I've been thinking about the Revs CCC fiasco, and the on-going embarassment that is Nick Sackowitz & the Metros & the bright future for the Galaxy. I've ranked each of the 10 MLS squads based on on-field performance, front office management, community support, etc. Rankings are on a scale of 1-10. Here goes: 1. LA Galaxy 7.8. Fresh off the MLS Cup and moving into a brand spanking new stadium that's the envy of the league. Flagship franchise of MLS. Only thing holding back the Galaxy from a higher score is the hard MLS salary cap that will result in a dismantling of the squade in a year or two & the overall youth of MLS itself. 2. Columbus Crew 7.2. Steadiest franchise & Open Cup holders. MLS' biggest star is here (sorry Landon) in Brian McBride. This is the model small-market franchise. Can it be repeated somewhere in OK and/or Rochester? 3. Dallas Burn 5.4. Moving up w/ Hunt taking over. Though, hard to say which direction the team may move in the future. If the team can get a SSS underway in the next 6 months, the temporary move to the HS may be genius. Also, the team plays a good style of soccer with Kreis leading the way. 4. KC Wizards 5.1. Hunt's personal involvement is making a real difference for this franchise. Setting a record for season tickets, this team is building a foundation of growth. Somewhere down the line, a SSS is going to be needed. 5. Colorado Rapids 5.0. Perhaps the most vanilla-flavored franchise in MLS over the years. Doubtful the team will match last year's attendance records, but like KC, they seem to be building a solid foundation of support in a sports-crazed city. This team needs a run at the Cup title or Open Cup. 6. DC United 4.7. I think the spector of the Expos is haunting this team. However, the Hudson-led lads could bring a return of the golden era on the pitch. I like the combination of youth and experience. Solid news on the SSS front would be a huge plus. 7. New England Revolution 4.2. I had them in Crew territory, until the CCC fiasco & handling of TT salary. I believe this is team that will not accept success. Even with an attractive slate of matches this year, New England sheeple, er fans may ask for razor giveaway night. 8. San Jose Earthquakes 4.1. Donovan & Agoos & other players help rating a lot. So does trading Sharks for Uncle Phil. Some evidence of front office solidifying & rumors of actual marketing. Could be a long season on field, but events like CCC could spice things up. Silicon Valley economy doldrums will be tough to overcome. Budget cuts could spell demise of SJSU football program, leaving the 'Quakes as mice in charge of cheese. Also, evidence of better cooperation & marketing w/ Cyber Rays. 9. Chicago Fire 3.6. I wanted to put the Revs here, but couldn't do it. Team is gutted, playing on a hideous carpet in far out 'burbs. Will be moving to Soldier Field, soon - mixed blessing . Wilt & Nowak in front office is saving grace. Fire may turn it around in a hurry. 10. MetroStars 3.1. Worst organization. Team does have Pope, Mathis & perhaps Balboa can return to form. But annual gutting of squad was carried out, so fans have no loyalty. Moving to plastic turf which should worsen the Meadowlands ambience. However, this team could be as big as the Cosmos used to be if they ever get the Harrison thing built and running.
I see no difference between the F*re and Burn, whether it be in talent, facilities. F*re have the upper-hand with mgt., fanbase. Your rankings are jacked.
10. MetroStars 3.1. Worst organization. Team does have Pope, Mathis & perhaps Balboa can return to form. But annual gutting of squad was carried out, so fans have no loyalty. Moving to plastic turf which should worsen the Meadowlands ambience. However, this team could be as big as the Cosmos used to be if they ever get the Harrison thing built and running. No Loyalty? Try tellong that tho the multitudes at Nathan Hales earlier in the month. Loyalty is on of the few thing we have beeotch
Not so. While fellating Peter Wilt is something of a pastime on BigSoccer, most Burn fans would take Andy Swift over him any day of the week. They only sing when they're winning.
Yeah, that was poorly worded. The intent of the comment has to do w/ the lack of continuity of players & coaches on the team. In that vein, I also should have mentioned Bradley as a positive for the Metros.
I think that the fire have to be ranked better, they have great fans and the team is not a toilet in quality... i think
Yeah Right? i think the ranks at the top are bs. The revs are still the second best team in the league. no matter how they handled TT's contract. it's done and over with.
Re: Yeah Right? he was referring to the overall organization, not just where they finished last year. i give credit to the initial poster for making such an attempt, and leaving himself open to the typically immature abuse which he has received, rather than any enlightened counter-arguments.
Sorry, but Hunt has made it clear that no SSS is going to be in KC. He has larger dreams of filling up Arrowhead. The only difference between Arrowhead and a SSS is that a SSS is smaller, or some may put a positive spin on it and say more intimate.
Hmm, well I must respectfully disagree if you are going to use those criteria. DC United's front office and community support are second to none. Winning 3 MLS Cups and numerous other trophies (about as many as the rest of MLS combined) clearly make it the dominant team. The only category that DC United doesn't finish in is current team performance. But even then, the pathetic injury-riddled and forward-less team of last season finished only 2 wins away from winning the Eastern Conference. So the "on-field performance" categories must all be very very close. You need to define the time frame for your criteria as well. While I doubt you'll get any argument on the front office management of the Metros being the worst historically, I do think that if you are looking at the current situation they must be doing pretty well, because Sakowicz lured the best coach in MLS--Bob Bradley--to New Jersey, and gave him carte blanche to build his team. So if you're considering current situations, they should be near the top on that one. As for Community Support, I think you're a bit naive. The most support over the years has clearly been shown by the DC United and New England Revolution fans, with the Chicago Fire fans probably in third. Clearly you show that you don't know much about the game East of the Mississippi. These teams always have good attendances, even when the team sucks. The Supporters groups--particularly in DC--are monstrously large and active. Furthermore, you're adding owner commitment and stadia funding into the "front office management" category, but obviously the management has absolutely no control over the angel investors. I think you need to add a category to justify your rationale. Or, you need to clarify what "etc." means. Because judging by your own criteria, those rankings do not jive. -Tron
This is truly one of the most asinine discussions I've ever seen here. "Revolt"'s numerical ratings lack scale, reference, and standards. It seems to be a list of teams ordered by his own misinformed perspective on various, and different, components of teams-- for some, it's front office, for others, players, yet others are evaluated based on fans-- and even within those categories, different factors are mentioned but not compared in relation to each other. This is a totally arbitrary list. To debate the "ranking" is to waste your time.
Clearly. Clearly DigitalTron is taking a historical frame of reference. Clearly DigitalTron is living on the dying glow of an ashen ember. Clearly love is blinding. Clearly a franchise that lost 5000 fans per game last year isn't doing the job in the front office. Clearly it should be mentioned that dc is minus 36 on goal differential the most recent three seasons, hardly the stuff of clear dominance. Clearly dc is the most downtrodden of MLS teams. Instead of "downtrodden" I first thought of "roller coaster", but that imples an up after a down. Except that everyone in the East was arguably worse than everyone in the West. "East Champ" was analogous to "King Turd of the Dungheap" last year. NE was the only team that didn't puke on themselves down the stretch. Also of note is that dc finished fully 19 points behind the Shield winner over a short 28-game season and also owned MLS' worst goal differential. Other than those things, yeah, on-field performance is close... Tron is right about one thing, The ratings scale offered seems to contain both historical and current views with erring consistency. KC has increased attendance 3 straight seasons year over year and is likely to do so again in 2003. CLB can be that good if Cunningham can learn to combine with McBride. Busch is solid. DAL is underrated. Kreis is the MLS scoring leader by June. Yes, they are on turf in a HS stadium. It's still better than the Cotton Bowl and the future is being worked out right now. CHI seems to be completely underrated - did you see any of their end of season games?!? Best atmosphere in MLS history IMO. It's the only one approaching a big college home football saturday atmosphere. Bob Bradley has to worth a full point more on reputation alone for MET. Colorado is better on field and off than people think. They criminally underperformed last year. The Champs, LA, in a pristine Victoria Street might be up to this ranking. Off-field is solid. Still, if this year's asinine playoff structure existed last year, LA doesn't make the Semis much less the final. Who scores if Ruiz does not? Nobody. Soph jinx? It's already been mentioned of Twellman. Also of note on-field will be the 8 game roadie to start the season. That could be enough to put LA in a 10-point hole in the competitive West.
All any fan can do is really tell how they feel about their own team. When I lived in Dallas, I was happy with the FO, but I expected the team to play extremely well but lose in the playoffs. I enjoyed myself and considered it a long movie. Now that I live in LA, I can honestly say that I am living in America's version of soccer heaven. My championship team from last year is unchanged with MORE depth added. Sigi finally showed the critics that he's capable of assembling a young team and staying within cap. As for Ruiz? It'll be tough without him in 2004. But please remember, we got to MLS Cup in 2001 without him and lost to a red-hot SJ team by a golden goal. LA has proved over MLS's history to be a an above average team and has never had a bad year... kinda like Dallas but with hardware. Oh yeah, did I mention that they're building a small place to play in? Tommy Mack www.lariotsquad.net
Re: Re: Overall ranking of the MLS teams Hmmm, babelfish couldn't handle that one. I got an answer involving a suitcase, a fish and some used dental floss.
Just read where the possibility of "expanding" Dragon Stadium to 12,000 and playing night games might not happen leaving you with 7,500 seats at day games with no beer. So your GM CHOOSES to leave a sure thing at the Cotton Bowl to put the Burn in some sort of bad high school stadium purgatory while relying on a pipe dream that a second suburb will agree to building a SSS in the next year? Yea, I guess he should be up for Executive of the Year
How Columbus Crew ca. DC United's dynasty of you. Chris Albright, if Meola's in goal. Fish, however, is a battle-hardened veteran. The past two years, LA has overcome 10+ point deficits to win the division.
Cutting through your vitruolic spew, this is what's left pertaining to what I wrote. I agree with this much, because that was my point! One can rate things based upon a 'snap shot' view, or a 'time frame' view, but he seems to pick and choose his view to cobble together a justification for his personal preference. His preference is fine, but the 'objective' and 'analytical' coating he places on top of it is quite misleading. Wizardscharter, if one looks at performance in the 'time frame' (or historical) view that you mentioned, then yes, it is clear that DC United is the dominant team. If one looks at the 'snap shot' view, then no, DC United is not the dominant team, but, they must be very close to New England as only 6 points separated the two, and neither won any hardware (except the Revolution's Eastern Conference trophy, which I think does have a trophy, but I'm not 100% sure). So if the performance only pertains to last season, it must be a minor part of the evaluation, because last season was by far the most parity MLS has ever seen. In fact, in the West--which was superior to the East last season--the last place team made the playoffs and faced the best record in MLS. It went to a game 3 final, and going into it the last place Wizards held a goal differential advantage over the Supporter's Shield winners and eventual MLS Champions LA Galaxy. If that's not parity, what is? Similarly, in the East, the top and bottom teams were separated by a mere 2 victory (6 point) differential. I believe that's a new MLS record. And despite the West being better than the East, the MLS final was an extremely close 1 goal overtime game. Thus, the 'snap shot' view must reflect a close rankings of all 10 teams. Looking at the other factors, such as attendance, the numbers are not as close. Again, while DC United's attendance went down last season, I believe it has had a higher attendance than KC every single year, so no matter how you look at it, DC United's attendance is better. But IMHO, that's not the proper measure of front office success, as the metropolitan areas of DC and KC are nowhere close to one another size-wise. I laud KC's recent trend of increasing attendances and particularly Lamar Hunt's drive to increase Crusaders who have vaulted KC's season ticket drive into uncharted waters. That's great stuff! But let's give credit where credit is due. DC United has had outstanding attendance every year given it's market. The size, devotion and enthusiasm that the DC United supporters groups generate is at least as good as any in MLS. Part of this comes from the DC United front office going to such lengths to grow those groups. How many MLS front offices have outings every year where the Coach sits down with the fans openly and answers their questions for hours on end? That makes a fan double his/her devotion to the club. How many MLS front offices blaze trails to support the local community via charity events and heavy investment into the local youth soccer scene? DC United sponsors 12 different Youth Teams--6 of which are girls teams. This is commitment to the community, which has been rewarded in part by increased attendances. If Kevin Payne and Stephen Zack had been in Tampa Bay, I am confident that they would have motivated the huge local youth soccer community to attend games, and the Mutinly would have averaged 15-17k per game. With thos numbers I doubt they would have been contracted. The most important thing is that MLS is gaining forward momentum on almost every front. Each team is growing attendance and exposure. This bodes well for MLS. -Tron
You're making the mistaken assumption that all of this was Swift's doing. He has a new set of bosses now.