If MLB goes on strike next season i can see MLS attendence averaging 17,000-18,000 a game and TV ratings to raise because sports fans will have nothing else to pay attention to except auto racing.
The MLB player's union is showing no small hesitancy in setting a strike date. Also, management's chief negotiator was strangely upbeat after the last meeting between the two sides. These are somewhat ambiguous occurrences, but they might be signals that MLB may avert a strike.
As a matter of fact, with the owners seeming so friendly and amiable it makes you wonder if they're just trying to get the sympathy angle from the public for when the crap hits the fan.
I agree. Now is our chance to try to catch some people curious about the sport. It worked with my math teacher He still is a huge White Sox fan but, he's starting to watch a few Fire games, too.
The success of MLS has nothing to do with whether MLB strikes, WNBA folds, etc. It might possibly mean a few fans, but baseball fans aren't going to be starving for things to occupy their time.
You may or may not be right about the first sentence, but you are completely wrong about the second. Baseball fans spend far more time on their sport than soccer fans. I know plenty that spend 30-40 hours a week on it. This issue had been discussed extensively prior to the Big Soccer crash. If only a small % of baseball fans took up MLS, it would be greatly beneficial.
this may be making too many generalizatoins, but a survey i read said that baseball, of the team sports, has the oldest fan base in america. soccer was among the youngest. would the older crowd be ready to embrace soccer? doubtful. I know if MLS went on strike, I wouldn't immediately start watching baseball. i'd rather poke myself in the eye with a rusty nail, but I wouldn't watch baseball. i think at best, you'd notice a slight -- if we're extremely lucky -- increase in tickets/tv. very slight. soccer is and will grow on its own. that said, i'm all for a baseball strike just on general principle.
I'd like to see some demographic studies on the subject, but I have heard the same things and assume it to be true. You need to realize that there are far more baseball fans than soccer fans. That still leaves a rather large pool of young baseball fans. As for your anti-baseball stuff, reading big soccer has given me a great appreciation for the anti-soccer crowd.
For what it's worth, FOX Saturday Baseball has seen its average ratings go from 3.5 in 1998 to 3.8 in 2002. That's an increase of 8%, while most leagues are seeing declines.
They will just find other ways to fill their time. They won't be sitting at home thinking "I wish there was something to do now. Wait, soccer!" What I see more plausible is families wanting to go to a sporting event and seeing MLS since MLB isn't around, but it will have a minor, and temporary, spike if anything at all.
Yes Sir, I love my lastros Just what quicksand said...a MLB strike can have an impact on family outings to the ballpark but anything beyond that is a pipe dream. It would actually be more insulting if there was a strike and ESPN didn't cover MLS and its run to the playoffs any more or less with baseball gone. They appear to me as the station to go out of their way to show anything but soccer highlights even though baseball was gone! As far as anyone taking a stab at "boreball' or whatever, let me remind y'all what Peter freakin' Gammons said back before the 1998 WC Final after interviewing Nomar about soccer and how it relates to baseball and newbies to the beautiful game..."soccer is the perfect compliment to baseball"...this is the freakin' Yoda of American baseball. If he can sit down with Nomar and "get it" about soccer and go on BASEBALL TONIGHT about how soccer is a waiting game like baseball where scoring is not just reaching first....than IMHO anyone can appreciate the two. Go hate last call if you want something American to hate on.
There are a great number of factors that affect the MLS attendance, a baseball strike is just one that might slightly influence the attendence on a positive note. On the other hand, sportscenter time would be freed up as would many time slots where baseball games had been previously played. Of course, ESPN seems more interested in showing the worlds strongest man competitions as MLS. As for the debate on which sports is better, baseball is by far more popular in the states and soccer is by far more popular around the world... I find them both to be great games.
I'm pulling for a baseball strike no matter what... I've had it with those baseball player primadonas and their whining. As far as the effect on soccer. I won't say it will be a save-all. However, you guys are only kidding yourselves if you do not think that a baseball strike compiled with the negativeness of this years' All-Star game, and possible another W.Series cancelation...all within a few months apart of the greatest US result in the World Cup (in the modern era) and certainly the most publized "American" World Cup ever wouldn't have an impact on MLS. It most certainly beneficial to MLS. Certainly in cities such as Dallas, Boston, Los Angeles, Washington/Baltimore, NY/NJ, Denver and maybe even KC.
I'm sure there will be a slight to barely noticable rise in attendance and viewership. With a strike date of 9/16, it would occur during the beginning of the NFL and college football season and a few weeks prior to the NHL starting up. If any MLB fans who weren't already fans of MLS noticed the league playoffs I would be surprised. Another MLB work stoppage will probably result in some baseball fans looking for a new sport to follow, hopefully MLS can do something to attract and keep them as fans.
God, do we have to have this conversation again? Explain to me how, given the absence of a sport people do like, they'll turn to a sport they don't like. At a time of year with many other, more attractive (to them) options.