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MLS just needs to keep doing what it is doing. It is slowly and steadily approving at a rate that most businesses would kill for. It is the fastest growing league in US sports history. Even MLB and the NFL didnt grow as fast as MLS has.
MLS now has an attendance average higher than the NBA and NHL. Is approaching the sponsorship dollars that the NHL has and is expected to get a very large TV deal in late 2013 that could approach the per game amount of the NHL.
Nothing needs to change in the immediate future. You dont try to fix what isnt broken.
MLS just needs to keep doing what it is doing. It is slowly and steadily approving at a rate that most businesses would kill for. It is the fastest growing league in US sports history. Even MLB and the NFL didnt grow as fast as MLS has.
MLS now has an attendance average higher than the NBA and NHL. Is approaching the sponsorship dollars that the NHL has and is expected to get a very large TV deal in late 2013 that could approach the per game amount of the NHL.
Nothing needs to change in the immediate future. You dont try to fix what isnt broken.
You need to remember that an average NHL or NBA arena cannot hold as many people as an average MLS arena. MLB and NHL teams also play more home games than an MLS team does. So saying the MLS has higher average attendance is a bit skewed.
You need to remember that an average NHL or NBA arena cannot hold as many people as an average MLS arena. MLB and NHL teams also play more home games than an MLS team does. So saying the MLS has higher average attendance is a bit skewed.
The only places that hold more than most arenas are Seattle and New England. Everyone else is playing in a 20k give or take a couple of thousand stadium. Yes, they play more games but we arent talking total attendance, we are talking average attendance. Average attendance is a measuring stick used in sports marketing regardless of how many games are played. Average attendance is simply the average amount of people per game. Number of games does not matter so it is not skewed, it is a fact.
I guess it just needs to assert a certain place in the World hierarchy.
Take Brasil for example, it's Men's team is legendary, but the Brasileraro (sp) is basically an incubator for the next top players to go overseas, even with Brasil's improving economy.
The US soccer scene will never be one of the "best leagues in the world" as some at the HQ will say now and then. The U.S. is likely for the long term to be a developing and selling country. However as the country is so wealthy, provided that the money and interest is there we can be attractive to foreign players (younger ones not older DPs) in the future. Again that is if salary cap rises.
Also, I think hyping up and actually WINNING the CONCACAF Champions League REGULARLY will be a big boost and turning point for the league.
I believe the team in Seattle attracts over 30,000 a game? That's what I call progress. The US is slowly warming to the world sport
Some parts of America are just more into the sport than others. The Pacific Northwest (Seattle & Portland), L.A., Houston, K.C., Chicago, and the Northeast (NY, Philly, D.C., Boston) are BIG into it.
It's not like soccer is completely ignored in the States, but unlike most of the rest of the world, there are more sports to compete with.
Some parts of America are just more into the sport than others. The Pacific Northwest (Seattle & Portland), L.A., Houston, K.C., Chicago, and the Northeast (NY, Philly, D.C., Boston) are BIG into it.
It's not like soccer is completely ignored in the States, but unlike most of the rest of the world, there are more sports to compete with.
I hear this argument an awful lot but to be honest with you I dont think it rings true, there are plenty of other sports played in other countries, in fact just about every sport in the US has its counterpart leagues in other countries with the exception of Gridiron and Baseball. For example in the UK apart from football (soccer) there following sports are also fairly popular:-
Cricket
Rugby (Union & League)
Tennis (Wimbledon anyone?)
Motor Racing (F1, Rallycross, Motorcycle Racing etc)
Horse Racing
Athletics
Boxing
Speedway
Snooker (pretty popular in the UK) etc.
Also despite the fact that the British have not really taken to it there is believe it or not, I believe a British Basketball league, in fact Im sure that if you wanted to you could play Gridiron or Baseball in the UK!
Any kid in the UK has facilities to take up any of these sports in the UK its just that Football (soccer) is so overwhelmingly popular the rest of the sports dont get much of a look in!
This may not be popular with US posters but I believe the MLS will grab much more attention outside the US if the leagues had promotion and relegation to increase competitivity! The playoff system is also very alien to many other nations around the world.
I hear this argument an awful lot but to be honest with you I dont think it rings true, there are plenty of other sports played in other countries, in fact just about every sport in the US has its counterpart leagues in other countries with the exception of Gridiron and Baseball. For example in the UK apart from football (soccer) there following sports are also fairly popular:-
Cricket
Rugby (Union & League)
Tennis (Wimbledon anyone?)
Motor Racing (F1, Rallycross, Motorcycle Racing etc)
Horse Racing
Athletics
Boxing
Speedway
Snooker (pretty popular in the UK) etc.
Also despite the fact that the British have not really taken to it there is believe it or not, I believe a British Basketball league, in fact Im sure that if you wanted to you could play Gridiron or Baseball in the UK!
Yeah, I know there is more than just soccer out there. I didn't say there weren't other sports in other countries. I just said the other sports weren't as much competition for attention and other athletes against soccer.
Now, be honest.... do any one of those sports above match up to:
Any kid in the UK has facilities to take up any of these sports in the UK its just that Football (soccer) is so overwhelmingly popular the rest of the sports dont get much of a look in!
That's my whole point.
And that's the difference with America. Even though NFL is the most popular here, there's STILL very large populations of kids going out for basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer.... some even go into NASCAR in their late teens. Even NASCAR has different divisions, ya know.
Quote:
This may not be popular with US posters but I believe the MLS will grab much more attention outside the US if the leagues had promotion and relegation to increase competitivity! The playoff system is also very alien to many other nations around the world.
I highly doubt the promotion/relegation angle would work here...
The playoffs are as American as apple pie. I think this country is pretty stubborn and you have to make the MLS fit the US mentality not the other way around.
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