SSS can enable teams to make more money, but they won't make people care. You can't think the quality on the pitch is unrelated to the numbers and passion in the stands as it seems you do. Maybe the relationship isn't direct... You think the games should LOOK important, over and above actually BEING important, or at least entertaining and of high quality?!? Let me explain in which direction the relationship works. Look... I am a casual sports fan of almost every athletic endeavor outside of soccer (of which I am a passionate fan). As such, I watch the World Series and select playoffs, the NBA championship, and few college basketball games outside of the NCAA tournament and UNC. I watch maybe one NFL game on the weekends, part of a good Monday night tilt, and the Superbowl. I watch blanket coveage of the Olympics, both winter and summer versions. So, why do I watch the Tour de France and the Nagano '98 downhill events, but not follow cycling and Skiing year round? Same for the other sports... Because! I'm only a casual fan! I only care about watching the best competitors in the highest quality of competition. The CROWDS and the PACKAGING don't make an iota of difference to the casual fan. The NFL has sold out crowds, so does the NBA, MLB, etc. Many leagues play before near-sellout audiences and get much attention on TV with high-quality graphics and polished presenters all season long, year after year. Nonetheless, myself and other "casual fans" watch by and large only the events where the best compete. "It's the quality, stupid." The MLS is faced with many substitutes. Believing that you can make consumers consistently choose a demonstrably inferior product again and again and again has to be the absolute height of marketing folly.
I agree. What is killing the league is the defensive/bad passing style of play, this is an epidemic not only in MLS but in leagues all over the world. The league should focus on creating offensive, pretty, fast play that is entertaining and EVERYONE can appreciate. Good passing speeds up the game making it entertaining and intense. Keep the ball on the ground and make the ball move rather than run around after the ball like 6 yrs. olds. Quality play will not only attract new fans but will bridge the gap between the so-called Eurosnobs and MLS fans. That is ultimately what everyone wants to see, entertaining soccer.
This blog post certainly falls under the glass is half empty category. I increasingly believe that many "fans" cannot see past the presentation of the game in this country. As a DirectKick subscriber, I can attest to the poor production and, more importantly, pulseless commentating that occurs on a regular basis on those channels. The presentation at the big empty stadiums is terrible. But what I also see is some football that continues to get better every year. The average quality of player in this league far surpasses what was shelled out in 1998. Those who wax poetic about how great things were "back in the MLS day" are simply delusional and nostalgia freaks (see Arena, Bruce). As I pointed out in another thread, do you think many pre 2000 MLS teams could score a goal like DCU scored agains Real Madrid this year. MLS is regularly producing players that can compete at high (not top necessarily) levels in Europe. Are they always given a fair shake overseas? Well that is a matter of judgement depending on how you feel about Mathis, Donovan or Convey. Look to DeMerit as a baromoter of what an American trained soccer player can accomplish these days. Back to the point. There is not reason to suffer embarassment from the product that MLS is putting on the pitch. Too many times I feel like I'm the only person watching FSC! I apologize to our English soccer overlords, but the Watford-West Ham tilt this week did anything but make my TV expolde with excitement and make me want to burn all my MLS gear. The last world cup still has put soccer on many radars around town and like Bill Simmons, many are gravitating toward the EPL. And that is a great first step, however, over time some of these new fans will head out to see their local teams in action. And seeing the game played live is where the hook is truly set. BTW - the Fire stadium is a whopping 17 minutes from downtown chicago and is bordered by a combination of predominatly Polish and Mexican and some upper middle class neighborhoods. The stadium is a 10 minute bus ride from the nearest "L" and there are express busses to Toyota Park. Dallas it is not.
I just found out that the sports editor of the NY Times is doing a Q&A with readers. send your questions to asktheeditors@nytimes.com and then check for your answers at http://www.nytimes.com/ref/business/media/asktheeditors.html?8dpc. i wonder what his comparisons are about the former leagues and today's
You can build more SSS, but you can't "build" any of those other things. If you want passion you have to let the fan support his own team or his own city/community, not tell him you can either root for Team A or Team B or no one. I can't support the MLS because none of my local teams will ever compete in it. I live in Lansing and go to Michigan State. MLS has decided that I can either support Chicago... Detroit's biggest rival in every other professional sport... or Columbus (one of both the Wolverine's and Spartan's biggest rivals - Ohio State). So to that I say "f*ck you MLS, I won't support either." Until you give us a Detroit team (or preferably a Lansing or Kalamazoo team) I'm not going to support your league. Columbus and Chicago aren't my cities. I have no ties to them. I will go to Columbus for national team games, but that's it. I'm not rooting for the "Crew" when I despise the Blue Jackets (or whatever their lame hockey team is that always gets crushed by the Red Wings). If MLS allowed for promotion/relegation it would see a lot more passion, and a lot more fans. Outside of the select few cities who have teams, there is no reason to follow the league because it's the same teams every year. There is never a chance a Michigan team will join the league. MLS just lost all those San Jose fans because instead of having the Earthquakes leave the league through relegation, they just kicked them out and said "ok, Houston it's your turn." That's bullshit. If Houston would have won the 2nd division and San Jose got relegated, then you could have the same situation we have now, except the Houston fans would be more excited about their team because they actually earned their spot in the MLS, it wasn't just given to them, and the San Jose fans wouldn't be bitter because they'd know they lost fair and square and would also have hope to someday promote back up. I honestly don't think MLS will ever become big unless it integrates with the USL and forms a promotion/relegation league. The only other league in the world I know of that doesn't have promotion/relegation is Australia, and that league isn't doing very well either.
So unless MLS comes to your backyard, no team in the country is worthy of your support. "Fans" of your ilk tend to disregard reality enroute to formulating their opinion. For a great discussion why prom/rel will not work in this country right now read this: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=376286&root=mls&cc=5901. Given your love of the USL please check out this site: http://www.mmbucks.com/ I agree, passion is 99% proximity, however you don't need to have a favorite MLS team to support MLS. You can just appreciate the league for what it is, the top level available here and growing in quality every year.
I'm sure you're aware that San Jose had the best regular season record that year (also known as Supporters' Shield). But yes, the irony of the situation isn't lost, regardless of whether you're aware of it or not.
Key words are "right now". The way the MLS is set up now (single entity ownership) is too heavily weighted towards the "survive at any cost" side of the ledger. This is fine in the short term, avoiding the fate of the NASL and other soccer leagues in North America, but it also acts as a leash holding back potential development, and my biggest fear is that MLS won't know when it is time to make the switch (or rather switches, since it should be gradual step-by-step process rather than something sudden). I want to support MLS more but it's a hard case to make to newbies who aren't already soccer fans, when even non-soccer watching Americans can notice the sharp dropoff in quality between the World Cup and MLS. Yes, they don't understand the nuances of the game (and MLS quality of play is not nearly as bad as some people pretend) but they can recognize listless play, listless crowds, and God-awful TV production values when they see it. People have been remarking that the "event mentality" can overcome uneven quality of play and this is true. Certainly there are more than a few "stinkers" of less than top quality of play in the NFL, but fans keep coming to the games anyway. There were some people in the old NASL who understood this and who knew how to promote soccer to novice fans (the Tampa Bay Rowdies being an excellent example). A lot of this "rah rah" selling of the sport to newbies will annoy the soccer purists, but it has to be done to create the right atmosphere. When soccer is firmly established much of this hyping of the game as an event can go away and fans and local media will create this atmosphere themselves, but right now the only people capable of creating this atmosphere are the various MLS fans and supporters groups and ultras, and there simply are not enough of these yet to support MLS. Unfortunately MLS does not seem to be trying to copy any of the successful things that the NASL did (in terms of pure marketing); MLS seems virtually invisible in many media markets (or anyway the MLS seems pretty invisible in the greater Boston area media market where I live) and you can't expect fans to find the MLS games if they are barely aware that the MLS exists. Add to that the fact that MLS simply does not exist in most markets and you get virtual invisibility to the vast majority of potential US (and soon Canadian) fans.
Which is doubly ironic since he was arguing that a lot of the J-league play he saw wasn't up to MLS standards. So we have "snobs" who aren't even arguing that "x" is at a better level of play than MLS, just that "x" is more entertaining than MLS for a variety of reasons due to the way the MLS is organized and due to a number of "received wisdoms" about the way North American "major league" sports have to be organized. It's obvious at this point that the "eurosnob" and related labels are pretty meaningless terms designed to avoid debate by resort to name calling, but I realize that by pointing this out I'm just taking my own exercise in futility.
Regarding the MLS/USL relationship: one small thing that needs to happen in the immediate future is MLS solidifying its position as the premier destination for soccer players in this country. Ten years from now, I don't want to read a story about how a player could potentially play at an MLS level but chooses to play a combo of USL and indoor because he can earn more. This won't have a dramatic impact, as I believe that for the most part the best players are either here or in a Euro league, but its a numbers game - the more guys with a goal of and path toward MLS, the better. We can't afford to write-off any players in the talent evaluation process; look guys like Brian Ching or Benny Feilhaber. As MLS extends its reach further down in the system (reserve teams, youth teams), hopefully fewer of these 'hidden jewel' cases occur.
exactly...here was a team that was playing inspiring soccer despite all the uncertainty that surrounded them, the fan base was passionate, and at times Spartan had more atmosphere than any other staduim, period. There was a genuine rivarly developing w/ LA and, all this with virtually no marketing or local press support. This was the inaugural site for MLS and, a two-time champ with a legacy. But sadly, MLS was powerless to intervene against AEG's intentions to leverage a stadium deal for their concerts, etc. Now look at AEG struggling in Houston. They inflamed the utter disgust of all the fans around here, they must've have had a huge $$$ outlay (to move), and are probably deeper in the hole than ever... Hard not to see this as hugely embarrassing and completely incompetent...
99% agree...with the exception that there was no "developing" rivalry with LA...it existed in full. Quakes-Galaxy was the shit.
Regular season play seems pointless to me. Just be good enough to make the playoffs, have a few good games and come out on top (LA last season?). Ghey. However, while going to a single table structure and dropping the playoffs would be grand, I don't see it happening. America is a "playoff" nation. The other sports make so much money from dragging things out. I mean come on, NBA, NHL and MLB playoffs last for months it seems.
you say that and i understand why but the people who watch soccer aren't a playoff nation. when 100k go to see madrid or Barca but 7k go see a game with a playoff system i think it's reasonably clear that a system with single table and relegation has done a great job world wide in building interest while soccer league with playoffs hasn't had nearly the success. The point is when there are people who don't mind why cater to those who don't even follow the sport.
{Sigh} World Cup = League play + playoffs. Packs 'em in whether it be played at Stade de France or the Meadowlands.
Well, give us 7 out of 20 teams in the top-flight national league in one city (typical for London) or 12 of 20 (typical for Buenos Aires), and at least two clubs in each major city, each highly representative of their original neighborhoods, with unique political/socio-economic identities, then give each club 80-140 years, and I'll bet we can compete in the crowd category.
Well, I would like to add my two cents to the discussion. First of all, I have been following the league for several seasons now and have attended many games of the past metrostars. I used to consider myself a fan of the league but last season and most particularly this season, I have come to the conclusion that MLS is little more than a glorified rec league. Now, I have to clarify this more pecisely. For what MLS is, I accept the fact that it is a professional league where each dollar counts, but I can't accept the fact that what I see on the pitches of MLS is totally unprofessional. I don't mean to say that the players on each team are not professionals because they have the talent and are paid to show that talent. Unfortunately, I have come to realize that many players all across the league don't take MLS seriously. This is of course no surprise to many fans on bigsoccer when you consider how meaningless the regular season is. However, mediocrity runs far deeper now than it used to. Not a single player really has pressure to perform to the best of their abilities. If some team decides that a certain player is not worth the cash, he will find himself on some other team doing the exact same thing, going about, earning his salary. This kind of medriocrity has even spread to the league's coaching positions. Ones that I can directly relate to are Bob Bradley, and Mo Johnston. I get very frustrated when I see the kind of talent this league possesses go down the drain because the players were not playing in a competitive environment. It also frustrates me when I see players like Carlos Ruiz, and Edson Buddle just walk around the pitch like they don't have a care in the world. Referees smile and have chats with players sometimes as if everybody knows each other and they're all out there having a good time. When was the last time that winning or losing mattered? My point is that, while some reasons like football lines on the pitches may make the league look somewhat unprofessional, it is the mediocrity on the field that makes me ashamed of MLS. I like to think that there are plenty of soccer fans in this country, and these new fans would accept a lower quality compared to the premiership as well as a somewhat unprofessional business approach to the league. Unfortunately, I don't see how MLS will ever succeed until it finds a way to make the games on the field more professional and competitive. Until then, I never go out of my way to let others know of my guilty pleasure from watching this glorified rec league.
LOL i think 'league play' at the world cup is just a wee bit more intense then the mls regular season And on another note, does anyone know why they have football lines on the pitches? you never see an 18 during a preseason match, they can get rid of the soccer lines, but the groundskeepers cant get rid of the football lines before a league match?
An excellent point. The way I see it, speaking as a "full-time" soccer fan, the EPL is MLS best friend. If the casual soccer fans get hooked on the EPL, they'll become MLS fans by virtue of "soccer-osmosis".
Looks like the same Landon Donovan to me. Really though, you're proving my (lightweight) point: attendance doesn't all boil down to competition format by any means.
Yeah, which is why LAG/Chivas games are so great to watch, even if those two teams have been deathly boring or bad the past two seasons.
A couple facts to throw into the mix: 1) I saw an ad for MLS the other night (one doesn't see many national ads for MLS so it sure as hell caught my attention), but it was on one of the mom demographic channels like TLC or the Food Network or whatever. What the hell? They are spending their ad dollars on soccer moms? 2) Doesn't the Mexican Football League have playoffs? Doesn't seem to hurt them.
I totally agree! I think the people have underestimated the effect that the actual TV production has on the product. (Although the USL broadcasts are downright aweful). I hope that ESPN presents some games in HD. Anyway, more about the MLS. Small things that could make the league better without making it a clone of the EPL: -Ravamp the kits. Use larger, easier to read numbers. -Curtail the use of white shirts. Let teams develop thier identities by wearing thier colors as often as possible. -Do not nationally televise games that have football yardlines visible. (yes, I'm talking about you Salt Lake) -Name Changes. ("Dallas FC" makes more sense than "FC Dallas" and what type of Spanish royalty is there in Salt Lake City?) -More weekend night games. From what I have watched of MLS, the night games have a better pace (since the players aren't playing in 90° heat under the blistering sun). Larger things that will help MLS: -Expansion (and leave clubs in the cities that they started in). There will soon be 13 teams, but many major markets don't have a team, so no one gives MLS much thought. I realize that the league can not expand too quickly. (or it will become financially unstable and the talent pool would be diluted more than it already is) I hope to see 24 teams by 2026 and hopefully some good rivalries by then. -Stud Striker. Anyone? MLS needs someone to come along and dominate the league. When the media thinks "soccer" in this country, it thinks of Mia Hamm (doesn't actually help the MLS cause). -Spend money on players. With the new TV contracts, here's hoping the MLS will have a little bit of spending money to play with.