What can MLS teams do to become your second team?

Are there really any USL market that doesn't have more hardcore MLS fans than fans of the local team? I'd wager you could find more die-hard Fire/DC/Galaxy supporters in Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area than die-hard Thunder fans.

 

I would imagine that a few more non-US Open Cup friendlies with USL-1 clubs couldn't hurt.


Seattle has a lot of SJ Earthquakes fans due to their Sounders/U Washington connection. They are also the closest MLS team to us geographically.

At least for the rest of the month...

 

I don't know. Here in Charleston you might get that arguement with the EPL or other European leagues, but I don't think there are as many hardcore MLS fans as there are Battery fans. there are pleanty who give it the passing nod and watch it if it doesn't conflict with other things.

Myself, I haven't picked one MLS team although I do watch DC more closely than others mainly because of the fans Ive met and having gone to a few DC matches in RFK over the years. and while the friendlys and USOC matches have helped, i wouldn't say that they were a deciding factor for me. More how they act when they come to town and if they respect our club. DC has since their USOC loss in '99 and I dare say the Metros will too. Chicago fans gave us some propes when we went up there in 2004 for our USOC match even thought we lost.

I watch former Battery players more and see how they are doing with their new MLS teams.

 

There is an informal relationship between Secton 8 in Chicago and the Timbers Army in Portland. We've had a few people from Chicago visit and a few people have gone to Chicago for games. Mainly there has been an exchange about ways to build supporters groups. I wouldn't say this has led to everyone supporting Chicago but people who were neutral in the past might be Fire fans now. The distance between the two cities makes any kind of partnership difficult and there are plenty of people in Portland who support different MLS teams.

I think if the clubs had a formal relationship with exchanges of players, friendlies, etc, there might be more of a fan connection.

 

I kind of enjoy the role of impartial observer as far as MLS goes. The main draw of the league is its role in developing National team players, and because it is the highest level in this country of the sport I love. Because of the overriding relationship with the National team, I would say I probably view MLS as I do the leagues like in other countries (except for the 'made in the USA' pride part), in the sense that you pick players you like and root for their individual successes.
As far as a secondary relationship after that of the Silverbacks, I keep an eye our for players who have links with our organization... I.E. former players who are now playing for MLS teams or players we have had on loan
No team really has any bond to me in the regional sense except that which is insinuated by the USOC pairings.
I can watch most league games on TV or on MLSnet. So possibly the allure for one team being close by is muted, to be in attendance personally, it would take several days (probably involving airfare).That puts MLS teams in the same event status as a MNT fixture or for some I guess even a trip overseas.
Hopefully this post is helpful and not confusing, I had to get up several times and lost my train of thought. Probably will add more later when I figure out what I forgot to say.

 

Shame that the MLS are going to be ************** and take the easy way out and pull up stumps and leave. I hate when teams fold/move etc.

 

1. D.C. and Charleston kind of have mutual reign over my soccer emotions. Locally, I have attatched myself more and more to the Battery. However, I was born and raised in D.C. and I visit there (or try to) at least twice a year to take in a D.C. match with La Barra Brava/Screaming Eagles/La Norte. Mainly this is because those fans have been nice to us in Charleston over previous visits and instituted the Coffee Pot Cup.

2. FC Dallas have just found their way into my heart thanks to all of the very nice people I met in Dallas during MLS Cup this past weekend.

As you can see, my support is extremely biased in favor of how I get treated by the fans of another club or whether or not I have any natural connection to them. This leads me to what I think MLS fans can do to win us over and that is to treat us with the same respect as you would one another, come to our tailgates, hang out with us when your teams visit us, and maybe, just maybe, invite us to visit with you all if we get the chance to visit MLS cities. I don't know that there's much else that teams can do per se as they currently schedule as many friendlies as they can I think with USL clubs. Events like the Carolina Challenge Cup are great and I'd love to see more USL clubs put those on. I think Puerto Rico defenitely should do that and I could see Miami FC doing this in the not too distant future. Overall, though, I say if you want to win fans over it has to be a fan-to-fan interaction.

 

It came about mainly because some folks from Section 8 and Timbers Army saw pictures of one another in action and felt like we had a similiar style of support and that we could probably help one another. Also, one TA dude went to a Fire game and connected with folks there. So on the TA message board - www.talktimbers.com - there is a Chicago Fire section where people post pictures, etc from Section 8. Some TA people post on the Section 8 board.

This led to a visit by Liam from Section 8 this summer. He came to two Timbers games and had some cool ideas for merchandise, tifo, organiztion, etc. That is about the extent of the relationship but it could progress into something bigger if there are more exchanges and dialogue in the future.

 

Jaqua is also a homegrown Oregon boy, graduated from U of Portland. that helps, but i also wouldn't say the Fire are my MLS team. until the timbers are in MLS, i'm a fan of good soccer and national team possibilities, so i seem to vacillate between the revs, DC, and the fire. oddly enough, though, i can't pass up an opportunity to hate on the supper club or fake salt lake.

 

IGood topic.... support D.C. because that's where I'm from and for their first two seasons I was there in section 121 (BSSC) for every game. When I moved to Wilmington I was still more of a United fan than a Hammerheads one, though I began to support both. Several years past and United came to Wilmington to play the Hammers in a USOC match and there was no doubt I wanted the Hammerheads to beat them. I think you naturally support where your strongest ties are and that changes. Most of the hard core Hammerhead fans that I know care more about the EPL than the MLS. I think more friendlies with MLS teams and the interaction that brings with travelling fans definitely would help Hammerheads fans take interest and perhaps support an MLS club (unless your the Crew and your coach complains to our manager about the Port City Firm ).

 

I've followed the Fire for awhile. Being from Portland, they first caught my intertest when Jaqua signed on with them. Now that I live in the midwest, they're the closest MLS team to me geographically.

 

I follow Chivas USA (that's where I'm a mod) because they're the reason I became interested in MLS for the first time in its history. Then again, I've watched the Mexican League religiously for the last three years and wanted to see what Vergara would do in MLS. But nothing matches my love for the Silverbacks...

 

I am a DC United Supporter. I have been since day one. I used to be a card carrying member of the Screaming Eagles. I was so happy to have a league and a team after going to Washington Diplomats and other NASL games as a kid.

I am also a hardcore Puerto Rico Islanders fan. I mean almost to the point of obssession. Before they started playing in the A-League, I only followed it casually. When it was anoounced that Puerto Rico was going to get an A-League team in the town where my wife had lived, I was all over it. I had been waiting for any sort of soccer breakthrough down in Puerto Rico.

The Richmond Kickers were my club just because of the fact that they had a sort of connection with DCU because of the close proximity and the players that travelled back and forth.

Some of the DCU supporters give me grief for having become such a huge Islanders fan (like staying home to listen to webcasts in French when they play the Impact waiting for the goals and someone to translate on line when I could go see United playing at RFK). They say that I'm not really down for DCU since I got Islanders fever.

It's easy being a DCU fan. A lot harder to be an Islanders fan. But like many of you, I gues that I just have a desire to go the road less travelled...

I still love DCU. But I am crazy about the Islanders.

 

This is a bit of a hard question for me since here I know a bunch of people who won't give the USL (and by extension the Sounders) the time of day -- some are the typical Eurosnobs but others (including some who post on BS) I could categorize as MLS-snobs. Kinda the more time goes by, the more "animosity" I have towards these people for not supporting the local club -- particularly when our attendance numbers have been stagnating and that condition possibly hurting our chances of getting MLS to come here.

I know that's kind of off the original topic, but it's fair to say that some of the "dissing" of the "snobs" projects onto my feeling about MLS and actually supporting (as opposed to merely following the league on TV and occasionally going to a game if I'm in an MLS city at the time) a particular team.

All that said, I do follow closely how ex-Sounders are doing in MLS... and probably San Jose more in particular since they have several, and we've had loan players from there more so than any other club. But it probably wouldn't be accurate to say I "support" them since I've never been to any of their home games and I haven't bought any gear, etc etc.

 

Sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, MLS is shiite. Why would I cheer for a different team in North America? Even though my team (Whitecaps) isn't allowed in the US Open Cup, I think we would do very well.

 

Well, BC can succeed and then the Whitecaps can play in the USOC.
Or Canada could invade the US and everyone (with the exception of the Puerto Rico Islanders) could play in the Voyageurs Cup.

How's that sound?