I was wondering with all these soccer stadiums being buit what is the opitum capictys. At the moment its rediclous playing in these 60,000 stadiums because it looks like no-one is there. To the best of my knowledge the average game attendce is 10,000. And crew's stadium hold 20,000 do they get higher attendces. But if soccer gains popularity a 20,000 stadium could be a bit limited. I'd go for 30,000. Any thoughts.
Really depends on the size of the market. LA is around 27,000 people and is already under construction. DC and NY/NJ are planning at about 35,000, while the rest of the markets are thinking between 20,000 and 25,000. New Eng-er-land, Colorado and Chicago will not be getting soccer specific stadia in the near future because they have favorable deals worked out for the large NFL stadia they use. In New Eng-er-land's case the same family owns both teams and designed the stadium for both soccer and football. In Colorado's case, they have what is considered a model lease on their stadia. In Chicago's case, they also have a very good lease, but are continuing to explore various options. Sachin
Re: Re: Stadiums capictys I didn't know Colorado got a favorable deal. Any details? Are they getting a cut of parking and concessions?
I'm watching futbol mundial and before then i never realised how bad the stadium situation is. It was talking about chacan or somthin who played for fusion and now the revs on the bench. It showed some highlights and there were just drones of empty seats it was difficult to watch.
I've just seen the Western Union World Football on ESPN, they were interviewing twellman, and then that happened... i saw a GIANTS stadium totally empty... that was sad.. really.... for a "major" sport in one of the biggest cities in the world.... really.. that was really sad....
Stadium renovation and expansion: A requirement of soccer specific stadiums which are being built to seat a minimum of 22,000 is that they are structually solid and capable of being expanded. As the MLS grows, I look for the possibility of a TV contract with NBC who is also carrying the Arena Football League (AFL) this coming season. A few years of success of soccer on TV will drive up TV ratings, soccer player salaries, tickets sales and many of these stadiums will require immediate expansion. These value of an MLS franchise would probably triple in the next five to seven years.
Re: Stadium renovation and expansion: i wish that could be, but ABC has the rights to MLS until 2006. NBC is much better than ABC and i think it would be a smart move for the MLS if they move there as NBC would actually advertise them. ABC seems to be doing a terrible job at doing that so they are getting bad ratings (when it comes to soccer that is)
the thing that must change is MENTALITY... if the common american still thinks that soccer isn't worth the money... it wouldn't mather if the game is in abd, nbc, telemundo or whatever....
The problem is most of the people from my generation grew up playing anything but soccer. The game to them is, pardon the pun, foreign. Why I started liking soccer is a mystery. My parents were not immigrants so I didn’t pick it up from them. I remember seeing an occasional game on Wide World of Sports and thinking to myself, “that seems like a pretty cool game”. So I and my brothers set up a few goals in the backyard and started kicking around a volleyball. I’ve now been playing and watching soccer for over 35 years. Now my kids are another story. They’ve been exposed to soccer from the beginning. They watch it on TV and go to games with their father. They stand a good chance of being lifetime fans. This is the hope for soccer in America. The new generations have grown up with the sport. My generation for the most part didn’t. Unfortunately, a lot of my generation makes up the influential media who bashes soccer with unbridled enthusiasm. When they’re gone, I’m hopeful we’ll see a favorable swing towards coverage of our favorite sport. I hope I live to see the day when the buzz around the water cooler at the office is about the MLS Cup. Hey, I can dream, can’t I?
no you can't... just joking.... i completly agree with you... the thing that makes me sad is that the pro-soccer is here and now... and somethimes i think that it will not survive....
isnt abc/espn getting NBA on their channel this year? will this drive the beginning of the mls season into oblivion while the end of that season and the playoffs happens?
Re: Re: Stadium renovation and expansion: NBC is totally departing from Major League sports. Believe or not, I once met Robert Wright's wife. He's the President of NBC. (She was wearing an NBC Sports jacket and mentioned that her husband owned it. I asked if she was Mrs. Ebersoll and she told me she was Mrs. Wright. Just to explain how this is plausible, I live in Fairfield, Connecticut. Beyond the fact that General Electric's HQ is here, it's just fifty miles from New York.) I commented that I couldn't believe that NBC had not renewed the contract for the AFC. She said that CBS was projected to lose more than a billion dollars over the term of the contract and implied that NBC had lost money on its last contract. Further, a current Vice President of ABC Sports told me that ABC will lose $250,000,000 on Monday Night Football. All of the networks lose money on the Big Four, especially the NFL. As a result, NBC will focus on Thoroughbred Racing, Extreme Sports, the Olympics, and such. Sports with less overhead and greater profitability. NBC made a greater profit from the Olympics than FOX would make from 20 Super Bowls.
Re: Re: Re: Stadium renovation and expansion: what??????? this is really interesting.... why the channels didn't get profits from the big four???? i didn't understand why...
Re: Re: Re: Re: Stadium renovation and expansion: I think the NFL gets about $2 billion dollars a year for the games. The networks pay so much for the rights in hope that people will start watching their networks other shows. The networks do a lot of tie ins during games.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Stadium renovation and expansion: To be honest, I don't know how NBC made so much money from the Olympics. I suppose the rights didn't cost them as much since they purchased them for the next ten or twenty or... three thousand years. As for the Big Four, they all charge exorbitant fees for the broadcast rights. Since networks are available for free, they make their money by selling advertising time. The problem is that ratings (the number of households with televisions tuned-in, which is around 1.1 million per rating point) are down for all of the American sports leagues, NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL. (The Super Bowl got a rating of 42 this year, compared to 45 last year. I'm not sure but I think the World Series ratings may have been up as it was a plum match up and a helluva Series. The NBA Finals were down almost 20% from last year. People may be getting tired of the Lakers winning, I know I am. Detroit versus Carolina was a less compelling match than Colorado-New Jersey, so the Stanley Cup was down as well.) As a result, advertisers aren't paying as much for ad time. And thus, the network loses money during those broadcast periods that are devoted to sports. They can usually recuperate these expenses with cash cow programming, like the reality shows. Shows that do not employ actors and, as a result, have virtually no overhead. But these are losing their moxie, ratings are continuing to fall for the networks. More and more people are watching cable and using the internet. Only cable sports channels like ESPN, which charge subscriber fees in addition to selling advertising time, make profits from live sporting events. I point it out all of the time, but the only North American sports league that has seen a ratings increase since 1997 is the Canadian Football League.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Stadium renovation and expansion: Wow, well, I'm really really thankfull about your comment, I apreciate the time you've expended in such explanation, thanks!!
One example is the TV networks have interviews with celebs of their TV shows during the games. Fox does suring the World Series. You can't go more than a few pitches without a close up of some actor or actress from one of their shows. It's really annoying.