Well for the first time a MLS draft was open to the public, I guess you could consider it a smashing success. There was I think 1,500+ there and they had to stop letting people in cause the standing room only section was filled with people. It helped out quite a bit by having the National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention. So I wouldn't be suprised to see those hook up more often in the future cause they can do nothing but good things for one another. The fans were defiantely voicing they're pleasure/displeasure at certain teams. Me and some of my friends booed everytime it was announced that LA or Chicago was on the clock. There were some fire fans there booing Dallas, and I wanna say a NY fan(s) booing DC. Right after the end of the first round it was announced there was a 5 minute break. Then after than DC was on the clock, they took a timeout (+5 minutes) and everyone started booing (while Hudson towards the front of the room stood up, turned around and looked at everyone clapping with a smile on his face, really funny), then Chicago took a timeout and the whole place started booing cause we were bored off our asses. So the fans there were definately into it at times. While it was kind of lackluster for the KC fans considering we didn't draft a player until the 4th round, it was still fun cause the Wizards had an extra room where the fans could basically have a Q&A session with Lamar Hunt, Meola, Gutierez, and Wolff. Main topics discussed was Wolff's injury and timetable for his return (~2 months to be at 100%), a stadium in KC (not gonna happen anytime soon), and how to get the team more media attention. So I'd imagine with how well the draft worked in KC, they'll definately open it up to the public from here on out. I'd be really interested to see what it would be like in a city like LA or NY if we could get that many people in KC.
I don't really keep up with the NSCAA that much. Would it be possible for them to move the convention anywhere they want to. If they could the draft and convention could take turns going to all the MLS cities. It would definitely bolster the attendance. -VON
Future NSCAA Convention Sites and Dates: 2004 Jan. 14-18, Charlotte, N.C. 2005 Jan. 12-16, Baltimore, Md. 2006 Jan. 11-15, Philadelphia, Pa. 2007 Indianapolis, Ind. 2008 Baltimore, Md. 2009 St. Louis, Mo. Well they could do the draft in Baltimore with DC in 2005 and 2008, maybe Philly or St. Louis might have a team by the time the convention rolls through their town. Might get kind of boring for the conventioneers if it's an every year thing.
Good To Hear I think it's great that 1500+ showed up for the draft. I would be interested in hearing a little more about how the atmosphere was there and what it was like. They should talk to FSW about showing part of the draft. Especially if the draft is on Friday, becuase there are typically no games on that day.
If they can work it out to have a national team game at the same time and place roughly - you could get some real media and fan attention and make it into a pretty cool event. Sounds like it was pretty cool already.
The convention was here in Baltimore a few years ago ('99 or '00 I think), and it was a pretty big deal. Thomas Rongen gave a talk as I recall, and I'm sure there was some sort of National Team presence. I didn't attend, I just remember that TR was talking. I hope they continue this tradition, because it sounds like it was a pretty good time.
Seriously, it may be worth it to have the draft in Florida every year, along with the convention and an annual match against Canada or something like that. Imagine a weeklong Soccer Festival with the coaches convention, draft on Friday, and closing with a friendly on Saturday. That would get a lot of media attention, fan interest and promote MLS in to more coaches at lower levels of the game. If there is going to be a Nats friendly in January, it will have to be in a warm-weather city. Sachin
I know what you mean. Something like this would be great in New York, DC or Columbus, but lining up a friendly in cold weather will be well nigh impossible. Sachin
The way most people were talking, it sounds like they'll be making this a yearly thing with the NSCAA. I'm positive it will be well attended even when it's not in an MLS city. Lots and lots of coaches, sponsors, players and families, and muckety-mucks made up the lion's share of the crowd anyhow.
Re: Good To Hear As said before, the room was too small for the crowd. They had about 100 seats in a roped off area for the VIPs (team front offices, draftees, MLS players, even some Wizards fans were able to get VIP tickets), then they had about 100 more seats behind that and two temp bleacher stands in the back corner. Most of the place was standing though. Then they had the TV broadcast setup which was broadcasted by Dave Dir and Sean Wheelock for Metrosports here in KC. They pumped the audio through the speakers in the room so we could all hear. Since 99% of the time there was nothing going on that the fans could actually watch, everyone was just kind of mingling. The only times fans did anything other than applaud for each pick was when Chicago or LA was announced as "on the clock" and that's when there was some booing by Wizards fans, and a few Fires fans booed at Dallas, and then I'd assume it was a Metros fan booing at DC. I'm glad I went, but like I said before, it was very boring. Definately have to bring people with you. Most of the time I was either talking to my friends or playing poker on my cell phone. In order to get the conventioners going year after year, they need to have something else going on. Having some players from various teams signing autographs, etc... would be good. Getting a bigger room and having games in the back to keep people entertained would be good too. Turn it into a festival of sorts cause the draft alone isn't very entertaining.
I wasn't there but to add to what Lucid said, if 99% of the time nothing was going on the organizers could run video of MLS highlights, Cups, whatever on a big screen to keep people from running down the batteries on their cell phones
Re: Re: Good To Hear I was gonna say, going to the expo in between picks was a good way to waste time. I do realise not everyone was able to do that, though.
i know that the league prefers to give the "state of the league" speech in the middle of the season, but it seems that it might be logical to make it part of a pre-season festival each year. i would think, like mls cup, it should be moved around to the various cities in the league. maybe the team who came in last place would be the logical host - first pick overall.