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Reason MLS doesn't make as much money, or soccer in general in the US, is there aren't any TV timeouts for commercials.
Thats utter tripe. MSNBC and FOX for out a LOT of money to show the PL and ECL and their viewing figures are pretty high, especially when you think that some of the PL games are at 6 or 7 in the morning.
No timeouts and commercials is not the reason. If MLS was a quality league, they would be able to sell the half time ads at a huge premium like they do in the UK. I love MLS, but the quality is **** poor at the best of times and I see no sign of change when you bring in more teams and water down the talent pool even more. Yes they dive into south america and europe but theyre not bringing in quality. You can through DP's at me either, they dont count, plus many are old and past it. If they were world class theyd be playing for a proper team making great money.
So, for how many decades now have soccer fans been saying that Americans will soon come-around and become as big of soccer fans as the rest of the world?
Ain't gonna happen.
So youre saying MSNBC spent a billion for no reason ? The viewing figures for the PL are actually really good considering the time difference. Also there is an estimated 26k people traveling accross the water to watch the PL.
MLS having poor figures has no real relation to the popularity of football here, its just a poor league. You generally have to be a true fan of football to enjoy MLS. Your avg PL fan from here loves the glamour of the game. You dont get that in MLS.
So youre saying MSNBC spent a billion for no reason ? The viewing figures for the PL are actually really good considering the time difference. Also there is an estimated 26k people traveling accross the water to watch the PL.
MLS having poor figures has no real relation to the popularity of football here, its just a poor league. You generally have to be a true fan of football to enjoy MLS. Your avg PL fan from here loves the glamour of the game. You dont get that in MLS.
Yeah, I agree... I love MLS also, but it's especially apparent at this time of year how poor the quality of play is. I just went to the Orlando vs Montreal game on Saturday with my kids, and we kept cringing at some of the **** poor plays we were seeing. It's entertaining to watch nonetheless, but really, it's like comparing ECHL to NHL in terms of quality of play. The difference is the stadiums still get fairly full in MLS (with some averaging over 20k fans/game) so the atmosphere is always intense. But yeah, the play is pretty bad in terms of pro football.
That being said, I do believe some players just genuinely want to play here, where they can shine and make a decent living on this side of the globe, versus being a secondary player abroad for a few bucks more. Remember Altidore playing in PL? He's good, but was virtually invisible out there. Here, he is a star making good money still.
Same goes for Orlando with Dom Dwyer: He's a local hero for those who follow soccer here. He was offered something over $3M to play in Europe a few years back, but opted to go come to Orlando for some $600k or so. He also has endorsements here to further fatten his pocket.
It's interesting that US soccer fans who favor the MLS will sometimes get annoyed that other soccer fans prefer to watch La Liga, Serie A, Premiere League etc. over the MLS. The bar I go to to watch the Premiere League is also a meetup for the local soccer team and some of those fans give people crap for not watching local soccer and instead watching European leagues.
So, for how many decades now have soccer fans been saying that Americans will soon come-around and become as big of soccer fans as the rest of the world?
Ain't gonna happen.
One thing I find annoying is how people will be like "soccer is the most popular sport in the world, America needs to catch on." That's a pretty dumb reason for people needing to start watching soccer here in the US.
Correct, because the quality of play in MLS doesn't hold a candle to what's being played elsewhere. Give American soccer fans credit, they are interested in good soccer, as evidenced by the large sums of money paid by FOX, NBC, and ESPN for the rights to the Bundesliga, Premier League, and Champions League, as well as of course the World Cup.
A high quality American professional soccer league could generate significant revenues. Unfortunately we don't have that league and with the current people running the MLS, probably won't until they're gone.
Time Difference / Time Zone is also a factor. European Soccer can still be seen late night in China / India/ Middle East/ Africa. It can be seen in USA too in daytime. International TV rights is one key revenue factor.
By the time MLS matches start, it is 2 AM in soccer audience markets. Thats why revenue is less.
One thing I find annoying is how people will be like "soccer is the most popular sport in the world, America needs to catch on." That's a pretty dumb reason for people needing to start watching soccer here in the US.
I disagree, it's a VERY good reason to watch Football ( I hate the Soccer word ), but not to watch the MLS.
One thing I find annoying is how people will be like "soccer is the most popular sport in the world, America needs to catch on." That's a pretty dumb reason for people needing to start watching soccer here in the US.
Also, why should 20% of Americans who appreciate and love the game of soccer bow to the wishes of 80% of those who just happen to be ignorant and dismissive of the worldwide game?
If those 80% never come around, it doesn't affect Americans who came around either recently or long ago.
It's a generational thing. MLS is now close to matching MLB in terms of popularity in the US; the former is rising while the latter is fading. Soccer still something of a niche sport, but I'm expecting the numbers to grow if only because of the massive number of kids playing it. Concerned parents who don't want their kids getting CTE from American Football are turning to other sports, and soccer is a great one for keeping fit. Plus you don't need to be a genetic freak to excel at it; most soccer players are under six feet tall. The older US audience who still (ignorantly) pan the sport will fade out. In a generation or two, the US will be a world soccer power.
It's a generational thing. MLS is now close to matching MLB in terms of popularity in the US; the former is rising while the latter is fading. Soccer still something of a niche sport, but I'm expecting the numbers to grow if only because of the massive number of kids playing it. Concerned parents who don't want their kids getting CTE from American Football are turning to other sports, and soccer is a great one for keeping fit. Plus you don't need to be a genetic freak to excel at it; most soccer players are under six feet tall. The older US audience who still (ignorantly) pan the sport will fade out. In a generation or two, the US will be a world soccer power.
People over the age of 55 are the ones hanging onto baseball being more popular than soccer. I do agree with you that in a generation or two, the sport will be number three in this country. Now what that means for the mls is different. The mls is simply not as good in quality as epl, la liga, serie a, ligue 1, or Bundesliga. It’s barely even with English champions league. I still support mls though and hope it can get better but they need to come to this realization that they are not like other American sports and this sport isn’t American either. Drafts are great for the other leagues. Not mls. Tanking, while frowned on, is good for the other leagues because they will never face the consequences of relegation. Not mls (well it shouldn’t). I don’t even care for the conference thing either, but they have no choice because they keep adding teams. They might not like to hear it, but pro/rel needs to be in the future. Bottom line, you can’t run this sport like typical American leagues.
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