Does anyone have any realistic ideas? The whole season is a set up for the playoffs (8/10) and we're nowhere to be found.
ESPN drop the ball it suck's instead of showing us the games at the time their on they could show them in the morings or just cut out the replay of lame baseball games. Football +Baseball+Basketball+baseball+baseball+baseball= no room for soccer. ESPN suck's I wish we were on Fox's Sports. After tonight's game we don't seeanother on untill the cup. This suck's! One year it would be nice to see them pull the plug on the playoff's of a football season or a baseball season. without a strike.
If being on Fox Sports Net gives us more covereage, then I would take it. That's a big if, of course. ESPN is far more prestigious so, all things being equal, we would want to stay with ESPN. It's just so frustating that nobody (aside from Bigsoccer) seems to care about this. Attendance goes down, little tv coverage. It almost seems like we should extend the season 2-3 games and have the conference winners play in the MLS cup (or something similar).
... as long as "playoff" games draw 6,000 to 8,000... as long as games are played on fields with football lines and NFL logos in the "endzones"... as long as potentially embarrassing situations persist like Metros playoff games having to be played in a 6200 seat minor league ballpark... as long as we (MLS) say we're trying to attract the casual fan yet schedule games on school nights or insist on competing with NFL/college/high school football season... as long as the atmosphere at "playoff games" looks more like minor league baseball/hockey than a true leadup to MLS Cup... Imagine if MLS playoff games actually GOT THE COVERAGE we think we deserve... can you imagine ANYONE (including soccer fans) being particularly impressed? Based on fan support, why not emphasize the Supporters' Shield and turn the MLS Cup into a single elimination tournament... making these games more important on the weekends and more likely to draw decent crowds?... Don't like watching teams go out with a whimper --8K at SJ on a weeknight instead of 25K the final home game... These problems are more important to deal with than changing networks...
The ESPN coverage is the same as it was during the regular season -- one game a week. The only difference is that MLS is now playing 3 times as many games in that week. Maybe playoffs should last longer?
What makes you think we don't already get the coverage we deserve? Chicken or the Egg? 6k in Dallas, 8k in San Jose, only 14k in LA for playoff games? Which comes first, fans flock to MLS for big games leading to coverage by ESPN/CNN/FOX -- OR -- ESPN/CNN/FOX cover MLS in a big time way, making it "popular" leading to big crowds. It's time for fans of MLS to put up or shut up. Whining about ESPN is pointless.
Increase Neilsen ratings for MLS games and watch ESPN put a few more games on. Until then, we're 14th on their list of important things to do, if that. It's a long, slow process. No overnight solution. A brief sidenote: on sportscenter last night on their top 10 plays: #8 was Crespo's goal v. Ajax in the Champions League and #7 was Donovan's goal v. Clb. They even presented it without a smirk, save for a funny reference to Landon throwing his shirt.
He didn't say we deserve better coverage. He said IMAGINE if we got the coverage WE THINK we deserve. Subjectively wanting better coverage is very different from arguing that market forces mandate more games on TV. Imagine all the people, sharing all the world. . . Kumbayah, and more MLS on TV, please.
I wonder what would happen if MLS actually advertised their league. Last night I was at the Dallas Vs. Colorado game and knew instantly upon driving to the Cotton Bowl that the attendance figure would be depressing. However, I sat there and asked my friend who went with me--did you hear anything about this game at all? On TV? On the Radio? The answer: Not a damn thing. Hmmm, even here in Dallas the Cowboys advertise along with the Rangers, Mavericks, and the Stars. It wouldn't take much to get the word out. Buy some air time on radio stations. Again, word of mouth--as I have said in previous posts--advertising will take years for people to finally catch on. PROMOTION PROMOTION PROMOTION--If the league doesn't pony up for advertising--mid-week attendance will always lag.
With so many teams in the playoffs, it almost seems like an extension of the regular season. However, marketing departments had a mere 3 days to hype a mid week match against an opponent just determined that day. Given the circumstances, the crowds weren't that bad. Off the top of my head, here are some changes I would like to see, assuming the same structure in the league (2 divisions, 5-6 teams per): New Format -only 4 teams make the playoffs -have a home and home, with the higher seed at home second (not sure if I would go with away goals or modify that somehow) -MLS Cup remains as a one game final at a pre determined location Pros: -MLS Cup retains the "Grand Finale" feel (and gives people 1 year to sell tickets) -Playoffs become a showcase for the best teams in the league. Even if one division is much stronger than the other (as West was to the East this past year), these things have a way of coming around. The balance of power in the NBA used to be in the East; now there is no competition. -Drama generated for playoff spots, not seeding. More of a feel of rewarding excellence as opposed to punishing mediocrity -Home and home is an idea that most soccer fans at least know, if not prefer. This is also far less complicated to explain than the first to 5 format currently used today (Perhaps it's more people don't like it than don't understand it.) -Home and home allows for set dates when the season starts, and during the playoffs gives teams a full week of rest (for a hypothetically better played game) and teams a full week for marketing (for a hypothetically bigger crowd.) Cons: -Yet another change by the league - few things have remained constant in the past 7 years (for better or worse.) It makes it hard for the casual fan to keep up. -Fewer teams have something to play for near the end of the season -Away goals could lead to cynical soccer, where away team scores in the first game and then bunkers at home (hopefully the World Cup has taught us bunkering for 90 usually doesn't work.) -Home and home not a familiar concept for average American sports fan -If conferences are unbalanced, far better teams in one conference could be sitting at home
Here are my ideas: 1. Once college football starts in full force in early September, MLS should move all of its matches to either Friday night or Sunday afternoon. This, of course, would include the playoffs. Hopefully, by not competing directly with college football, MLS could get some more games on espn2 in September and October. 2. Change the playoffs so that it only takes five matches maximum to win the MLS Cup. There would be two ways to do this. The first way would be home-away quarters and semis with a single game MLS Cup, or a group stage with stright knockout semis and finals (I perfer the latter). The importance of this idea is that all playoff dates are fixed in advance, and will hopefully be better attended because they are on weekends. Also, this is important because the playoffs are not extended in length by having them on the weekend. So, maybe if all playoff dates are on the weekend, yet do not compete with college football, they will have a chance to get on espn2 (and, hopefully with nice weekend attendance, they will look nicer once they are on espn2). That's all I got. Its really too bad that a separate playoff deal with another network is impossible until 2007, since MLS Cup on ABC was an important part of the current TV deal.
I agree with you in full. MLS is not advertised enough. I know that we don't have the most $, but attendence would help that. More attendence= more $. Duh. The Fire's last 4 home games have been sold out most likely because of word of mouth. (Naperville is not that big) And soccer is really catching on. So tell some friends, bring (or drag) them to games, wear a jersey, whatever. We can become our own, personal advertisers since MLS isn't right now. Also, anyone know why MLS does commercials DURING games. Not the smartest thing to do. How 'bout trying to get that on prime time TV. So the casual or non-exisiting fans can see what MLS is. And hopefully become curious enough to attend a game. Basically,to summarize my opinion, MLS and the fans need to take more risks to get results.
Ditch the playoffs as a determinant of the MSL champion. Format the league to have one division, and make the regular season champion the champion. The, take a 2-3 week break from league play in late July/early August, when the moms and dads are taking their kids to football and when, MLB aside, there's no competition from major traditional sports. Hold a US Cup, in a playoff format, then. Make it as glamorous and TV-genic as possible. Here's the deal: Every team in the MSL enters. The line-up is supplemented by half a dozen top foreign teams, essentially a good, competitive pre-season tournament for the likes of ManUre, Real Madrid, Milan, etc. Put up some dosh and they'll take it more seriously. They all want exposure in the US market, anyway. Have maybe 16 teams in total. Four groups of four. Top two qualify for the quarter finals, etc. Essentially, a World Cup format with 2-3 weeks of intense soccer featuring world class players. Semi Finals: Chicago vs. Liverpool, DC United vs. Milan. You get the idea. ESPN loves it. The ambivalent paying customer loves it (and let's face it, he or she appears not to love the playoffs as they are now constituted), and when it's over it's back to the league for the final weeks of the season. Just a thought.
i said this in a different thread, but what if fans helped with the advertising, running ads in local papers, it can't be too expensive, especially if like 10 of you chip in, just a thought.
I don't think promotion has anything to do with this at all. It goes to what Peter Wilt noted in that interview that was posted recently: a large part of the regular season attendance is fabricated-built on promos, DH's and gimmicks. We've been playing since March, we've had a very good World Cup with lots of publicity for MLS and its players. The reality is that to date, the percentage of the MLS total attendance that cares about the winning and losing-that shares an NFL/MLB-like passion for their MLS teams, is still very small. I really don't think it's all that complicated. My only suggestion/hope, would be what I posted re: the All-Star game: try and get ABC to agree to take a playoff game and MLS Cup, and put the All-Star match on ESPN. Ideally if they could have a two playoffs match run-up to MLS Cup on Sat/Sun on ABC, maybe they might get lucky; maybe you catch lighting in a bottle and you push the league's profile up a step or two. But I think even this is wishful thinking on my part. Simply, a larger part of the fanbase needs to be more passionate about the championship-needs to have a proprietary feeling about their clubs. That's something that grows from within-I don't think you can fake it or fabricate that.