I can careless what they do in the stadium, but on TV why don't they use the time more wisely. Why not have a longer segment with Garber? How about the goals of the year? Show some clips on how these teams got there? The only people watching this are soccer fans anyway. Give us something other than some weak band and their contrived choreographed faux fans pretending to enjoy it. Leave these attrocities to the other leagues and make our final about the sport.
Again NONE of that brings in money. Radioshack sponsoring the halftime show bring in money in sponsorship. Showing Garber talking is not something that RadioShack will probably pay for. If RadioShack wants to be associated with a sheety band like Switchfoot let them, we all know the REAL fans are in the bathrooms or in the kitchen getting ready for the second half. I really dont care what they do at halftime as long as it brings in money. Showing another MLS "Its Right Here" ad doesnt.
Really?? RadioShack would rather sponsor something like Switchfoot that no one is watching rather than something soccer related that they might check out? If thats the case, then I agree with you. I am just not sure thats the case though.
Why? $$$$. Radio Shack sponsored that half-time show. It does them little good to have their mini-concert accessible to only the in-stadium audience. They are trying to reach as big an audience as possible. The folks at RS must be doing cartwheels over tha 0.8 national share TV rating that the Cup pulled in. OK, sarcasm was involved in my last sentence As for the actual halftime show: it is what it is. My group of 4 at the stadium rocked out to the band's set and had a good laugh at the attempted "mosh pit" choreography. If the league received money from Radio Shack for sponsoring that show, I can live with it.
I second this question, as I've never been to a big game in Europe. What do they do at halftime of Champions League or UEFA cup games? Does Ricky Martin pop out of midfield and sing "She Bangs." It really doesn't bother me that we have a halftime show. What's the harm (unless the field is torn up)? It's part of American sport to have entertainment at halftime, or even in the 7th inning stretch in baseball. They get who they can get. Maybe in the future they'll have a "wardrobe malfuntion" which will gain the league some publicity.
I guess I dont get what sponsoring it means. If they are sponsoring something, wouldn't it be in their best interest to have more people watching it? RadioShack goals of the year? It's not a big deal though. I fast forward through the half time shenanegans anyway, unless of course there is some sort of wardrobe malfunction.
First and foremost, there were undoubtedly people who did watch the 2004 MLS Cup half-time show. Frankly, they probably weren't the types of hardcore soccer fans who were tuned in solely for the game. That's why half-time entertainment at any major professional sports championship in the United States is targeted towards meeting the entertainment needs of the non-hardcore fan who might be tuned in or just happens to be flipping by the station. If the entertainer(s) just happen to hold on to the attention of the die-hard sports fan... hey, BONUS!!! As a soccer fan, you're simply assuming that everyone would "check out" a half-time filled with "soccer related" info/activity during an MLS Cup broadcast. However, the half-time sponsor is looking to grab and hold the attention of some soccer die-hards, some reasonably soccer-enthused viewers and some channel-surfers who really don't give a rat's ass about soccer and would most likely flip right on by either soccer highlights or Don Garber's talking head. Hence, the "musical act as half-time entertainment" choice. Soccer die-hards may well listen in just long enough to determine whether they like the band or not. Some will, some won't. Ditto for reasonably soccer-enthused viewers. Plus, channel-surfers will stop to see what the band's all about. Maybe they stick around, maybe they don't. However, in all of these cases, the sponsor's name gets exposed to the viewer via on-screen graphics or field-level signage... even if only for a second. That's why they pay the money to sponsor the half-time entertainment. As an aside, I was at the game and wondering what the folks at RadioShack thought about their stage-center banner being held incorrectly so that their name and logo was backward throughout the entire first song? That's making sure that the sponsor gets their money's worth. No doubt, there were plenty of "mea culpas" flowing from the mouths of the MLS marketing types.
This game got a .8 rating. There were not a whole lot of people watching this on NFL sunday. Especially casual observerers. The only people watching were MLS fans. MLS cup doesn't have any cross over appeal yet. Either way, I hope you enjoy your Switchfoot as much as I love the Switchfoot skipping ability of TIVO.
You do realize that although Switchfoot probably played more than one song at halftime, the home viewer only saw the first one? Instead, we were probably subjected to 4 or so Howie RadioShack commercials doing this time. So, I guess it worked because I definitely had RadioShack engrained in my mind. I even know where the two closest stores are to me
For the record: Switchfoot played two songs: only their first one, their "hit" made the TV broadcast.
That is what the DC/NE champsionship game had (AYSO not an execution, that is). I thought it was pretty bush league to have nothing different at the div championship game than they have at every other game. I think during regular season games this is Ok, because it is sort of a marketing scheme to get people from the kids families to come out, etc. But during the playoffs they should have something more. Jeez, bring out some frisbee dogs, terrier races, or something.
Slightly off-topic, but it seems those college football bowl game halftime shows, some of them, drone on for 45 minutes or longer. I can't remember a halftime show, in any sport, with any budget, big or small, that wasn't boring tripe. Talk about a waste of time. And money.
For the record, the asian couple sitting next to me at the game were only there because their daughter is a Switchfoot fan. They didn't come for the soccer, but they ended up cheering and oohing and aaahing like the rest of us during the run of play. Did Switchfoot just create a family of MLS supporters? Probably not. But at least two more people in this country are now aware that Matt Taylor sucks. And I don't think we could have expected much more than that.
So many San Diego bands to chose from! Just be lucky it wasn't Blink 182 or POD. The song that didn't air on TV, "Meant To Live" was much bigger than "Dare You To Move". They should have gone with MTL cause it's better and more uptempo.
But isn't the 1 year time limit up or something like that. Album was released in February, but it seems like that song has been around forever.
Was flipping through the channels at halftime of the US-JAM game and landed on MTV and saw that "Our Favorite MLS CUP Halftime Band" Switchfoot will be on MTV's Modern Rock LIVE show(or whatever that show is) next Wednesday at 8:00 pm ET. LB...
I thought the NFL's Super Bowl halftime show last year was in good taste and definately worth watching But serioulsy, the best halftime show was U2's performance 3years ago at the Superbowl. That was the best by far.
OK, the band wasn't THAT bad. It was typical uninspired post-Creed pop-rock but the band wasn't the goofiest part of it all. The ridiculus 14-year-old dancers interpreting the music physically was the silliest part and it made me feel sorry for the band. They should try something a little weirder. It works for Conan O'Brien. What really ticked me off was Radio Shack's red and black colors everywhere. It gave the game a very pro-D.C. feel. Not to mention their Jack-Ass Squad that roamed the stands saying "Who wants a free thingie that we're giving out!" or whatever. I told them to go to hell once and everyone laughed. In fact, the announcer was reading a Radio Shack sponsorship right as D.C. scored their first or second goal. Thank you for not distracting from the game.
THE Halftime Solution Mascots playing soccer. No joking, you want casual observers to get into soccer? Play a mascot game at halftime. I'm hijacking this idea from indoor soccer's Kansas City Comets (and I believe I've seen a clip of a hockey version somewhere). I've even played in a halftime mascot game as a bottle of Gates Barbecue Sauce. It's hilarious. Get all the MLS mascots, then a few sponsors...Lucky Charms, the Nestle Quik Bunny, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Count Chocula etc... At halftime, have them battle each other and televise it. Listen, the Kansas City Comets average about 5,000 fans per game. On mascot night, they'll score closer to 18,000. A near sell out for the crazy halftime event. Get comentators who are in on it and present it like a real game, even do some production...little stat sheets with player headshots. MLS can collect cash from a ton of sponsors, and have a very attention getting and totally soccer related event at halftime. If you don't think this would work, you're stupid.
The Rapids have been doing this once a year of late, it's at least more amusing than the usual halftime schtick. Also the rivalry between Rapidman and the Broncos mascot is cute. As for the GreenDay suggestion, I actually like it. The paradox of singing 'American Idiot' to a group of Americans taking part in an 'un-American' activity should cause them to explode, which would make everyone a winner.