L.A. Times: Foreign soccer stars no longer putting down MLS
- Thread starter Tripon
- Start date
- Status
~Devil Trigger~
In favor of setting Muslim women on fire
Ah, here comes the Negative Army, with its favorite word "never".
Lol. Maybe 30 - 40 years but please.
Cant wait for such a beautiful sport to spread its bullshit to another continent.
James Hardin and Dwayne Wade already help in that category.
boiled goose
good with gravy
With European clubs and their obscene spending its hard for a non-European to compete like Corinthians did years ago.
By the NHL, probably not. MLS isn't close to the NHL or NBA's market power.
It's pretty huge in Kansas City. Sporting KC has a very passionate following and the World Cup watch parties here were huge. It was pretty cool to see clips of the crowd cheering at the Power and Light watch party used nationwide in promotion and coverage of the World Cup.
I think it could be big in St. Louis, too. There's been talk of trying to get an MLS team there if the new football stadium gets green-lit. The renders showed it in both football and soccer configurations. European clubs have done a number of exhibition games in St. Louis and they generally draw large crowds.
I don't understand where people gets this idea.
CrocMother
Banned
Being able to fly under the radar publicly is a really interesting point.
Can definitely see the appeal there as in Europe I understand the players are major celebrities
Can definitely see the appeal there as in Europe I understand the players are major celebrities
Say what? NHL..growing? I understand it's a very regional sport but I'm amazed to hear it is growing by any metric. It feels like a shadow of itself from the 90s. MLS already averages greater attendance figures than NHL and that number is continuing to improve especially with Chivas gone. MLS TV ratings are still not particularly great, but will improve over time especially as European soccer regularly draws better ratings than the NHL despite the unfortunate start times comparatively speaking.
Chezzymann
Member
The term Soccer comes directly from England. Back then soccer and football were used interchangeably there. We called it one of the correct names at the time. Now other countries don't use it much and we are the 'incorrect' ones for some reason.
Also, the term football refers to playing the sport on foot. Not kicking the ball with your foot. It was used to differentiate the lower class sports from high class ones played on horseback. That's why rugby is called rugby football and american football is called american football. The 'handegg' joke makes me cringe every time at the stupidtiy.
The MLS will remain a retirement league for top European talent. I do see it becoming the top league in North America though. As for the future of the sport in the US, due to the influence of the other big sports in the US, I think Americans will always favour athleticism over technical ability. Because of this the US will never become a top team in soccer. Guys like Messi would never be noticed there.
NYCmetsfan
Banned
The sport has to grow before salaries can.
It is and they are getting payed better and continually will.
NYCmetsfan
Banned
I don't understand this.
The MLS/USA soccer is building and modeling academies like European clubs where younger kids get picked out and start training early so Messi's will be noticed. That's gonna take time but its going to enable us to have homegrown talent. And with the growing MLS they won't all jump ship to europe. There will be a superstar born and bread in america in the next 10 or so years.
I love how we're so bad yet a lot of our players come from teams that did pretty darn well at the world cup
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
I believe the argument many are making is that as more and more information on concussions comes out, more and more people are going to steer their kids to other sports which would affect all those high school and college games, especially as many take into account how hard it is for the average HS player to make it to a major college program with a scholarship, or the average college player to make it to the NFL.
Whether this happens to a significant degree is the main question.
NYCmetsfan
Banned
Another point to remember is that soccer isn't just Europes game, something this board likes to forget.
There are huge leagues in South America and Mexico that the MLS is competing with. Kaka was talking about how two of the biggest teams in Brazil played and they only had 16,000 or something and his first game here had 63,000. With the MLS usually averaging in the high teens low 20,000s were out preforming soccer crazed countries like Brazil in attendance.
There are huge leagues in South America and Mexico that the MLS is competing with. Kaka was talking about how two of the biggest teams in Brazil played and they only had 16,000 or something and his first game here had 63,000. With the MLS usually averaging in the high teens low 20,000s were out preforming soccer crazed countries like Brazil in attendance.
All the players mentioned in the article are either not stars or are aged over 30.
There have been some pretty decent footballers who have moved to the Middle East, China or MLS recently. Asamoah Gyan has scored 68 goals in 56 games for a team in the UAE the last couple of seasons.
If you throw silly money and a bit of anonymity at players some of them will sacrifice playing at a higher level, in fact many of those who chose to go are probably secretly happy to be playing at a lower level and dominating rather than be on the fringes of a hyper competitive squad in England (not that they'd ever admit that of course).
Yes from England. No not used interchangeably, "soccer" was an Oxbridge word. This paper suggests usage almost entirely died out in England in the early 20th century and was brought back by American soldiers at the end of WWII: http://ns.umich.edu/Releases/2014/June14/Its-football-not-soccer.pdf
There have been some pretty decent footballers who have moved to the Middle East, China or MLS recently. Asamoah Gyan has scored 68 goals in 56 games for a team in the UAE the last couple of seasons.
If you throw silly money and a bit of anonymity at players some of them will sacrifice playing at a higher level, in fact many of those who chose to go are probably secretly happy to be playing at a lower level and dominating rather than be on the fringes of a hyper competitive squad in England (not that they'd ever admit that of course).
Yes from England. No not used interchangeably, "soccer" was an Oxbridge word. This paper suggests usage almost entirely died out in England in the early 20th century and was brought back by American soldiers at the end of WWII: http://ns.umich.edu/Releases/2014/June14/Its-football-not-soccer.pdf
People stay away from games in Brazil due to poverty (not being able to afford a ticket) and big hooligan problems there.
Big attendance figures like Kaka's MLS debut in the US seem to be driven by cheap tickets and concerted advertising campaigns, it's still a million miles away from Arsenal filling the Emirates every week.
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
If the league continues to do well, I can see them following MLB's current situation - strong local ratings in terms of TV and attendance which offsets more lackluster national TV ratings. People always point at poor ratings of MLB national broadcasts or playoff games, but teams are generally doing well in their own markets. Some of those TV contracts in recent years are pretty ridiculous.
NYCmetsfan
Banned
LOL I love how nothing ever is good enough.
Sao Paulo and Rio have plenty of people that can afford to fill a stadium.
And no the MLS debut wasn't driven by cheap tickets. the cheapest tickets were like 35ish and people bought tickets for a lot more. That's a normal price. The sell out was driven by fan interest. The city was buzzing and its a lot more than Kaka we've had a minor league team that was doing great before the big names came.
And again its not Europe's game not everything needs to be compared to the premiere league
We didn't have a league 20 years ago, now its growing and expanding I don't know why the heck people want to pretend because its not on the level of a league that's 100 years old in a country which seems to have one maybe two big sports, its a failure. Compared to the US which has at least 5 and multiple levels of each
MLB has poor national ratings because its really boring to watch a team that's not yours. there are too many and they don't really matter. Things like football and soccer are fun to watch even when you don't care too much about the team (they also only are once a week) MLB is what 5-6 times a week?
secondspace
Member
The ownership set up is the only reason I can see it not becoming huge. It's probably the sensible way to run things, but holding the wages back does mean that the best american athletes will play something else.
Lashley
Why does he wear the mask!?
Bit unfair to compare Brazillian football with the MLS IMO.
A lot of Americans have expendable income so they can afford to go to the games, whereas in Brazil there are a lot of people in poverty.
That's not me calling the MLS before anybody gets all butthurt and defensive.
A lot of Americans have expendable income so they can afford to go to the games, whereas in Brazil there are a lot of people in poverty.
That's not me calling the MLS before anybody gets all butthurt and defensive.
The fact that you have youth academies doesn't matter, ask England. just compare the type of youth players that come out from Spain to England for example. it's night and day.
it's not enough to just train young kids, you have to train them right. At a young age kids should be playing futsal for example. in the end it all depends on which types of players the US will favour and if they will favour a kid that has speed over another that has better dribbling skills.
Easystride
Member
I think if any of the leagues want to catch up to the NFL in popularity, they are going to have to ditch this cable-exclusivity thing. More and more people are cutting cable from their budget. At least with the NFL, you can watch your local market's games on an antenna. They need to cut out the BS blackouts of local games on the streaming services.
Hyperactivity
Banned
Soccer was also a term coined in England
And the fact that you use the fact that we call it soccer (when talking about the MLS on top of it) as some major deal that shows off how rude and stupid Americans are is more indicative of
Off-Kilter
Banned
What's wrong with New York City FC again?lets list them all, the guilty ones that is:
Real Salt Lake.
Toronto FC
FC Dallas
New York City FC
Orlando City SC
D.C. United
Sporting Kansas City
it's not only the name, it's even the fuckin shields
even when the US did away with the British and their monarchy, they still find away to slip a Crown in their crest
It does seem like MLS is finally starting to get some respect internationally, but I think the product on the field still has a long way to go before it can be thought of as a top 15 or maybe even a top 20 league in the world.
I have seen the improvement first hand though (been watching on and off since 97) and it's been great. My local team (the revolution) are a pretty good watch now! I used to go to those games and think I'd be the best player on the field if they gave me a shot
I have seen the improvement first hand though (been watching on and off since 97) and it's been great. My local team (the revolution) are a pretty good watch now! I used to go to those games and think I'd be the best player on the field if they gave me a shot
Manchester City owns them, so they have the same colors. Not really sure why it's wrong.
Perfect Blue
Banned
Americans are okay with 2 teams winning it when it comes to the NBA so why wouldn't they be okay with it happening in the MLS? In any case, I doubt that would happen so severely in the MLS anyway - Toronto FC has the highest salary in the league yet they're pretty damn terrible. Money isn't a guarantee of success in American sports - at least not as much as it is in Europe. Baseball has no salary cap yet they have more varied winners than the NBA and NFL. Here is the 2014 salary figures: http://www.stathunting.com/2014/04/11/mls-salaries-visualized/
Also, promotion/relegation would indeed be awesome. It gives the bottom teams something to play for and is hella exciting to watch.
Lol dude, that happened in London, Ontario not the US.
Off-Kilter
Banned
Haha yeah I know, I'm very curious to see why he has a problem with it.
It's revenue is growing and their recent TV deals are huge in Canada and the United States.
The NHL is growing among younger demographics as well.
The NHL has MUCH higher average ticket prices than the MLS and the NHL TV deals in Canada and the US dwarf the MLS. They aren't really comparable at all.
They aren't even close when you pull out the revenue drawn from just Canadian teams.
Let's also compare the quality of the players.
Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Claude Giroux, Steven Stamkos, Pekka Rinne, Shea Weber.
The NHL has the best players in the world. They are the biggest league around in an international sport that spans continents.
The MLS will never recruit a Sidney Crosby level talent to come over to the MLS in their prime. The MLS isn't competitive with the NHL in terms of compensating their players either.
The NHL is much closer to catching the NBA than MLS is to the NHL. It's not close.
Always-honest
Banned
I have no doubt people LIKE to live and play in the U.S.
The City and Real names in MLS names are the only groan worthy club names.
I just got into soccer/football after the World Cup and only caught a few MLS games. There are moments of brilliance but the pace and sustained level of effort is so different compared to BPL, La Liga and Bundesliga. Yesterday's Columbus Crew vs Toronto FC game was incredibly sad to watch from an effort standpoint. Toronto just gave up after going down to 10 men. Keep in mind that I just watched PSG come back and win against Chelsea when they were down to 10 men.
Maybe I need to watch better matches but I am taking what I can get. And so far, MLS isn't high on my list of sports to watch...
I just got into soccer/football after the World Cup and only caught a few MLS games. There are moments of brilliance but the pace and sustained level of effort is so different compared to BPL, La Liga and Bundesliga. Yesterday's Columbus Crew vs Toronto FC game was incredibly sad to watch from an effort standpoint. Toronto just gave up after going down to 10 men. Keep in mind that I just watched PSG come back and win against Chelsea when they were down to 10 men.
Maybe I need to watch better matches but I am taking what I can get. And so far, MLS isn't high on my list of sports to watch...
bonesmccoy
Banned
Average attendance is kind of meaningless as a metric if you're comparing the MLS to the 'big 4' NA leagues. For instance, the CFL has a *much* higher average attendance than the NBA and the NHL (and MLS) - but no one on the planet believes it's a healthy league or is going to overtake the NHL or NBA in popularity or revenue.
League revenues are probably the most useful indicator of a league's health/future. The NHL has had a disastrous 20 years with work stoppages and product delivery issues, and yet it pulled it something like 3.7 billion (an annual increase of 12%) in revenue last year.
MLB is back to being comfortably the number two sport in the US. NBA isn't even close anymore.
vas_a_morir
Banned
You jest, but that man has probably a lower body-fat percentage than you'd think. It takes a lot of muscles to throw the ball with the distance and velocity he does.
entremet
Member
lets list them all, the guilty ones that is:
Real Salt Lake.
Toronto FC
FC Dallas
New York City FC
Orlando City SC
D.C. United
Sporting Kansas City
it's not only the name, it's even the fuckin shields
even when the US did away with the British and their monarchy, they still find away to slip a Crown in their crest
Don't be a Debbie Downer. It's fun and it's just a sign of respect to the Euro leagues, where the highest level of competition resides.
People must forget that MLS is very young. The salary cap will never go away, which is a good thing, but it will rise plenty enough in due time to make the league more and more competitive.
Player salaries are very low right now, but those players still have the option of playing in other leagues to be paid more at the moment. If they were good enough to make big money playing in Europe, they would be in Europe. That will eventually happen, but by the time the US academies catch up, the league might be in a place that keeps them domestic. Much like players, academy workers are going to feel the same tug to come to the US. When those established scouts and trainers come over or US based ones become much more experienced, then MLS will become something scary.
It might not be so crazy to see MLS grow to the point where Financial Fair-Play evolves to compete with a salary capped league. Having parity is something that is taken for granted a lot in US sports, and helps immensely with fan growth.
We're starting to see glimmers of where the league ends up. Just don't expect it in 10 years.
Player salaries are very low right now, but those players still have the option of playing in other leagues to be paid more at the moment. If they were good enough to make big money playing in Europe, they would be in Europe. That will eventually happen, but by the time the US academies catch up, the league might be in a place that keeps them domestic. Much like players, academy workers are going to feel the same tug to come to the US. When those established scouts and trainers come over or US based ones become much more experienced, then MLS will become something scary.
It might not be so crazy to see MLS grow to the point where Financial Fair-Play evolves to compete with a salary capped league. Having parity is something that is taken for granted a lot in US sports, and helps immensely with fan growth.
We're starting to see glimmers of where the league ends up. Just don't expect it in 10 years.
Ganzlinger
Member
Soccer was also a term coined in England
And the fact that you use the fact that we call it soccer (when talking about the MLS on top of it) as some major deal that shows off how rude and stupid Americans are is more indicative of
What's wrong with Ireland?
Syph Medwes
Member
quality reply
Dr Campino
Member
I've been watching MLS for about 7 years now, since TFC's second season, and I've been to numerous games and love the atmosphere. It's probably a toss-up between that and the NHL for my favourite league, too.
I'm glad the league is growing as it is. Getting Giovinco while he's still in his 20s is a good move, and Orlando City signed a 20-year-old Honduran striker as one of their three Designated Players, too. So it's not like they're all 35-year-olds in the twilight of their careers.
Seeing promising young players move from MLS to Norway and Denmark is kind of disappointing, but I don't anticipate that'll happen forever.
I do expect we'll really start to see quality talent coming through the MLS academies, and most teams have a number of homegrown players on their rosters.
The huge attendance numbers in some cities (like Seattle usually drawing 38,000 but sometimes into the 50,000s for games vs Portland and Vancouver) is really promising, too. Toronto's currently expanding their stadium to hold about 30,000 (up from about 22,000).
Sadly, they are generally pretty bad. They just do well in attendance.
I'm glad the league is growing as it is. Getting Giovinco while he's still in his 20s is a good move, and Orlando City signed a 20-year-old Honduran striker as one of their three Designated Players, too. So it's not like they're all 35-year-olds in the twilight of their careers.
Seeing promising young players move from MLS to Norway and Denmark is kind of disappointing, but I don't anticipate that'll happen forever.
I do expect we'll really start to see quality talent coming through the MLS academies, and most teams have a number of homegrown players on their rosters.
The huge attendance numbers in some cities (like Seattle usually drawing 38,000 but sometimes into the 50,000s for games vs Portland and Vancouver) is really promising, too. Toronto's currently expanding their stadium to hold about 30,000 (up from about 22,000).
Sadly, they are generally pretty bad. They just do well in attendance.
lol no. A salary capped team will never be as competitive payment wise as a non capped league. The thing about salary caps is that they are always decided by the owners, and the owners will never put it high enough to stave off European owners. Shit just look at MLB player salries compared to NFL player salaries. MLB pays much better despite bringing in less revenue than NFL.
vas_a_morir
Banned
Gaelic Football.
- Status