this is ridiculously accurate...just spent a weekend in NYC and there are 8 million people who have no idea there is a team and there is not even a little bit of advertising except the quick 1/16 page article about Angel in the Post on Sunday
Would you pick up something dropped in a Shaw's meat section? Braver man than I I'm not saying the problem is the same in terms of numbers. Obviously the NY metro area is bigger than the Boston metro area. What I'm saying is the problems faced by the teams are similar in some respects. Team that plays in NFL stadium away from the main population center with minimal marketing and poor media presence suffers from attendance woes.
It sounds as if one difference is that the Rev's problem is a fixable one. At least strides can be made with just common sense and vision and an interest on the part of ownership. For example, Dale Arnold on 'EEI is a friend of soccer. His co-host Michael Holley is not particularly a fan, but he is far from hostile to the sport. He seems willing to give it a chance. Have the Rev's made Taylor Twellman, for example, available for a short interview with these guys? I haven't heard it. I understand Mike Adams in the evening is also reasonably accepting of the sport. Forget the morning show, but although Glenn Ordway on the Big Show is generally dismissive of the sport, a number of his co-hosts (Pete Shepherd, Steve Buckly, even Fred Smerlas) have had apositive word or two to say. Pete is newly interested in international soccer. Surely, some inroads can be made with 'EEI in an unobtrusive, professional manner. I was struck by the fact that the Revs had no presence or involvement in the WEEI studio when the replica World Cup was brought into the place last year. I guess I'm having real difficulty accounting for the total disinterest of the Krafts. Any insight into the reasons for this would be appreciated.
If it's the one I'm thinking of, I'm glad because it turned out to be a total sham. We all have own thoughts but mine boil down to this. Kraft bought a stake in the league to fill his NFL stadium when the Pats weren't in it. All monies brought in by the Revs are a bonus to his NFL operation and beyond that, they don't warrant much effort.
To be a total jerk, I thought all those people in the North End deserved it on some level for not rooting for the US. But I realize I'm being a jerk haha...
Well, yes I realize the station mistakenly thought they had the real thing. Thus my reference before to it as the "replica". I guess I'm assuming the Revs would've known something this obvious (anyone paying attention to the Cup's tour around the World knew it is the replica that is taken about) and the event would have been centered around the importance of even the replica itself. But then, I may be giving too much credit to Revs brass. Perhaps it'll take a program like Fox Football Fone In on FSC, a program by real supporters of the game, to bring these issues out. Might be an idea for FSC to create such a program centered on MLS, but dealing woth other leagues as well, of course. I found the interview with Alexi Lalas on FFF last night to be quite interesting. That sort of a program, with interviews and strong opinion regarding the state of things in the league may raise things up a level.
FWIW, the Revs get zero media coverage in Hartford. Occasionally the Hartford Courant's "Sports in Brief" section will have league scores, but that is it. And the league standing are usually buried in the Stats page next to minor league baseball.
Yeah, I've heard the farther you are from the Boston metro area, the coverage just drops right off. I'd love to get some sort of venue, be it on local TV or radio, to discuss the team at all
I know a guy who knows a guy who's best friend was the one who masterminded it for the sole purpose of getting those people all happy and shit..LOL
I'm up on the North Shore..the Lynn Item has the feel of a newspaper printed in some foreign country that's never heard of soccer, like the USA.