MLS announces new format for 2020 SuperDraft https://www.prosoccerusa.com/mls/mls-superdraft-2020-new-format/ MLS, union working on CBA that will be crucial to the league's future https://www.dispatch.com/sports/201...on-cba-that-will-be-crucial-to-leagues-future The Changing MLS Transfer Market https://ussoccerplayers.com/2019/12/the-changing-mls-transfer-market.html Union owner Jay Sugarman pleased with team’s best season, and wants more https://www.inquirer.com/soccer/phi...arman-ernst-tanner-marco-fabian-20191213.html Peter Vermes says Alan Pulido deal ushers in new era for Sporting KC https://www.sportingkc.com/post/201...s-alan-pulido-deal-ushers-new-era-sporting-kc MLS refereeing legend Esse Baharmast awarded USSF's Warner Frickler Builder Award https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019...t-awarded-ussfs-warner-frickler-builder-award
I didn’t follow Philly but I thought Fabián was bringing in fans. Too bad it didn’t work out for him...
FWIW, the share of Latinos in the Philly area who are Mexican is really low compared to similar sized cities.
He hardly ever played with multiple injuries or suspensions and I don't think he brought in any fans. The team winning is what spiked attendance at the end of the season as they finished with six or seven straight sellouts. I'm starting to believe the league is past big name signings driving attendance and at least for older teams and just fielding a winner.
I believe you are right. Fans no longer flock to stadiums to watch stars. I’m wondering if two teams were to sign Messi -Ronaldo for example , what would happen? Other than those two names though I’m assuming fans care about wins not just names.
Expansion teams that have started from scratch might still care because they don't have any history of losing but eventually it comes down to winning.
What would happen? whey would sell out NY, LA and every other city. I understand your point, MLS is for sure getting stronger in team´s names instead of players names. But tp players are still very important, Zlatan was a huge draw everywhere, and I can gurantee Griezmann itself could sell 1,000 season tickets in Miami alone. Now, Fabian was never a big draw, even mexicans dont care a lot about him
Fabian aside, my point is Messi Ronaldo would draw fans. Not sure how Rooney’s name did across the league but as time passes though and MLS becomes stronger with more sophisticated fans , I for one don’t think people care all that much about seeing over 33-35’s overpaid superstars all that much anymore.
I agree with your point, as I said in my post team´s are getting better at selling themselves instead of selling players. However we still can´t underestimate what top name players can draw. And that is not to undermine MLS, top names draw everywhere in the world. Even top teams like PSG sign Beckham every once in a while because the draw is so attractive.
Beckham was still younger when he came over and he was a big name draw. He was also the first superstar to come over since the earlier days of he league when of DonadonI, Campos , Etcheverry and Valderrama came to MLS. I personally loved a younger Drogba, Pirlo , Nesta and Schweinsteiger but I didn’t go out of my way to purposely go and watch them. To me anyway, I thought they were all washed up when they came over. I believe many fans felt/feel the same way.
"Many" fans maybe, but if you think Pirlo, Lampard, Henry or Schweinsteiger didn't sell tickets by themselves then you are ignoring reality. As I said it´s less now. Nani didn´t draw anything for Orlando, but Kaka did. Top name players still draw and draw big, that is undeniable.
But for a how long of a period did their names draw fans? One or two seasons? I met Prilo and Nesta and spoke to both of them in Italian but neither myself or any Italian-Americans or Italian based fans I know living in the Bay Area went out of our way to watch them when they both came to San Jose. I mean other than the fans who already had season tickets or give aways like I had. Both Pirlo and Villa even took off at halftime of one game I forget which one it was. Then I saw on facebook they went sightseeing in San Francisco.
I think this was true but since Atlanta came along....not so much anymore. Rooney changed the franchise into a winner but put him on FC Cincinnati....Meh. Just look at Schweinstieiger last year, he's didn't move the needle really.
Some known players like Wayne Rooney are good for the overall social media footprint of the league. When he was in DC, it was remarked that Rooney had over 17 million Twitter followers. His number was higher than a number of other DC sports professionals combined. Ovechkin (Capitals)--for example-- has 2.68 million.
Same with Seattle. They never had a superstar and they’ve drawn 35-40k since they came into the league.
Yeah I remember him at Arsenal. He didn’t have the star name Kaká , Pirlo , Henry or Schweinsteiger had though. He was mostly injured in their inaugural season and traded to Chicago in the middle of the following year. I’m pretty sure Seattle will have drawn the same attendance numbers if he wasn’t on their team. They’ve maintained great attendance without any superstars so for them anyway, signing a big name to attract the fans is not needed.
I'm not sure that Basti really did a whole lot on his own in Chicago. The team did well in attendance in 2017 but it coincided with their first winning team in years and a big splash in their marketing budget that season.
He was never a big name foreign superstar like Drogba, Pirlo , Lampard, Henry or Schweinsteiger which was the premise of my initial argument. I also don’t think he drew in the that many fans for Seattle as they were drawing the same amount of fans more or less, before he got there and after he left. Their attendance did seem to grow a little while Dempsey was in the team even though he wasn't really featured in his first and last seasons playing in only 12 games in 2013 and 17 in 2018. 2009-30,943 2010 36,173 2011 -38,496 2012 -43,144 2013-44,038 2014 -43,734 2015-44,245 2016 -42,636 2017- 43,666 2018-40,641 2019-40,247