This is seriously, one of the best threads I've seen on Big Soccer. Very good sound to noise ratio on here. I think there are multiple markets for the league to pursue. The American sports fan that godot mentioned is probably the prime one, in that they are the ones most able to unilaterally drop money down on tickets. When the ticket base/attendance goes up, TV can respond to that, not the other way around. To me, the stadium issue is more about financial viability then making the difference between fans attending or not. The youth soccer community is still important. I know some feel they are too difficult to reach, but there are just too many people involved in this, who therefore have at least SOME acumen for the game, to just ignore. One limitation of this however, is that kids don't make many economic decisions. Most of us who were born in America, had to break from a trend to start following soccer. In my house it wasn't some major act of rebellion to start watching Toby Charles, but my folks, 25 years later, are still not into the game at all and never will be. But my being a Chicago Cubs fan and paying attention to American football and pro golf, all stem from the fact that my dad did this. I grew up with these things on in the house, and going to see MLB games at the stadium. These millions of youth players most likely are not growing up in that environment, because their parents are largely removed from the world of soccer fandom. But when these kids get to be adults and make spending decisions, well maybe they will choose soccer. It's a long time to wait, but it is worth the long-term investment to at least get them familiar with the professional game in this country. As for the snobs, expats, who won't watch. I won't be quite as final in my assessment as godot (who raised many good points). I agree that most of them won't be watching anytime soon, but I wasn't likely to watch MLS in its first couple of season, and then noticed the quality of play improving and started paying to watch. As that aesthetic improvement continues, and other benefits of the league's progress kick in (more teams, more meaning to the regular season vs. playoffs, more recognizeable players), I think many in this group can slowly be won over - and the value of that is that they will be 100 proof support when they do come in. But I am optimistic about things, more than I was even a couple of months ago.
And a personal observation. I went to several of those World Cup watching events at Crew Stadium at ridiculous A.M. A majority of the other viewers looked to me to be roughly university student-age males. Those guys are the future of ticket-buying sports fans in this culture. The long-term future will be better than the past, if only we don't stumble badly in the meantime and throw away the momentum.
I'm obviously in the minority here since I'm a female. I've been at bigsoccer for a long time but never posted because I never felt like getting flamed for my opinion. I've played since I was 5, now I play club and for high school. My oldest brother decided to try out for soccer with the neighbor boy a long time ago and still plays in a rec leauge 22 years later. My oldest sister was on the first high school girls soccer team in the city. I could continue with all 9 of my brothers and sisters, but it'd be easier to say that soccer is religion to us. That doesnt mean we're going to watch it though, we'd play it but not always watch. We'd watch soccer if it was on while we were channel surfing but not otherwise. Then the World Cup came on and it was easy to see why it was a big deal.. I spent so many hours on ESPN.com and cnnsi.com, but most of them on bigsoccer. It was almost like a personal accomplisment when soccer made the front page of the sports section. Every win there felt like it was a personal win for yourself and every loss was heartbreaking. That's because I felt connected. Then of course when the WC ended I needed to see soccer again. I needed to see my players play. By watching WC players in MLS that gradually introduced me to players not on the Nat. team, like Mulrooney, Twellman, ect. And of course I needed to find updates on John O'Brien, Claudio Reyna, and the rest of the Yanks overseas. If MLS can make casual fans feel connected, they'll come back to see how their players and their team is doing.
For good or for evil, I am bringing this topic back because it is a good read for those who haven't read it. As for me, I like soccer first because I grow up in another country, then while in the U.S. with no soccer in sight (TV) I tune into baseball, basketball, but for some reason despise football. Then 3 years ago, I start to understand American football and find it entertaining. When MLS starts in 1996, I tune in games where I can watch on TV (ABC) because I didn't have cable. Then again in WC 98, and WC 02. Waking up early for the U.S. matches as well as several others, I knew that soccer will always be my number one sport. And thanks to bigsoccer as well as FSW and MLS games being on TV that I can watch, I am now a huge soccer and MLS fan. I used to like baseball and basketball because they are on regular TV, now I am a casual fans that might catch a game or two and that is it. I watch hockey but only in the playoff if my team make it. And when they are out, I lost interest. Even though the nearest MLS team is like 1000 miles away, I do support MLS and hope that it will expand to Seattle soon. Each sport has its own 'good' and 'bad' in term of entertainment, however soccer's 'relatively few interuptions' make the game a lot more enjoyable.
I am one of the converted players who now enjoys viewing the sport. That was not always the case. During my playing days, I could not figure out why in the world someone would actually watch the game. I also played high school football and basketball, but I preferred soccer because it was the one sport where I felt free on the field and not as if I were robotically executing a directive from the coach. My thought was that if you weren't participating, soccer would be a terribly boring game to watch. I gradually started watching soccer more as a point of national pride than real interest in the game. I followed the MNT in the early 90's and even though I hated watching their style of play, I wanted to see them succeed. It was like being on crack. I didn't want to take the next hit, but I had to. One of my best friends was a soccer watching nut, and it seems like every single time we got together it was over a soccer game. Gradually I started to enjoy the game from a different perspective, and I think I have learned as much from watching the game as I did playing it. I think what will turn people on to soccer - SLOWLY - are the big soccer events where your casual sports fan is introduced to the sport. Many people are on these boards now because of 1994. I bet a few years from now we'll meet people on these boards who started watching soccer when Manchester United toured the US in 2003. I wasn't necessarily a fan of MLS when the league started, either. I watched because I liked watching soccer, but I really disdained a lot of what I saw happening on the field. It hasn't been until the past 2-3 years that I have really felt good about some of the play that I have seen. Like others, I am very optimistic about the direction of the league, and I can see MLS rival the quality of other leagues like MFL and lower European leagues within the next 2-3 years.
What makes you say that? It's not like Campos, Hermosillo or Hernandez managed to add a large number of ticket buyers to the RB attendance.