VEVO5 catch-all thread on how to improve MLS

Wait, are their clubs without GA Supporters Sections? I mean, we have one in New England, so I just assumed it was everywhere else, too. I mean, Bob Kraft isn't exactly on the cutting edge of building a supporters culture

 

Technically ours isn't as all the tickets do have seat #s as a concession to the Fire Marshall. But the SGs run the section so they all treat it as GA.

 

-Get rid of NYRB, bring in the Cosmos.
-Improve the playoff schedule
-Greatly expand the salary cap
-Neutral site championship game some place warm or stadium with a retractable roof

 

Wtf? Get rid of the RB? Who else do we have with a history of ineptitude such as them? Guess you aren't a fan of comedy....

 

-5 year plan to replace single entity structure with team structure that other American sports have.
- free agency
- remove salary cap for domestic players. Replace it with foreign player salary cap.
-separate regular season from post-season. Increase money award for Supporters Shield.
- decrease amount of teams that qualify for post-season to 6

 

Because the system that has created ::ahem:: THE SINGLE GREATEST THING EVER FOR US SOCCER, EVER, IN HISTORY, EVER...is clearly evil.

I bet you couldn't say what this is or why it's good. I base my assumption on nothing, just a hunch.

So you want to pay the same shitty Americans more money, and then make it harder to employ good players from the rest of the world? You understand that paying Chad Barrett more money won't make him a better player, right?

Separate? I don't understand what leads you to believe they aren't.

...and throw away gate receipts for 3 teams while providing exactly no benefit to the League.[/quote][/quote]

 

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I don't follow the logic that because MLS is the most successful soccer league we've had that therefore nothing should ever be changed to make it better. For one, it's the only soccer league that we've had during a time when soccer has reached its height of popularity in this country. You can't say whether or not a European system wouldn't have been more popular.

The single entity system provided stability in the beginning. But sooner or later it needs to go and we need a soccer league that is structured like other American sports (or like the rest of the soccer world) where you have individual teams with individual owners playing under an Association. Not, a league where all contracts are owned by the league and the league has ownership in all teams.

 

Those two items are not unrelated...

 

1. There's no such thing as a "European system"
2. We tried a ground-up, club-based system. We tried it for 100 years. The only two notable American soccer leagues did something else.

Yeah, why? You've said a lot of words, but blown by your contention without defending it. "Sooner or later it needs to go"...why?

 

Because MLS's system has alienated well over half the soccer fans in this country who want nothing to do with it. And you're getting beat in TV ratings by the WNBA. The frickin WNBA.

Because the regulations and salary restrictions hurt the quality on the field.

Yeah, so, sooner or later this stupid system needs to change and either a)be like other American sports or b)copy what works in soccer around the globe.

 

No, it really hasn't. Either they are already fans of a team from the country of their birth, or they have adopted a foreign team due to the lack of a professional American soccer league 1984-1996, or by media exposure.

This may come as a shock to you, but basketball is sport in this country that up through the college level that has been well supported on both the men's & women's sides, as well as played by millions of kids on playgrounds, driveways, public courts and in schools, so there will be a significant following behind both men's & women's, especially for those who played. Sorry you can't come to grips with that.

This assumes if MLS teams all went out and spent like EPL teams, with 3-4, that spent like the top 3-4 EPL clubs, there would be a corresponding jump in viewership, attendance and overall popularity. This is highly unlikely and also fails to consider that while MLS & USNT have made great strides in the last 18 & 24 years respectively, they started from a near zero point while "football" in other countries essentially had a 80 year head start, few serious sporting entertainment competitors & a media culture that was supportive of the sport.

Copy what works in other countries?

Like what?

Racist fans?
Teams collapsing & going into administration?
Corruption?
Abusive youth development systems?

 

I'm always intrigued when people on either side of this debate cite the"single entity" as either an inherent evil or a secret sauce. Look at the substance. MLS teams are highly dependent upon the acumen of their local owner operators. On a percentage basis, MLS shares less revenue than the National Football League (because the league has a more generous 60/40 split of gate receipts). Nor does the Forbes data indicate a huge amount of money could flow into free agents salaries if the league was to operate at overall break even -- it's about $30m, which assumes the teams shouldn't provide any money for stadium debt service. A third party source suggests, if anything, a number of MLS teams should have lower payrolls then they have.

For what it is, MLS offers pretty good play in pretty nice stadiums with pretty good atmosphere. Better than all but the elite leagues and clubs of the world.

Could it be better? Sure. Couldn't we all?

But really, I'm not sure what the fuss is about.

 

Free beer for fans.

 

People like fuss; fuss is fun

 

I got one that might make some here howl...


- Allow teams to stylize the center of their fields a la American football.

 

Alas that's not within MLS' purview (FIFA has an actual regulation, as opposed to a recommendation, against it).

 

How can MLS play on NFL markings then?

 

The same way Honduran teams can play CCL matches in pits of mud, rocks, and ash

 

Why doesn't MLS appeal more to soccer fans in this country? Anyone have any theories? I certainly have mine, which I have made known.

I'm on a local US Outlaws mailing list and the anti-MLS contingent is pretty strong. And these are folks who are hardcore fans of the national side.

At my local pub, which is a mix of British Ex-Pats and American soccer fans, MLS is still considered Mickey Mouse. And if you ask people why its because of single entity. They don't use the term single entity, though. They'll say stuff like, the league owns all the teams, there are no real clubs, its plastic etc.

Shouldn't our D1 soccer league in this country be getting better TV ratings than the WNBA?

 

Because the world is flat and Americans have access to better quality soccer.

The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'

See above

"There are no real clubs" is not something that can be fixed by getting rid of single-entity. The concern that those guys at the bar have is the plasticity. The clubs were plopped down on the surface. Y'know why? Because we tried it your way for a century and it kept failing.

No, of course not. MLS is not the best soccer available on TV...ever. The only thing that the MLS can sell to people in LA and Denver is 'live soccer'. And that's what we sell. We have a higher average attendance than the NBA. You want to cherry-pick statistics, I will too.

 

what the f*** are you talking about?

And as usual with your posts you never ever make a coherent argument. You just splice other peoples posts and make snooty c0mments.

American soccer fans aren't taking to MLS because? Start there.

 

US Soccer history. I suggest you read up on it.

 

you're on ignore idiot.

 

For the same reason that no professional soccer league gets very good ratings -- the sport isn't that popular. Sure it has high participation numbers thanks to the kids and, yes, it and its become the trendy thing for young people to wear the shirts of the European giants, but really professional club soccer whether it's the EPL or MLS just doesn't pull big ratings in the U.S.

The EPL did set the high water mark for club soccer ratings in the U.S. last year -- United and City drew 1.2m. Which still pales compared to the NFL, every other major league, four of the five major college football conferences, most big PGA events, NASCAR and the every round of the NCAA Men's basketball tournament from the round of 64 onward.

http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/... Reports/year-in-sports-media-report-2013.pdf

It's not just MLS US television viewers reject, it's lots of clubs from lots of leagues.