MLS overtakes NHL and NBA as third-most attended league

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The MLS looks to keep getting better and better. I'm hoping the new stadium the Vikings are getting attract an MLS team. I know the Viking owners want to bring a team here.
 
Crazy statistic, particularly since the level of play is generally pretty poor compared to most top-end national leagues.
 
bean breath said:
Hockey is definitely fun to watch live but I'm going to have to disagree with you about their crowds. I don't know, maybe this is just in San Jose but they are are strict as fuck.

You can't get up at all until play is whistled dead. The ushers are stationed at the entrance to the concourse, so if you wait for the whistle, go take a piss, and play resumes before you make it back, they'll make you wait on the stairs below the stands. This is fine I guess.

However, if the game hasn't resumed yet and the usher let's you threw but then the ref whistles for play to begin before you make it to your seat, the people in your row will not get up and make you stand/sit in the aisle (usually sit because all the people behind you will be cursing and throwing shit at you). I couldn't believe it when I saw it the first time but it's pretty funny to watch people arguing to be let threw.

I've seen people almost get into a fight once because some guy's girlfriend got up and left while the game was going on and a guy in the back heckled her while she was walking down the aisle because she was blocking the view.

Also, you can't lean forward in your seat, lol. When I went to my first game my view was blocked and I was so far up that I had to lean, I wasn't even conscious of it until the guy behind me let me know. Apparently there's a disclaimer on the scoreboard before the game but I missed it that time. So then I had to sit back and barely be able to see the rink. I've had people lean forward in front of me several times but I'm too much of a pussy to say anything. One time it was a guy with an Aryan Nation tattoo on his neck. Didn't even know there were white supremacists in San Jose.

So if anyone is reading this and thinking about going to a Sharks game for cheap, do what I do and buy tickets for the very last row. You can lean forward, stand up, stand and lean against the wall, whatever. Plus you get a better view than the people 5-10 rows in front of you as a result.
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That sounds pretty shitty.

As far as I know, the only rule at Wells Fargo is that if you get up the Usher will not allow you back to your seat until play stops, you can still get up if play is on though. I try to get an aisle seat, so I don't bother many people when I have to get up.
 
Zia said:
Crazy statistic, particularly since the level of play is generally pretty poor compared to most top-end national leagues.
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This is due to a lot of reasons - of course not the least of which is the skill level of players.

1) Officiating that lets too much go
2) An institutionalized preference toward 'athletic' play rather than 'skillful' play
3) Salary cap (which is for the league's own good in avoiding the fate of the NASL)


It's improving little by little.
 
entrement said:
Smiles and Cries said:
I took the time since I last posted to read wiki and MLS websites

I got side tracked on NYC2 expansion saga aka The Cosmos
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dayum now I'm a Cosmos fan
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I'd love a documentary on the North American Soccer League. Crazy that is died. :(. But nice to see MLS take up the torch.
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There's a really good one on the New York Cosmos

but yeah a documentary on the entire NASL would be interesting...
 
xbhaskarx said:
There's a really good one on the New York Cosmos

but yeah a documentary on the entire NASL would be interesting...
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Me and my son watched it on Netflix the other night, was really good.

Another one I suggest, that is on the PSN/PS3 movie store..
rise_and_shine_the_jay_demerit_story.jpg


Not so much about the league but its a great story about a current MLS star/US player.
The true story of a young American’s impossible journey – a journey never experienced or heard of in the soccer world. After college, Jay’s dream of playing pro soccer in Europe seemed unreachable. Sleeping in an attic, painting houses and eating beans and toast to survive, Jay took the most unlikely route to the top. After not making the professional leagues in the U.S., Jay left for Europe at the age of 21 without any professional experience – only a passport, $1500 and a backpack full of dreams. The film documents Jay’s journey from the bottom – playing in Sunday park leagues and lower level division London clubs earning 40 pounds a week – to playing in the English Premier League – to starting in the 2010 World Cup. The Jay DeMerit Story is a story of perseverance, hard work and relentless belief in a dream… It is a story that needs to be told.
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I don't even like soccer much, but it's really exciting to spend an evening at a Seattle Sounders game. My friends and I meet at the Central Saloon, destroy a whole bunch of beers, join in with the mob of lunatics forming in Pioneer Square, and then march and chant all the way to the stadium.

Those games are fucking BANANAS.
 
Another "somebody" just joined the league today also :)
He might be a bit older but still a quality player for the league.

Nesta_0.jpg


Impact reach verbal agreement with Nesta on 18-month deal

MONTREAL – Alessandro Nesta was at Impact training on Thursday. He was wearing team colors. He is not, however, officially a member of the squad just yet.

With the former AC Milan center back clad in Montreal blue and sharing a laugh with Marco Di Vaio in the background, sporting director Nick De Santis confirmed on Thursday that Nesta and Montreal had reached a verbal agreement on an 18-month deal. De Santis added that the club could make an official announcement in the coming hours once the paperwork is complete.
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Mr. Serious Business said:
Minnesota seems like a pretty logical place for expansion just based on NASL attendance at its peak:

http://www.kenn.com/the_blog/?page_id=496

The Minnesota Kicks averaged around 24,000 attendance in 1979.
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In 1978 Minnesota had almost 31k, second only to the New York Cosmos who had 48k.

Jesus some of these team names, Rowdies, Kicks, Roughnecks, Sockers, Tea Men...
24WEP.jpg



Also, they should have just contracted the bottom half dozen teams for having insufficient attendance.
 
Pollux said:
I had to bump this thread with this awesome .gif my friend sent me...


Why Americans Hate Soccer:
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haha I love the one guy who kicks and misses and does some little sissy mid air flop. How any of these people can look at themselves without questioning their manhood is beyond me.
 
I don't know why some of you are assuming that people are getting tickets for free. Seattle Sounders tickets are expensive as hell last time I checked and they consistently sell out.
 
Man, it's about time that soccer started getting proper respect in this country. It's tied with baseball as my favorite sport. What other game challenges people so much both as individuals and as a team?

I've always considered the discrepancy in dead time during the match compared to something like the NFL (to give room for advertisers) as the deciding factor of why it wouldn't catch on properly here.

The population of the US is diverse enough though...

MLS is the sport the US deserves, but not the one it needs right now.
 
I don't have any issue with any popular sports in America. Football, Baseball, Basketball, and Hockey can be exciting as hell if you invest the time to watch or follow a season. I just wish more of the public at large could learn to appreciate sports like soccer that don't have a huge following. If the majority of the world or another country enjoys it, there has to be a reason. MLS soccer isn't as ghetto as some of the non north americans assume it is either.
 
see5harp said:
I don't know why some of you are assuming that people are getting tickets for free. Seattle Sounders tickets are expensive as hell last time I checked and they consistently sell out.
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Because they strongly dislike soccer and need some kind of reason to explain away this growth in attendance (see: people still clinging to "the stadiums are so much bigger!")
 
xbhaskarx said:
Why not Boston Tea Party or New England Minutemen? Strange choice... I do like their logo, the Tampa Bay Mutiny should have stolen it instead of going with that weird bat thing...
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The Minutemen would be good. Tea Party sounds okay on paper but would sound ridiculous IRL. I'm curious if a Tampa Bay team would work now. Florida teams usually don't rank very well in attendance.
 
XMonkey said:
Because they strongly dislike soccer and need some kind of reason to explain away this growth in attendance (see: people still clinging to "the stadiums are so much bigger!")
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I know that Seattle is known for having a particularly rowdy and energetic crowd but I can only assume it's growing in popularity all over the country (I admit the Seahawks and Mariners sucking and losing an NBA team doesn't hurt matters).
 
Tampa Bay Mutiny folded because they didn't have any ownership and were run by the league. They had good attendance when they were around. I wish they would come back.
 
Mr. Serious Business said:
The Minutemen would be good. Tea Party sounds okay on paper but would sound ridiculous IRL. I'm curious if a Tampa Bay team would work now. Florida teams usually don't rank very well in attendance.
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Oh I agree that Boston Tea Party would be a bad name, I just mean I'm surprised they didn't use it instead of New England Tea Men. At least it makes sense and has some historical basis.

We'll find out soon enough, MLS will continue to grow and I'm sure some city in Florida will be in the running for one of the upcoming expansion teams (probably Orlando or Miami, though).
 
Most recent stats put out this week now how the MLS as the 7th most attended Soccer league in the world.

Not to shabby :)

Also looks like a rise of Socttish players is becoming a growing trend

MLS is fast becoming a home away from home for Scottish players. First Kris Boyd inked a deal with Portland. Then his former Rangers teammate Steve Smith joined him in the Rose City. Ex-Celtic midfielder Barry Robson joined the Whitecaps last month, and now it looks like the rumored deal to bring international striker Kenny Miller to Vancouver is done.

“I told Kenny all about the club and he is excited about coming," Robson said, according to The Sun. “Kenny will be a great addition. He’s a top-quality player and everybody will be excited about his arrival. He is the type of player who would fit into any team. He is a goalscorer, he has talent and is intelligent. Kenny will offer a lot to the side with his pace, movement and goals. He is a top player."

Miller, who has spent time with Rangers, Celtic and Wolverhampton, among others, was most recently on the books at Cardiff City, where he scored 11 goals in 50 overall appearances.

“He’s a proven scorer at the highest level," Robson said, "and I’m looking forward to him becoming part of it all."
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(Kenny Miller did sign with Van. this week)

As well as more coaches in more prestigous leagues taken a glance at the talent and league in general

WFC: Chelsea boss Di Matteo keeping an eye on MLS
“I tend to watch a bit more MLS games now sometimes because of the players that are involved.”

Those were the words of Chelsea FC manager Roberto Di Matteo, and on the surface the mind immediately leaps to the likes of David Beckham and Thierry Henry. There’s little question that those are the league’s best-known names, guys who capture the attention of the average fan – not to mention the average UEFA Champions League manager.

But then Di Matteo listed off the players he was talking about.

“They have some very good players," he said. "We obviously know Eddie Johnson a bit better than the others, but you know, [Mauro] Rosales, [Álvaro] Fernández – they’ve got some good players and it’ll be interesting to play them.”

Di Matteo is familiar with Johnson from the latter’s days in England. But the other two? That’s scouting.
“I followed the game they had against Red Bull [last weekend], so we have information about the Sounders,” Di Matteo explained.

And he doesn’t expect a walk in the park. The Swiss-Italian manager has been around the block a few times and knows what to look for in preseason. In the case of MLS, that’d be “a rising tide.”

“The perception that we have in Europe about the MLS is that it is improving,” Di Matteo explained. “And the fact that you sign players at a younger age now – very good players that have a proven track record in European leagues.”

It’s been one of the stories of the past several years, as the league as a whole has stemmed the tide of players leaving for the likes of the Danish or Swedish leagues, and begun to claim in-demand players like Fernández, Kris Boyd and others all on the right side of 30.

That’s all part of the allure for Chelsea, who are working to integrate several new faces and patch some holes left by the departure of a few familiar ones for their title defense. Starting in North America, then, made sense.

“The club has been here before,” Di Matteo said, referencing the two previous US tours Chelsea have taken in recent years. “They had a very good experience as I said, you know for preseason. You look at the training facilities that you have, the opposition that you are able to play in the friendly games, the preseason games.”

As for the game itself, along with scouting the Sounders on the field Di Matteo’s taken stock of the team and culture off the pitch as well. And he likes what he’s seen.

“It’s one of the best-supported MLS teams, 34,000 season ticket holders as far as I’m aware,” Di Matteo offered. “They’ve got a great fan base – very crazy about soccer here in Seattle. I know about the fans walking all together to the stadium which is a great gesture, I think. Very nice.”
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CountAntonius said:
Now it's time to rack up those World Cups.
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This is what I'm thinking.

Honestly, I'm thinking a bit of globalization and good ol' fashioned nationalism are behind the rising popularity of soccer in the U.S. With the internet we now have access to good soccer (Champions League, etc.), and a lot of us wish we were better competitors in the World Cup and the Olympics, so the sport is gaining traction in a way it was never able to previously.
 
BertramCooper said:
Not too surprising. The NBA is a terrible organization. There are too many teams, the regular season is too long, the playoffs are far too long, the officiating is horrible, and worst of all, there is ZERO parity - even less than the MLB.

David Stern needs his ass fired. He's a cynical old bastard who is completely unwilling to respond to any legitimate criticism.
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Yeah it's not as if David Stern has been the commish of the NBA during its most successful times and has spread the game worldwide. No sir.
 
makingmusic476 said:
This is what I'm thinking.

Honestly, I'm thinking a bit of globalization and good ol' fashioned nationalism are behind the rising popularity of soccer in the U.S. With the internet we now have access to good soccer (Champions League, etc.), and a lot of us wish we were better competitors in the World Cup and the Olympics, so the sport is gaining traction in a way it was never able to previously.
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I agree about this.

growing up in the 80's and 90's I dont think i ever saw or read a single thing about international soccer. It was never on TV and never in any paper.

But now my son who is 11 has more international, national, and local soccer then he can fit in a day.
We have Fox Soccer, GolTV, the internet with a million news stories and a million videos.

I think my sons generation will get us damn close to a cup and I think his children might be the generation that gets its.
Well, hopefully :)
 
fluffydelusions said:
Nice to see the sport getting some attention here it's just a shame our teams are all terrible lol.
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Not really. Several teams have been competitive internationally recently. Real Salt Lake in particular has been very good in recent years though they are a bit down right now.

Glad to see MLS growing. I haven't been to a game yet but I intend to.
 
Kuroyume said:
The NBA is a poor quality product. Just kill half the teams. Bobcats, Raptors, Clippers, Timberwolves, Bucks, Magic, Warriors, Rockets, etc all deserve to die. And the lottery is fucking stupid. I'd also like to see them let players get a bit more physical instead of calling fouls for slaps on the wrist.
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This is actually an interesting point. The sport really is dominated by big market teams which is good if ALL you care about is short term profits and finals ratings, but if you look at the NFL it thrives on the fact that many of its big market teams suck ass.

In the NBA really the only perennially good small market teams are the Jazz, Rockets? Maybe a couple others?
 
Pollux said:
I had to bump this thread with this awesome .gif my friend sent me...


Why Americans Hate Soccer:
1729.gif
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Yeah won't lie. I WANT to be an MLS/Soccer fan but I never will be until this shit goes away + goal line tech. Tradition can suck my balls.

I am talking about post game video reviews and suspensions.
 
CoffeeJanitor said:
Yeah it's not as if David Stern has been the commish of the NBA during its most successful times and has spread the game worldwide. No sir.
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Pretty much every commissioner from the 1990s-2012 has been the commish during that league's most successful times and has spread the game worldwide (MLB and NFL actually play regular season games on other continents), aside from old timey sports like boxing and horseracing that are on the decline. You could say the same about Bud Selig (preemptive MLB vs NBA response here). Hell you could say the same about UFC's Dana White... he must be a genius!


Wafflecakes said:
Yeah won't lie. I WANT to be an MLS/Soccer fan but I never will be until this shit goes away + goal line tech. Tradition can suck my balls.

I am talking about post game video reviews and suspensions.
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1. None of those video clips are from MLS, diving is not nearly as big a problem here as it is in some other leagues

2. Goal-line tech has been approved by FIFA as of a few weeks ago, so it is coming...

3. Yeah too bad no such postgame review system is in place OH WAIT it actually exists in the one league you mentioned:

MLS Disciplinary Committee Suspends and Fines Real Salt Lake Forward Alvaro Saborío

NEW YORK (July 29, 2011) - The Major League Soccer Disciplinary Committee today suspended Real Salt Lake forward Álvaro Saborío one game and fined him $1,000 for putting the game in disrepute in the 61st minute of his team's game against the San Jose Earthquakes on July 23.(click here to see the play)

The Disciplinary Committee determined that Saborío fell in a deliberate attempt to deceive the officials and gain an unfair advantage. The subsequent foul and penalty kick goal had a direct impact on the match and will impact San Jose's next match because San Jose defender Bobby Burling was issued a red card on the play.

Players were warned by League officials against this type of behavior prior to the start of the season and again following the discipline levied against Charlie Davies on June 24, 2011.

"As previously stated, all instances of obvious simulation and/or embellishment that directly impact the game will be subject to severe discipline, including fine, suspension or both," MLS Executive Vice President Nelson Rodríguez said. "We will continue to impose sanctions, and even increase their level, if necessary, in an attempt to eliminate this type of behavior."

The MLS Players Union appealed on Saborío's behalf, but the Committee's decision was upheld by MLS Commissioner Don Garber. Saborío will serve his suspension during Saturday's game against the Columbus Crew.

Fines collected are donated to MLS W.O.R.K.S., Major League Soccer's community outreach initiative dedicated to addressing important social issues affecting young people and serves as a platform for both League and club philanthropic programs. MLS W.O.R.K.S. seeks to establish Major League Soccer as a leader for improving the lives of people through sport.
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Amibguous Cad said:
Other pro sports have terrible names, too, they've just been around long enough that most people don't notice it so much.
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You could have listed 90% of the NBA

I would take MLS team names/logos over NBA any day

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250px-Oklahoma_City_Thunder.svg.png

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539px-Washington_Wizards_Logo.svg.png

Charlotte-Current.gif

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And those are just the ones currently in use...
Utah+Jazz+Old.gif

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We need to have a best/worst sports team logos thread. I mean look at these logos, just look at them...

As bad as they are, my favorite has to be the New Jersey Nets. The logo has a basketball. And a rim. BUT NO NET
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Jason Raize '75 - '04 said:
I'm certain the sport would become a national favourite if there was weekly live TV coverage of it.
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There really is, it isnt to hard to find if you check your listings.


New York vs. Chicago
1 pm ET
MSG Plus (NY)
CSN Chicago (CHI)

Chivas vs. Portland
4 pm ET
FS West (CHV)
ROOT Sports (POR)

Toronto vs. Colorado
7 pm ET
SNET One (TOR)
Altitude (COL)

Montreal vs. New England
8 pm ET
CSNNE (NE)

Houston vs. Kansas City
8:30 pm ET
FS Houston/Multimedios (HOU)
KSMO (SKC)


Vancouver vs. Los Angeles
10 pm ET
KDOC/KWHY (LA)
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I've wanted to go to a Sporting Kansas City game for ages, but the ticket prices are completely ridiculous.

I know it makes no sense, because I love soccer, but I just can't justify the cost.

Luckily there's a small indoor soccer organization here in Wichita where I can get my fix.
 
Wuthering_Heights said:
I've wanted to go to a Sporting Kansas City game for ages, but the ticket prices are completely ridiculous.

I know it makes no sense, because I love soccer, but I just can't justify the cost.

Luckily there's a small indoor soccer organization here in Wichita where I can get my fix.
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what do charge for supporter section seats? I know here in Philly its only $25 bucks. Sure the atmosphere is a bit "crazy" in those seats and thier are strict rules (dress code) but its cheap :)
 
I WANT A TEAM IN THE SOUTHEAST AND I WANT IT CLOSE TO WHERE I LIVE PLEASE COME TO COLUMBIA CHARLOTTE CHARLESTON ANYWHERE JUST COME DOWN HERE NOW!
 
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