From an article by Jerry Langdon about the most-overlooked story in MLS in May 1999: http://www.soccertimes.com/langdon/1999/may19.htm It talks about stagnant attendance, record-low scoring, and record-pace shootouts. It mentions the paucity of talent at the Miami Fusion. It mentions the "continuing development" of Chris Armas in Chicago. It mentions Colorado as one of the league's elite teams. Also the disintegration of DCu's defense (and they went on to win that year...) It notes that Tab Ramos was injured... Or how about this article about playoff attendance in 1999: http://www.soccertimes.com/wagman/1999/oct28.htm Dallas had a 12k season average (now 13k). Colorado had a 14k average (now 22k) Miami had an 8k average (now... never mind) LA had 17k (now 19k) United had 17k (still 17k) C-bus had 17k in the first year at Crew Stadium (now 16k) Chicago had 16k (now 11k) Really I wish people would take a trip back to 99 to see what the league looked like then before criticizing it now. The attendance thread is often full of people who often have no idea what the numbers mean other than some preconceived idea of what is "a good attendance"... And people have such short memories: DC's fall was telegraphed long before it happened in 2000. Tab Ramos was always injured then... But at the same time, you get Chris Armas developing into an important MLS player in just a couple of years. The moral of the story: MLS is a young league so it's even more ridiculous when fans don't know where it's coming from. But in any event, the distance it's travelled in that short time is cause for optimism because it is getting better.
I remember 99, that was when the Galaxy were kicking arse and the Burn and Fire had an exciting playoff battle.
i think MLS should contract the 2 lowest attended teams every season. That way, attendance will continue to rise because attendance is the most important thing in the history of mankind.
The league is better now, no question about it. For my money though, the best playoff series I've seen was Dallas-Chicago in 99. That had it all, late goals, controversy, accusations, you name it.
as far as attendence goes in Chicago...it will be a low number due to the fact i think the capacity is around 11k.
I think MLS has a couple of trump cards under its belt for 2003 attendance. One the new SSS in LA will definitely boost LAs attendance over 20k for 2003. Also with Chicago returning to the city, hopefully attendance will return to 17k or so. That means the 2003 overall attendance should improve. With the national team putting more focus on soccer, I wouldn't be surprised to see at least a 1.5k increase in overall attendance for the league next year.
There definitely is a plan. The five year commitment the investors gave to the league should coincide nicely with at least two stadium openings, the women's world cup and then 2006 (though obviously the league's ability to take advantage of world cups has been slight). In short, they won't have anything to complain about if it doesn't work...
Ah yes, optimism at the end of the 1999 season - Don't worry, I hear we're going to sign Lothar Matthaeus this offseason! All the way in 2000, baby! I also predict a bizarre string of events will lead us to getting the top up-and-coming striker in the league next year. I was going to add on a bit about getting a great new Colombian player who will never pan out, but that could be the refrain for any year in the Metros history, not just 1999.
The '99 season....damn were we good...too bad it ended the way it did. Then again, we've had that ending a couple of other times as well.
I actually think the attendancies are pretty good, considering the league is but a few years old. The Fusion managed to attract 11K in only four years of existence, which I thought was great, but it was deemed too low and they were cut. It seems that if the league is losing money, it should be looking at other avenues, not just trying to pump the numbers. I feel there is an air of unrealistic expectations; other sports have had generations to acquire their fanbase. Perhaps if the numebrs haven't increased in 10-15 years, we can worry; otherwise lets celebrate getting so many to games with so little support from the media.
Spoken like a true prophet. (Sorry for the bump -- hope this helps a few newer posters appreciate the historical perspective)
Is there a specific point to this thread? MLS 2007 is vastly different to MLS 2002 or even MLS 1999 as it should be....
I am right here(My name is Karl actually) I was sixteen years old when this thread was started i am now 20
didn't FBI research reveal that the name most often associated with murderers and child molestors was infact Karl?