people excited for the next season and makes them more familar with the product. I'm not saying it's going to sell season ticket packages based on it but if people are into your product it would be a benefit to get it out there.
Werd and, If you are going to mention there's going to be Live broadcast and webcast, make sure you have it. Matchnight.com didn't do their job...period.
Well, I'll step into this and take the licks for my team. No excuses here, folks. The demand for the SuperDraft coverage this year was unlike anything that I've ever seen in MLS. And I have been directly responsible for all three SuperDraft webcasts that have taken place. In 2001, we had technical issues because it was the first time. In 2002, we had very few technical issues, the only ones being related to dropped connections from the broadcast point. Based on the traffic numbers from last year, we thought we were more than adequately prepared for this year. Last year, the peak usage on the webcast was less than 400 simultaneous listeners. We honestly thought that 1,000 was more than adequate. But at about 3:05, it was quickly becoming evident that we were wrong. Going into this, we had three dedicated servers to serve content from the MatchNight network. It wasn't enough. We had streams available for 1,000 listeners. Again, not enough. I know that it sucked for anyone who couldn't get a feed. I know that people were pining for draft coverage. And I know that we failed. I also know that it's pretty damn impressive that we failed. The demand and the traffic were unbelievable! Some of us that were working on the problems all afternoon have been directly involved in website maintenance for over 8 years, and we've NEVER seen the short-term demand on servers as we saw today. In 2000, it was enough to have a laptop computer and a dial-up connection to do this stuff. Those days are well behind us, and that's a testament to the fans of this league and this game. If you're pissed at us, I don't blame you one bit. We had the scouting database and two major trade scoops, we'd identified all the top prospects at each position, and yet - in the end - the fans got screwed. The fans of soccer in America deserve better! But I would ask that you don't judge MatchNight.com on this one incident. We stepped up to do this at our own personal expense, both from a time and money standpoint. Nobody else stepped to the plate. We do this not for the recognition, but for the league and the game. We love the challenge of doing stuff like this webcast, but a time for some changes has come. We did our best, at our own personal expense, but this is no longer good enough for fans of U.S. soccer. I learned a lot today, most notably that MLS needs to take notice that the fans want to see this stuff. Maybe it's time to talk to a regional sports network or espn2 about doing a live broadcast. This is the eighth year of the league... at some point, that step apparently needs to be taken. Heck, even put the thing on MLS Shootout PPV. But the time has come, MLS. The time is now. It's time to make the SuperDraft live up to its name. For those of you who were able to listen to Dwight, Bill, Sean, and the rest of the Crew in Kansas City, we hope you enjoyed it. And we hope that you return to MatchNight.com for MLS coverage this season. Shane Murphy, Webmaster, MatchNight.com
well, the layout of matchnight was awsome...much better than MLSnet... sorry to hear about the server problems... I totally agree with you, Superdraft is a big deal nowadays... Apology accepted and your site is back into my bookmark.
I think everyone should just consider this, almoast all the sites that said they were going to be at least showing the picks, went down today. MLSNet, Top Drawer Soccer, and Big Soccer were all down for periods in the day. Although, I have to say 3rd Degree and Big Soccer really steped it up today. 3rd Degree was my savior with their live chats that never failed. Thank you 3rd Degree. This means thousands of people were trying to listen or follow the draft life added with the packed house in KC. I sure hope the main stream media realizes this and reports tommorrow.
Wow. That's all I can say. I was frustrated all day, trying to get information. Trying to get it here, MLSnet, Matchnight, thecrew.com, etc. It was a pain. But I got it, with much frustration. Thank you for the explanation shane, it means a lot. But it also tells me what I thought was happening, that thousands of MLS fans were trying to get the same information I was trying to get, which really says alot about how far this league has come, and about its dedicated fan base. While the draft was going on, ESPN 2 was broadcasting pool. I hope that we either get a new TV deal or show ABC the cold, hard facts: that MLS is beginning to come into demand. No, it won't pull off a 10.00 rating just yet, but give it time, and advertisement, and it'll pay off.
one thing that shane forgot to mention and i think should be is that matchnight.com is seperate from thecrew.com. Both MN and thecrew.com are run by fans, and not out of the front office. The staff of both websites have "day jobs" and they run the websites because they just love the game that much. --that represents what I have to say. It does not reflect upon thecrew.com, matchnight.com or any website, persons, sponsors, or anything else related to any website. Just what I have to say. But still. SUM should put it on TV. If not ESPN2, then Shootout package or a RSN. Also, one (or two) website(s) providing audio coverage doesn't cut it. All teams should have seperate audio feeds. Use the radio announcers who announce those teams games. Since many teams also broadcast in Spanish, that also could help things.
...and next time don't have it on a Friday afternoon, and if you can sense that people are hitting these entertainment sites while at work, report them to their bosses!
MatchNIght As the creator and publisher of MatchNight, it wouldn't be fair to let Shane take all the heat. I agree with everything he said regarding MatchNight's failure to give U.S. soccer fans the coverage you deserved today. We gave it our best effort. I spent weeks of free time and hundreds of dollars of my own money to make the webcast possible, but it just wasn't good enough. And for that, I'm sorry. Unknown to most of you... Dwight Burgess (who is every bit as talented as Crew fans say he is) did not have access to a proper computer for webcasting several straight hours, a high speed modem or even to have someone with the keys to the ballroom the night before so we could properly test the feed or to know what equipment we had available (or didn't have). The Bald One, to his credit, was doing this with his own laptop computer (which is not new by any stretch) and a dial-up modem connection. Because of dropped modem connections and PC problems from Kansas City, we simply had no consistent feed to stream for most of the first two rounds. Props go to Bill McDermott and friends for covering while Dwight was on a cell phone back to us in Columbus trying to figure out what to do with his machine. Next year, the league also needs to provide Dwight with a dedicated producer for the show on-site. It is simply unrealistic to expect him to be a "one man show." Hartbeat, I was thrilled to be in your bookmarks to begin with! I agree 100% with your second post. But your third post was just what I needed at the end of a hard day. SeahawkDad, now THAT was the FUNNIEST thing I've read all day! Just dripping with irony. myshap, THAT is the story of the day. Despite our shortcomings today, no one can deny the demand for soccer coverage in the U.S. anymore. Study some history to learn what the NFL draft was like in it's eighth year and look at it now. That's the direction dedicated fans like you have MLS going.
Well I thought it was mildly annoying as well, but let's be honest, how many people knew anything about more than about a third of the players picked today? When I couldn't get on matchday.co I said "well that sucks", came back here, cracked a PBR, and tried to make an ass of myself on rivalries as usual. No big deal. More important things to worry about than the 48th pick, methinks.
Despite the problems I have to say that it's refreshing to see the administrators step up and take the hit. Props to Shane and Lee for coming forward.
We're all a little spoiled. We get a lot of good content on the Web, and we get it free. (For now!) And in soccer, we get a lot of good coverage from volunteers. I think it was a noble effort, and perhaps it can be done better with some of the lessons learned from last year. But I don't think it's worth castigating anyone if it doesn't work.
pool gets better ratings. not that you didn't acknowledge that soccer's ratings suck in your post, because you did. it's just that I'm sure somebody will read your post and then go on some rant about how ESPN is once again putting soccer down or something.