To those who dislike the All-Star Game and want scrap to scrap the event: http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/gi...umns-0/1217307429274070.xml&coll=1&thispage=2 TUNING IN While All-Star games in other sports have turned into boring exhibitions with dwindling ratings and fan interest, MLS' midseason classic is gaining in both areas. According to The Sports Business Daily, last week's 3-2 victory over West Ham was seen by the most combined viewers in the league's All-Star Game history. ESPN's numbers were a 0.47 rating and 453,000 households while Telefutura claimed a 0.37 rating and 389,000 households. The combined 842,000 households were a 124 percent increase from 2007. According to MLS, the combined ratings for the game were the highest ever, topping the 0.74 and 806,000 households the 2004 game received on ABC. Sure, ASG is not competition in its true form, etc, etc. But, the bottom line is it fills up the stadium, and according to this, a lot of people watch on TV. My view on this - MLS can't shy away from any (good) publicity. If there's an event that makes people tune in to MLS, MLS should keep it and promote it.
When I look at the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments alot of posters exhibit when they talk about the ASG and Superliga, I suspect that alot of soccer fans have forgotten that the point of watching sports is to have fun. Because the vast majority of the teeth-gnashers and garment-renderers don't say the games aren't fun to watch. The games are "meaningless." Um, dude, they're all meaningless. Nobody is out there curing cancer. Anyway, thanks for the info and the thread. Long may the all-star game live!!!!!
I secretly watched the ASG, and surprised myself by enjoying it. I now need glasses however, and that really sucks.
I think something we have to realize is, as hard as it seems...Bigsoccer is not the norm. While we are the folks that dissect and debate attendance and field surfaces and how meaningful the all star game is, sometimes its easy to forget that the people on this message board are not the majority. There are probably lots of people out there who just want to watch an interesting soccer game, without reading between the lines and analyzing every throw in. Its soccer on tv...I got no problem with it.
Eh. To each their own. But this is coming from one of the 5 people on that forum that's to the right of Karl Marx.
The game was watched by 260,000 people in Canada. That means more Canadians per capita watched it than Americans. Of course the fact that it took place in Canada probably helped the number out. Plus it was available on a free to air network (CBC). That's a fairly decent number for a sporting event in Canada. That number is also higher than any published rating for any TFC game this season. Overall its a great way to promote the league in both countries. Don't know why anyone would be against the game in prinicipal.
Really wasn't trying to do that. Simply provide info. I also added a few qualifiers. But why not bitch anyway?
People like Broder don't waste ANY opportunity to try to turn each thread into a TFC slagfest. As you said, he completely ignored the rest of your post and only focused on the one part where he could try to twist your words as self-aggrandizing.