Good grant Wahl article on Charlie Sillitano, once GM of the Metrostars, and now hobnobbing with European soccer royalty while he organizes their outrageously expensive American tours/ friendlies / pre-season tournaments. http://on.si.com/1NPiei2
MLS strikes out on its own to bring in technology to help the referee get it right. @ESPNFC: Major League Soccer to trial video referees, plans to implement in 2016. http://t.co/TOpURmyoFS http://t.co/sbSLDzAGd2
This SI article is a little hard for me to follow, but I think it says that USSoccer is ok with youth clubs getting compensation for development of players who go overseas (e.g. yedlin), but MLS is objecting and wants to keep all the money. http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/201...-clubs-solidarity-compensation-fifa-transfers
NYTimes article oct-28-2015 on MLS viewership in England. 3 british journalism students have their own website http://mlsgb.com devoted to MLS even tho they have never attended an MLS match in person. Sky Sports signed a 4 year deal with MLS to supplement their summer schedule, but their MLS video clips have been viewed 5.5M times this year. http://nyti.ms/1Wg2ytq
Interesting WSJ Oct-28-2015 Matthew Futterman article. The <$1B that NBC paid for Premier League is turning out to be a bargain. They are now averaging 563k TV viewers compared to 200-250k MLS viewers on Fox and ESPN respectively. PL audience size is up 150% over 3 years ago when Fox/ESPN had the rights, plus 44% increase in streaming over last year. Average viewer is 38 yo. Of course, NFL-NBA-MLB beat these numbers, but MLB is on a decline, so PL could surpass them soon. http://www.wsj.com/articles/english...-pond-appeal-burnishes-nbc-tv-deal-1446066122
Don Garber at Men in Blazers' Blazercon .@thesoccerdon: it "pisses me off" when the term "Elephant Graveyard" is used with @MLS. Points to #Giovinco as young star.#BlazerCon— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) November 14, 2015
Good article on ESPN perspective on MLS playoff woes in competing with NCAA and NFL football for TV viewers. http://mobile.philly.com/beta?wss=/philly/blogs/thegoalkeeper&id=361743671 MLS Cup had lower TV ratings this year, although online streaming was way up. Seems that American football has a lock on Sat and Sunday TV schedules. Article discusses a slew of alternatives, such as weeknight MLS playoff games, changing the season, not wrapping up during the holidays, continuing to play MLS Cup at the stadium with the better team record, etc
Would the risk be worth it to extend the MLS season one more week and play MLS Cup on second Saturday in Dec? No football outside Army/Navy.— Paul Tenorio (@PaulTenorio) December 11, 2015 This tweet sums it up perfectly. They need to make the season one week longer as the second Saturday of Dec has minimal college football so viewership should go up.