How many teams in your A league, who are the main ones, and how many other leagues are there ? Over here the top two of the Championship, the league below our main Premiership, the top two go up automatically and then the next four play off for the final place in the Premiership. So it's three that go down and three that go up, which is basically how our leagues work. How does it work over there ? How many games a season, and what cup competitions do you have ? What's the atmosphere like at games ? I ask this because of the geography of the USA where I assume that away fans will be limited in their numbers. Do LA Galaxy fans go with lots of flags and banners ? Is the stadium anything like what you find in Europe in places like AC Milan where you get the main stand totally draped in flags and banners by the hardcore supporters ? Finally for now, how do you expect to attract the very best players in the world and compete with Europe when there is a pay structure in place ? How does this pay structure work ! Thanks a lot ! Got so much more to ask but that'll have to do for now. I know it's probably a pain to answer all these very basic questions and I hope I don't offend anyone for asking such basic stuff, but I don't know of any of my friends that has a clue. We know football in the USA is growing and growing and we can all see the massive improvement in your national team, especially in their amazing fitness levels, but after that not much else is known - sorry..., Slim.
Re: So, Tell Me..., The league here is structured along the line of other american sports leagues, rather than European soccer leagues. There are 13 teams in the top league (MLS). The top 8 teams make it to the playoffs which determines the league champion. There is a second division but it is not connected with MLS and there is no relegation or promotion. The main team is the LA Galaxy of course. There are other teams, but I can't remember their names at the moment.
Re: So, Tell Me..., The season is 30 games long. In addition to the MLS cup (the champion) there is the US Open cup which is similar to the FA cup. It's a very old competition but doesn't get a lot of attention. The atmosphere at the stadiums is more sedate than in Europe. We do have supporters groups but they make up a smaller share of the fans. As for attracting the very best players, it won't happen soon. The pay structure is complicated to say the least. The basic idea is that there is a salary cap along with some exceptions. The salary cap, which applies to the 18 "senior" players on the roster, is somewhere around $2.3 million. Obviously this isn't going to get us the best players in the world. In addition, you are allowed to have a "designated player" who can be paid anything but only counts for $400,000 against the cap. In our case, David Beckham. There are also pots of money called "allocations" which can be used to increase the salary cap or buy down a player's cap number.
Re: So, Tell Me..., Slim, As far as away fans, you are basically right that because the teams are mostly spread out across the country, you will rarely see fans travel to away matches. However..... Here in L.A., in addition to the Galaxy, is another MLS side (sort of) called Chivas USA, and they play their home games at the Home Depot Center, just like the Galaxy. Needless to say, when it's a Galaxy home game, Chivas brings fans, and when it's a Chivas home game, the Galaxy fans show up in force. The atmosphere is great at those events. Aside from Galaxy-Chivas, sometimes a small group of fans will travel to relatively close matches like Houston-Dallas or Columbus-Chicago. In fact, a sizeable (100 fans?) group of Chicago fans made the 7 hour drive to Toronto last weekend to see their team. So it's growing, slowly.... I don't have the strength to explain the league salary structure though... Hope this helps. Let us know if you come to a match!
Re: So, Tell Me..., The supporters here groups even go further than that sometimes... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pNWXN9NoDE
Re: So, Tell Me..., Without spending an hour to type it up, try going here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Soccer Its a decent summary. Here is a typical thursday night game (give or take):
Re: So, Tell Me..., Hey guys, thanks a lot for all your reply's, thanks. I'll have to read them a few times as some of the info is way different to how it's done over here and I need some sleep! The stadium looks really fantastic though and I have to say that I really didn't expect it to be that good or to be that full ! I'll have to get some sleep now before I collapse at the keyboard but i'll have a better read tomorrow. Goodnight everyone. Slim.
Re: So, Tell Me..., In the time it took me to write this there were a whole bunch of replies which answered your questions, but here you go anyway... Our Top Division is MLS (Major League Soccer), and there are currently 13 clubs, which will probably be expanded over the next few years. For the complete MLS story go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Soccer American sport does not have relegation or promotion in any form, mainly because of the way the leagues are structured. Though they could implement it and have a single table in the future. Our Second & Third division is the USL 1 & 2(united soccer leagues 1st & second division) For more info on these go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Soccer_Leagues 30 games in league play, other cup competitions include: US Open Cup (US equivalent to the FA cup) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Open_Cup CONCACAF Champions Cup (regional tournament) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CONCACAF_Champions'_Cup and the SuperLiga (new tournament, supposed to be our champions league) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_SuperLiga Atmosphere historically is better in some cities than others, some great ones are Los Angeles, Toronto, DC, and Houston. As far as competing with the larger clubs in europe, we just don't yet. We are more equivalent to the smaller European leagues as far as play goes. Keep in mind though that we are only a 12 year old league, some 90 years behind others, and we are making great progress. Hope this helps... Mike
Re: So, Tell Me..., That's great Mike, I'll check out these links today when I'm sat at work - thanks a lot. Don't worry I won't be in trouble as I work for the family ! The big plus with having such a complex and restrictive wage structure is that your national team will have plenty of players to choose from. In England the accusation is often made that the foreign players stop the home grown lads getting through, this excuse comes out especially after they lose the World Cup or European Champioships ( Haha Forza Italia ! ). There is some truth in this but then you can't have everything in life. Another good point though is the fact that by capping wages that the club has to pay means that ticket prices won't have to be so high and keep going up in order to help balance the books. I take it that this is the case ? Agents over here are amongst some of the most hated people around as they make incredible sums of money by doing very little and there are a great deal of questions being asked as to how they do it. At the moment there is a massive enquiry into these matters. So I guess having a restriction keeps football, " Real " but then it hinders what you can attract from the rest of the world as it's so hard for you to compete with the immense wages being paid in Europe. A possible change may be to relax this pay structure to the point where the gap isn't so big, whilst at the same time trying to avoid these problems. One thing that really does surprise me is the fact that your league is only 12 years old, which is something that I would never have imagined. So what exactly was there before this ? So, just how big is football in the USA ? Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to answer. Slim.
Re: So, Tell Me..., let me tell you that I have a better pulse on the sports popularity in the US than 90 percent of other big soccer posters out there. the fact is, there are tons of people interested in soccer in the US. all you need to do is look at the attendence when clubs such as barcelona and man U have come to visit. and day to day, at least in S. california, soccer is one of the most played sports, not for people up to 12 years old like it used to be, but up to 25 years old. it is more and more common to see european games on TV at bars, as well as MLS. it is just the matter of MLS winning the respect of these soccer fans, because everyone wants to watch their sport at the highest level. so MLS is at an OK level right now, especially in LA, Toronto, Chicago, Houston, and maybe Dallas or Colorado. But the truth is expect to be underwhelmed if you are waiting for a european like fan base here.
Quality Of Football At Galaxy ? Hi everyone, hope you are all well. So what's the standard of football actually like at Galaxy and beyond and how does it compare to say the English Premiership or Serie A in Italy ? The big four aside of Arsenal, Man UTD, Liverpool and Chelsea, the actual, " Quality " of football over here isn't any where near to that of say Serie A or La Liga in Spain, but the pace is a lot quicker and overall the league is more physical, so even though there are quite a few school boy errors, especially from teams in the mid to lower positions of the league, the games over a season are exciting and the atmosphere at games is great. The introduction of foreign coach's has seen clubs improving no end, Tottenham especially have played some really lovely football this year. Obviously you don't need to be a foreign coach to do this but they do have a more natural instinct to want to play attractive, attacking football, in my opinion. What stops Tottenham and others breaking into this so called, " Big Four " is only money, which is a great, great shame as there is a great divide now between these big four clubs and all the rest. Outside of these four clubs there is absolutely no chance of any other team winning the Premiership League title anytime soon unless they come into big, big money, and even then the race for the title of late has only been between Man UTD and Chelsea, as Arsenal are rebuilding and Liverpool always hold up the rear and are a long way off this pace. Before this it was between Arsenal and Man UTD. Taking that last Champions League spot away from one of these four clubs is a massive, massive achievement, never mind actually winning the race for the title. If this happens then it's usually as a result of one of these clubs being in crisis, rather than one of the other clubs actually being better over the entire season, as these big four clubs have bigger and better squads and a much better, much more solid infrastructure. Although this is probably the case in many leagues, the problem here is that the divide is the result of the money that has come in from all the clubs being bought out by the super rich, and so now the gulf is bigger than ever. So the actual overall passing ability, the level of one touch quick passing, the movement and the overall skill level is not as high in the Premiership as compared to the best in Europe, but the, " Game " itself is end to end stuff on the whole. Where would you say Galaxy and the other top teams would fit into this ? English people like to brag now how the Premiership is the best league in the world at the moment, but that simply isn't the case, it's still Italy or Spain. Yes, for sure it's where the money is right now but then money certainly isn't everything. A fact that is always pointed out by the non biassed commentators who remark that the English national team never win anything, and never look like doing so. So if you can get the balance right in the US so that you can attract the best the world has to offer, whilst at the same time stopping from this kind of situation arrising, then I think it will be better for football as a whole in the long run. Not easy i know, but then the best things in life never are. Thanks. Slim.
Re: So, Tell Me..., Slim, our stadium, the Home Depot Center, seats 27,000 fans and a good number of times we sell out. When the league started we used to play at the fabled Rose Bowl in Pasadena that seats 100,000. We could pack 70-80k on some big games, but most of the time an attendance of 15,000 would look embarrassing inside of a big huge stadium. The team ultimately moved and built its own stadium since we were renting the big one and the team didnt make much profit. Prices are starting to go up. For example a nice beer will cost you $12.50 here now (or is it $10.50).
Re: Quality Of Football At Galaxy ? Slim, we could debate the quality of play here in MLS but one thing is certain, its getting better and better. You quickest way to see an MLS game and make your own comparisons is go to the torrent thread here... https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=148998&page=18 and find a match you might be interested in (la galaxy?) and download the torrent and watch the game. if you dont know about torrents, do a google search on a program like "utorrent", download it (its free) and then click the torrent link in that message threead link above and find a game you like, click the specific link they have for the game and if you have broadband internet, should take 1-4 hours approx to download a match. if you have dial up, forget about it. Oh, and if you live in Japan with thweir high speed internet, it should take 5 minutes to download a 700mb AVI video file
Re: So, Tell Me..., How much How much for a not so nice beer then . Is this because it's LA prices ? With 27000 fans the atmosphere must be good though ??? Are American fans quiet or more the screaming type ? Do you guys have songs for each player and sing them during the game as they do over here ? Thanks for taking the time to reply mate. Slim.
Re: Quality Of Football At Galaxy ? Perfect Shirt ! Thanks a lot mate. I guess my next few nights entertainment are taken care of then !!! Cheers. Slim.
Re: So, Tell Me..., Yeah the atmosphere is fantastic thanks in large part to the L.A. Riot Squad without them, the place wouldnt be as fun.
Re: Quality Of Football At Galaxy ? Slim, Obviously the level of play in MLS doesn't match the top leagues in the world. I think the best MLS teams could compete with the best teams from the second "tier" leagues in any one game (or even some of the lower-table teams in the premier leagues). But MLS has nowhere near the depth of any of these leagues, and over a 38-game schedule (along with cup compititions, etc.) they'd have trouble b/c the level of talent from the starting 11 to the bench and reserve players drops precipitiously. Only time, and the steady growth that comes with it, will change that. Anyone who has been following MLS since it's inception already knows how much play has improved since those early days, so the future looks bright. Two other factors to consider for MLS quality-of-play are the weather conditions and travel. We play thru the summer months, so the heat and humidity can really slow games down. And the U.S. is a big country - it's a 5+ hour flight from LA to NY - so road trips can be quite draining. Although the skill level isn't up to premiere levels, MLS is a physically demanding league, and there have been many European players who thought they would coast in this league, only to discover that it's very taxing and if you don't train hard and stay fit, you're going to fail. What MLS does have, that the Premiereship can't offer - is parity. There are no teams that dominate the league year after year. With the salary cap in place, you can't "buy" your way to a championship. The change in level of quality from the first place team to the last place team is so small that there are no easy games. Anyway, that's all just my opinion, but hopefully that tells you a little bit about our league.
Re: So, Tell Me..., What is now the second and third division were the only pro soccer, it was known as the A league. The creation of MLS was part of a deal the US federation made with FIFA, if they held the 1994 World Cup, they would create a Top Flight league.
Re: So, Tell Me..., The atmosphere has gotten worse in our bad seasons actually. Maybe its just me but I notice more and more kids running around not paying attention to the game and distracting everyone else. But on big games like against Chivas the atmosphere picks back up.
justslim, I merged your threads into one thread under a new name. If you have additional questions, feel free to ask them within this thread. Thanks! Topper
Re: So, Tell Me..., To add to this, slim, you might be interested in this page that is a great introduction to American soccer history. There was of course the NASL before MLS, but there were leagues before the NASL... http://www.sover.net/~spectrum/
Wow - thanks a lot, that's very kind of you indeed. And thank you to everyone for taking the time to reply to me. I have loads to watch and lots to read, so thank you all once again. Slim.