Which Football (soccer) Clubs have the biggest following stateside, both MLS and non-MLS alike? Are European clubs more popular than American ones? thanks in advance.
1. Manchester United 2. Real Madrid 3. Arsenal --- 100. Any MLS Club the euro super clubs are much more popular than MLS clubs here. Typical Americans have some fixation that if their team/league is not the best than it is not worth watching or supporting. Not true of many on this site however. There are tons of people (Me included) that love our MLS club (Real Salt Lake for me) but there are FAR more fans of euro teams that ignore MLS than MLS fans.
Yeah, I more or less agree with this. It pisses me off that people think the MLS is a joke, its not, and then passionately support a team they have never even seen play live. Im not sure which pisses me off more, the MLS haters, or the people whose whole family has been in this country for ages and still doesnt support the national team. Growing up in NY and seeing people who dont even speak Italian supporting Italy over the US makes me sick. First for MLS to get some respect you have to get **************s like Tony Kornheiser referring to the MLS as a "third rate league." That assclown knows nothing about the sport whatsoever. Oh, and he is also a Redskins fan, yuck!!!
Around here we like to call the people who like European football clubs better than American soccer teams, Eurosnobs.
You also have to keep in mind the Mexican clubs. In certain parts of the country, i.e. Texas and California, these are probably the most followed teams. It will be interesting to see how Chivas' involvement in MLS next year draws these fans into our league. My hope is that they come to watch Chivas and learn that these American guys can really play. For me. DC UNITED!!!
yup, i would support the USMNT or WNT any day over a european team, i would even go with any mls team, especially DCU. if you are american, you should definetely support the americans, not the europeans. i agree with the earlier post about not seeing the other teams play live and liking them more-that is totally right. once you see a game (live, in person), in your country, for your country, you get even more pumped up. i love it! after seeing them in person, it makes you want to follow them and know every single player.
I think Americans may have a tendency to jump on the bandwagon of the top teams. However, when it comes to MLS it is important to remember that until last year only 10 American cities had MLS teams. Unfortunately it becomes kind of hard to support one team fairly strongly when you don't have any sort of connection to any of the teams. I think that is one reason why many Americans do not become too attached to specific teams unless they live in a big city or support a local college team.
I don't think the answer is very simple. By following, do you mean someone who passionately follows the club or just someone who wears the ball cap or the jersey? If you're going by people wearing ball caps, the New York Yankees have the biggest following everywhere in the world, including a great many people who don't even know what sport the team plays. And does a season ticket holder count the same as someone who watches a game if they happen on it watching the TV? And how do we count people who list both a MLS and a European team, which would include most of BigSoccer? I remember being in London some years back, talking some guys at the tube station. Every one of them could list what team they supported in every US sport including baseball, football, and basketball. Is that an English thing where you select a team and "follow" them? I'm afraid I just don't get the question.
On what do you base that? I wanna see what the 3 clubs you mentioned would draw playing every other week.
Good point. Additionally, the league is entering its 10th year of existence -- many, including myself, watched and supported teams abroad before MLS existed. MLS faces a unique challenge in American pro sports where the best league in America isn't the highest level of that sport. MLS asks fans to support a league that -- let's be honest -- is a step below the top teams in England, Spain, and Italy. What do people cheer for if not the highest level of play? The home team. And as stated above, when the "home" team is a thousand miles away, feeling connected is tough, even in the age of instant scores and analysis.
To answer the orginal question, I would think that DC United, Metros, LA Galaxy and Columbus Crew (in that order) are the most popular MLS teams. Where they are on the overall list of most popular soccer/futbal teams, I have no idea. I would venture to agree that several high profile Euro teams Like ManU, Madrid and Roma are probably bigger than most MLS teams.
I'm a Yank and I follow Metro zealously, MLS passionately, and the USMNT religiously. Soccer is the only team sport I follow, and I keep up with football news from around the world and catch matches on FSW. I'm drawn to foreign sides with US players, but I'm not a fan of any team outside of MLS generally and Metro specifically. And Metro makes it so hard to be a fan! Imagine going to a ball game in your home town, and your favorite player on the team is the village idiot. He's hopeless, but you're stuck on him!
Well if you go by attendance then: LA Galaxy DC United Chicago Columbus But to be fair, there is no clear "most" popular...an arguement could be made for DC because of its 4 titles.... but it wouldn't be made by a Metro fan like me. Non MLS is probably a close race betwenn ManU, Real Mardid, Club America. But if I had to guess it would be Manchester United easily.
For MLS, going on average attendance alone - since the league's inception, the L.A. Galaxy would be number one. As far as what foreign teams are popular - there's no real way to track that - since they don't play here regularly and we can't measure a specific standard. The occasional tours are often attended by very casual fans curious to see what the fuss is about. What pisses me off, frankly is the youth club system that has been populated by many foreign coaches who think it establishes their "credibility" to slam MLS. One coach (40 years removed from being raised in Wales) told my cousin not to watch MLS games because it would deteriorate his skills and he would learn "bad habits". The coach knew this, of course, by not watching the games. So the kids on the team don't go to see their local MLS club, but can name the top teams in Europe. They don't really follow them, though, they just know their coach likes those teams.
MLS is a third tier league at best. Its not a first class league like Serie or La Liga. Its not a second class league like Portugal or Belgium. That doesn't mean it doesn't have many redeeming qualities and a lot of positives surrounding it.. Listen people need to stop blaming outsiders for MLS's problems. If you want people to stop slagging you off do something to shut them up.
I agree with you. I doubt there are more than 5 European clubs that an average American sports fan can even name. Regular people might get two, Manchester United and Real Madrid. Those two might get some interest from US fans, but the rest are an afterthought that won't ever get beyond FSW. The Mexican teams probably get more attention than any others, but that is only because there are so many Mexicans and Mexican-Americans here. Other Americans could care less about Mexican Soccer. Also, in certain markets the MLS team is the number one soccer draw, DC is one by a long shot, for instance. I suspect Columbus is another, and Real Salt Lake will be. The LA Galaxy would be except for the Mexican influence. Rochester would be another, if they get into MLS.
The most popular clubs in the states are the following (probably close to this order): 1)Club America 2) CD Guadalajara 3)Pumas de UNAM 4)Cruz Azul A Premiership team is probably one of the ten most watched/followed teams in the United States. As anything on bigsoccer, this is based on nothing more than a hunch.
I run a soccer retail store in a soccer rich city...... those three teams sell better than all mls teams combined when it comes to posters, tee shirts, scarves, replica jerseys and all other team related items including videos.
For me, I just have a hard time finding an overseas team to be passionate about (I try with Leicester, since I have a family connection). Attending Crew games is what has made me a big fan of theirs, more than a comparison of quality of play. This has also made me a frustrated fan at half full stadiums at best and fans around me that don't even have a clue of when to cheer, or what is happening. So I am a fan of the European passion, but I'm always a hometown fan, for good or bad.
I honestly don't know whether there are more MLS or non-MLS soccer/football fans in the US. Personally I like DC United and like to watch Man U games on FSW at times. I'm fairly sure that as of right now DC United has the largest fan base in MLS. I'm sure any marginal fans want to see Freddy Adu just like the women's league had marginal fans that wanted to see Mia Hamm. I would not be surprised at all if Chivas USA has the second-largest following in a hurry. But as of right now, I would guess the Metros have the second-largest following thanks to being located in New York. There will probably be a bunch of people interested in Bayer Leverkusen now that the face of US soccer is playing for them.
Well, you do have some information, so you're making more than a wild guess. However, I would think that fans of Mexican and Central American teams are more likely to get their merchandise from back home, if they didn't bring it with them. While your store (which sounds like an awesome place to work, by the way! ) may be merchandising to Americans who've picked a favorite team from watching Champions League on ESPN2 and FSW.
What? Lots of good player come out of Belgium. Lots of young Africans go there. Lots of players get sold from there. They have higher budgets at most of the teams and can attract a higher class of talent. Come on what. Is it some sort of disaster if MLS is not as high a level as Belgium? How can we expect this league to go anywhere if we are not honest with ourselves about where it is now? MLS is not as good as Jupiler League.
Could you please stop trying to ruin every single thread on these boards with your tired crap? Pretty please?