MLS Expansion just doesn't make sense

Uh...no crap the attendance is lower than the inaugural season. That's one of the dumbest statistics I've ever read. What he should be looking at are the attendance numbers of the past few years and how more teams have gotten more stable in accordance with that.

If expansion is going into cities who will get 20,000 a game (Toronto, Seattle, etc) than why not? Some cities can support a team and will be successful. All MLS has to do is find them...

 

Lol.

 

No offense to my mullet wearing breatheren to the north, but I have NEVER read anything written in a Canadaian newspaper that ever even remotely resembled an intellegent piece. Every single story I read is a rah-rah Canada story that distorts facts and statistics to favor their argument that MLS "needs" to expand into Canada as much as possible. I even read an article by Cathal Kelly (I think that's his name) that said it was the moral obligation of MLS to develop the Canadian national team.

My advice to everyone....never ever even bother to read anything that generates from Canada.

 

Yeah, I'm sure nobody would take offense to that bizarre and moronic sweeping statement. Nice one.

 

The first average attendance in 1996 was based on a lot of double headers I heard

 

This guy is not good with facts, is he?

Accurate but incomplete since both the teams are playing most of their games in temporary stadiums that hold almost exactly the average amount that they drew. The author might have mentioned that.

Rather than wonder the writer might check out the $100 million deal with adidas, the multiple shirt sponsors, the TV deals, etc. Or you don't have to wonder. The last four expansion teams have netted the league about $40 million but that was over the last 4 years. Forbes says the total revenue for the league last year was $165 million, $23 million of that from the TV rights. Expansion fees would seem to be a small part of that total revenue.

The Cup was last spring with two MLS teams which both made it to the semifinals. The Champions' League group stage is not over yet and one MLS team has not been eliminated.

Beckham has been with the Galaxy for 1.5 seasons, not two. He joined the team in July of 2007. The Galaxy have only had 48 league games since Beckham joined the team.

 

Repped.

Someone needs the forward this to the moron who wrote the column.

I mean at least try to get your facts right.

 

^The facts are pretty accurate, its just the spin is negative. That's much of the problem with the MLS, all the numbers seem to have an asterisk beside them. You can make excuses about temporary stadiums, beckham missing half a season, etc... but the facts stand.

I don't agree that MLS needs Montreal, more than Montreal needs MLS. The USL is in a prisoners dilemma right now. If all the best francises stay it can will remain healthy, but with each one that leaves the league is heavily diminshed. If Montreal were to stay in the USL, it only means that Portland and Vancouver have a better chance of getting an expansion spot, which hurts Montreal ... so in turn they need to make the jump themselves.

*ok true, its not a real 'prisoners dilemma' as they all know what the other is doing, but you get the idea

 

Comparing MLS attendance to 1996 is like comparing any pro team attendance average to opening day.

1996 was "opening day" for the league.

 

The argument I've heard isn't MLS as a whole, but rather that TFC should help the Canadian national team. Most of this comes because TFC brands itself as being very 'pro-canadian' (look at their colours and crest), but many of the followers of the National Team are very critical of how little Canadian content the club has. Of the three Canadian pro teams, TFC had the lowest percentage of Canadian players this year. What adds fuel to the fire is how badly the Canadian national team is doing in the World Cup Qualifications.

 

Picturing Major League Soccer at BC Place
[SIZE=-1]Vancouver Sun, Canada

You guys make a big deal out the article. The writer found out that only Vancouver is a strong candidate for expansion.
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Where does it say that?

 

It doesn't have to say it. Vancouver is the front runner.Steven Nash wants a team in Vancouver, they have a brand new redesigned stadium to boot.

 

Ah, so it's your opinion and you have a pretty picture to back it up.

Just checking.

 

They are consistent. Montreal has been doing this spiel for quite a while now. It's become pretty predictable and boring.

Just another gambit by Saputo (with his writer buddies) to get the expansion fee lowered by MLS. All he really cares about. Just some spin if MLS actually calls his bluff and tells him to shove it.

Been telling you guys for quite some time and it is true.

Saputo doesn't want to pay the expansion, and he isn't sure Montreal will support an MLS team well enough. Facts.

 

But there are people out there who aren't so humorless that they don't recognize that hyperbole is often used for effect.

Anyway, until the poster is proven wrong, his advice is well taken.

 

Although I think MLS can benefit from further Canadian expansion, I don't think it needs to expand in Canada. Cathal Kelly is also a questionable source. That said, what do you expect Canadian newspapers to do? Present negative slants on Canadian expansion? Not likely.

Besides, if you want to read "rah rah" stories, try viewing the US media on any topic from an outside perspective. You'd think the entire world ends at the US border.

 

Your post is honest; most Canadians deny the element of Canadian nationalism inherent in Toronto's presentation. That very nationalistic appeal fuels interest in the team. That, of course, is also denied.

Anyway, Toronto does have little Canadian content. That's why I find it so pathetic that so many people in Canada prefer the piggy-backing, scrounging-for-scraps that goes with being in MLS to a Canadian league.

 

Not really.

Large metropolitan papers in the US are known for their international coverage. I would put the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Miami Herald and The LA Times against any paper in Canada, including the Globe and Mail.

Throw in The Boston Globe and The Chicago Tribune.

And regional papers concentrate on regional stories.

 

I doubt you and I will see eye to eye on the piggybacking thing. I'd agree with you if it was a choice between MLS and an existing Canadian league. Surely you can see the difference between that and the reality, though?

As an aside, isn't it a little insulting to your own league to characterize Canadian teams as "scrounging for scraps" by joining MLS? Like TFC is somehow just slumming with American teams until something better comes along?

 

Really all that needs to be said.

 

I'm definitely not trying to argue with you, but I specifically remember reading a column from him that stated it was the duty of both MLS and US Soccer to improve the Canadian national team. He cited that MLS and US Soccer had an obligation to help the Canadian federation find corporate sponsors and build up the overall quality of the Canadian player.

The world doesn't end at the U.S. border? Are you sure?

Of course I would expect a Canadian newspaper to have a pro Canadian slant. It would be one thing to speak on the positive aspects of a particular Canadian bid. It's an entirely different thing to skew facts and make up other facts completely in order to denegrate the bids of competing cities.

Of course I've read news stories in U.S. publications that are pro-Portland or pro-St. Louis or what have you. The difference being, those U.S. based publications don't set out to besmirch the other bids with twisted "reporting" and shoddy research. They simply laud the pros of their particular cities bid.

 

I'd like to see you back up this with actual examples.

The Gazette column is clearly garbage. I actually deconstructed it on one well-read Canadian blog site I write for.
http://neatesager.blogspot.com/2008/11/fjm-on-usl-v-mls-crap.html

But, to make a sweeping statement that all writing from Canada that relates to MLS is flawed is asinine. TFC has six guys that regularly cover the team in print or on major web sites. That's pretty good coverage, better than most U.S. teams.

 

I realize that you recognize no other choice and, as such, I can understand your enthusiasm for MLS.

I think that you may have misunderstood me, however, on the other matter. My intent was not to deride MLS at all but to characterize the limited number of openings for Canadian players. That's what I meant by "scraps."

That is where MLS finds itself on a slippery slope. Allowances for Canadian players on Canadian teams will have the effect of having one set of teams playing by a different set of rules. To consider American players as "internationals" on Canadian teams would also be controversial because Americans, especially the players, consider MLS to be their league. Allowing Canadians to be considered domestic players in the US is not possible because American law prohibits such an arrangement.

Sure, I suppose I should be grateful that a team in Canada employs Marvell Wynne. But I can't help but snicker when I consider that for which you guys are willling to settle. You'd be happy with three teams in MLS? That's pathetic. You end up with very few opportunities for your players and the US ends up with two less teams.

See, my attitude is only "screw Canada" as far as MLS is concerned. We allowed a Canadian team because it was going to be a one-off, "our Monaco." Before you knew it, Canadian cities were competing with American cities for spots. That is screwed up, especially when one considers the limitations that would be imposed on Canadian teams.

So, to me it's not a question of Vancouver or Atlanta, Montreal or Saint Louis. It's about making room for all of the cities / teams by encouraging Canadians to do what we've done. That way you can have as many Canadians on your teams as you want.

Everyone's a winner.

In the meantime I don't like the fact that Canadian cities are competing with American cities for spots in MLS. I don't want Panamanian or Venezuelan teams in Colombia's Dimayor, either.

There is no guarantee that Vancouver or Montreal will be selected. I don't doubt that their bids are strong but the possibility exists that they will not be selected. Is Canadian soccer so down on its own country that it will allow its future to be decided during conference calls among a bunch of Americans and the board of governors of the USSF?