Well, I hate this idea, and I’m someone who’s frequently been called a Garber stooge. So it isn’t JUST MLS-bashing; there are legit criticisms here
Ya know, this might be a good place to put a few rounds of the USOC so that teams that crash out in this tournament can still have some games.
I wouldn’t expect Columbus fans to come running into the arms of MLS any time soon. Many of us are still more than a little salty about almost losing our team in a baked-in deal.
Except you won't know which teams they would be unitl a few days before you'd want to play the game. Maybe an Allstar game of players that from teams that didn't make it or something, but very likely just a few weeks off, maybe a training camp and a couple friendlies like the Bundesliga in January.
I sort of like the idea of this, but just think MLS should focus on their own teams first before trying to use other leagues to boost them. I think this is likely to be a poorly received PR failure. Teams with good MLS attendance will have poorly attended games, teams with poor attendance will have non existent or fully pro-LigaMX "crowds." Just like the open cup. it will look bad on tv and no one will watch (just like most of the MLS regular season already). And as others have said, asking folks already shelling out for season tickets to pay for these on the side or increasing season ticket cost and including them might be a bitter pill as well. They should really just push the champions league. .
1. In what way? It's a tournament in the middle of summer that will garner sponsorships and make a lot of money. What exactly is the PR failure? 2. NYCFC-Pumas: 17,000... Seattle-Tigres: 17,000... SKC-Leon: 15,000... Seattle-Santos: 12,000... Leon-Pumas: 10,000.... Final of Seattle-Leon: 24,000... The 2019 final between two Liga MX teams in Houston drew 20,000. The 2019 Campeones Cup in Atlanta between AtlUtd and America drew 40,000. Those seem like pretty solid numbers to me. Will every game be like that? No. But certainly not bad. 3. Liga MX is the most watched soccer league in the USA by a huge margin. Univision is getting huge viewership in the US for Liga MX, Nations League, WCQ, Gold Cup, UCL, etc. 4. 3 spots from the Leagues Cup will qualify for the expanded CCL...so this IS part of the push to grow Champions League. Not trying to say you're wrong but there is a huge groups of viewers here in the US where this will be very very big.
I can't disagree with what you're saying. I don't think those attendance figures are that flattering, though. Those are from semi finals or finals and they are mostly below MLS regular season averages for the given teams. That's exactly what I was saying. A group stage game between Cincy and Necaxa on a Thursday in August is what has me thinking this will be a bust. I think the idea of more USA v Mexico games is a sound one. I'm not sure this particular method is the right way to go. I do think what some others have is accurate, that this further devalues the actual MLS product. I think the MLS product is great. I would tweak a few things, but think the USA league idea of a level playing field for all teams makes for great competition and an "any given Matchday" excitement. I wish they would lean in to that more. This just seems like a gimmick. It may work out. I am very likely to be excited for the Crew game days. I don't know that I'd pay an additional $300 on my season ticket for group stage tickets and a pay as we go knock out round ticket. I really want to like this. I just am not convinced this is the best way forward for the league. But I can certainly see where the owners are likely to make out quite well regardless of the fan reception.
Dang. I was really hoping we could play a home and away series with Tampa Bay Mutiny instead. There is a domestic soccer league with two competitions, and it is called USL, and there's plenty of local sides in said minor league one could support.
How much of that will matter when the tournament takes place in a FIFA window and all of both leagues top players are playing for their national teams? The big plus for me? This would seem to kill any idea of a full merger between the leagues. Also, not sure if anyone else saw this, but Garber stopped just short of saying Las Vegas will get the next expansion team. He said he hopes it happens and happens soon, lol, not very subtle.
Is anyone surprised that Garber has a hard on for Vegas? It's the Next Big NFL Market so of course the wanna be NFL Commish wants to be there. I'm looking forward to venturing out on the the Second Coming of the Mormons, Hookers, and Goats Tour: Angels, Hookers, and National Parks. Oh my.
I see a couple possibilities: The rumor of a league merger was a misconstruing of this plan or This is but a step in that direction