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The MLS needs to market to hispanics. It is an investment that could pay off 1000000x fold in the future.
That's a good point I hadn't thought of. Even if newcomers to America are never going to root for an MLS team over whoever they supported in their home country, their children and grandchildren might. I am not sure if I see it happening, but it's not a bad strategy.
By the way, one thing that has bothered me is that in many markets all of the team's games are not on English radio. Some markets even have games on in Spanish but not in English. It is tough for a league to be taken seriously (at least by English-speaking Americans) if the games are not on local radio.
For example, here is the breakdown ...
Chivas USA - no English, all in Spanish
Chicago Fire - no English, most in Spanish
Colorado Rapids - no English, no Spanish
Columbus Crew - all in English, no Spanish
FC Dallas - no English, most likely yes in Spanish
D.C. United - all in English, all in Spanish
Houston Dynamo - all in English, unknown Spanish
Kansas City Wizards - no English, no Spanish
Los Angeles Galaxy - no English, all in Spanish
New England Revolution - all in English, no Spanish
Philadelphia Union - no English, no Spanish
Red Bull New York - no English, all in Spanish
Real Salt Lake - all in English, all in Spanish
San Jose Earthquakes - all in English, home games in Spanish
Seattle Sounders - all in English, most in Spanish
Toronto FC - all in English, no Spanish
Are most MLS fans Spanish-speaking? I don't believe so. Yet, more teams have Spanish-language radio broadcasts than English.
Of course, the significant number of teams without English-language broadcasts (or with no broadcasts in any language whatsoever) cannot be helping the league. Every single MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL team has radio broadcasts of every game. Nearly every NCAA Division I football and basketball team does, too. So do many Division II and III teams as well as minor-league sports teams in a variety of sports. If MLS wants to be considered a "major league" on par with the NHL, then this is something that needs to be fixed. Even if the teams have to pay the radio stations for air time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RjRobb2
I have watched a ton of Seattle home games and I admire the dedication of the fans. However, the passion of Barra Brava and Section 8 are not touched by any other fanbase right now. It takes years to develop that kind of passion.
For what it's worth, our big supporter's group (Emerald City Supporters) has been around for several years and were vocal supporters of the USL team prior to MLS arriving in Seattle. However, I do not know Barra Brava or Section 8 very well, so am not in a position to compare.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RjRobb2
I dont think "Silver Spoon" was the right verbiage. Seattle had the advantages of learning from the mistakes of all the other MLS teams, spawning from a team already in existence, and a well put together ownership group. Many Seattle fans have this arrogance but they need to realize that they would not be what they are without the other teams.
Valid point. Even though we have the most fans and - in my opinion - the best atmosphere, there was a lot that was sacrificed for the good of the league before we ever got here. We hope to help take American soccer - and MLS - to the next level, but you're right - we do also need to be appreciative of what happened before our arrival.
By the way, one thing that has bothered me is that in many markets all of the team's games are not on English radio. Some markets even have games on in Spanish but not in English. It is tough for a league to be taken seriously (at least by English-speaking Americans) if the games are not on local radio.
For example, here is the breakdown ...
Chivas USA - no English, all in Spanish
Chicago Fire - no English, most in Spanish
Colorado Rapids - no English, no Spanish
Columbus Crew - all in English, no Spanish
FC Dallas - no English, most likely yes in Spanish
D.C. United - all in English, all in Spanish
Houston Dynamo - all in English, unknown Spanish
Kansas City Wizards - no English, no Spanish
Los Angeles Galaxy - no English, all in Spanish
New England Revolution - all in English, no Spanish
Philadelphia Union - no English, no Spanish
Red Bull New York - no English, all in Spanish
Real Salt Lake - all in English, all in Spanish
San Jose Earthquakes - all in English, home games in Spanish
Seattle Sounders - all in English, most in Spanish
Toronto FC - all in English, no Spanish
Are most MLS fans Spanish-speaking? I don't believe so. Yet, more teams have Spanish-language radio broadcasts than English.
Of course, the significant number of teams without English-language broadcasts (or with no broadcasts in any language whatsoever) cannot be helping the league. Every single MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL team has radio broadcasts of every game. Nearly every NCAA Division I football and basketball team does, too. So do many Division II and III teams as well as minor-league sports teams in a variety of sports. If MLS wants to be considered a "major league" on par with the NHL, then this is something that needs to be fixed. Even if the teams have to pay the radio stations for air time.
There are two things to be considered here. 1) Soccer is terrible to listen to on the radio. It may be the worst sport to listen to on the radio. The ratings are almost non-existent for radio broadcast in soccer. 2) Spanish radio stations are on the AM dial and probably much, much cheaper to get your games broadcast in.
Also, I believe the Wizards have a spanish radio broadcast.
There are two things to be considered here. 1) Soccer is terrible to listen to on the radio. It may be the worst sport to listen to on the radio. The ratings are almost non-existent for radio broadcast in soccer. 2) Spanish radio stations are on the AM dial and probably much, much cheaper to get your games broadcast in.
Also, I believe the Wizards have a spanish radio broadcast.
Why is soccer horrible to listen to on the radio? If you say because the announcers have horrible quality, then I can see your point since I am sure very few of them grew up learning how to announce soccer (part of why it is important to start making radio broadcasts more available - to help improve the quality down the line when prospective radio announcers get in the habit of listening to broadcasts).
But it is not the sport itself, in my opinion. It's just something people are not used to listening to it on the radio (partly because of the utter lack of MLS radio broadcasts even being available). Personally I have always loved listening to radio broadcasts, whether it was the USL Sounders games or games from England and Scotland being audio broadcast over the Internet (and, in most cases, on local radio stations over there).
I'm sure the ratings for soccer radio broadcasts in the U.S. are probably similar to how TV ratings for games compare to other sports. Either way, this is something where in my opinion MLS teams need to be proactive and help create the interest (and, in turn, the ratings, attendance at games, etc.).
Regarding 2), then English radio broadcasts need to be on AM, as well.
Could be true (KC - Spanish) - I was just going off of that website I linked above.
In my opinion, MLS needs to ensure that English-speaking potential fans are targeted, partly through the availability of English-language radio broadcasts. That way people who are randomly going through the dial may stumble on a game and become interested/curious. And other, already-converted, fans can listen to games if they out and about and not accessible to a television. I know last year our game at Toronto was unexpectedly not broadcast on the radio and there were many upset fans here who had planned on listening to the game (it was on FSC, which many Seattleites do not subscribe to).
It just seems so odd to me that sports and leagues much less popular than MLS have every game on the radio, but MLS teams do not seem too bothered in what is a great avenue to get the word out about their team.
In the age of the DVR, radio is not as important as it once was for sports. I will listen to sports on the radio for teams I dont care about that much. But for my teams, I will record it and watch it later for all sports. Before the DVR, if people were not home, there only choice was to listen on the radio. Now, people can just set there DVRs and watch when they get home.
In fact, I rarely watch anything live anymore including sports games unless I go to a watch party.
The reason that soccer is terrible to listen to on the radio and is that there are 22 players on the field and every single second, all of them are doing something that matters. An announcer can only talk about one player at a time and that takes all the joy out of the sport. It renders listening to the game completely useless IMO. I can get more info from reading the recap after the game is over.
Do there Sounders fans not have DVRs? Also, the MLS website has a subscription service where you can go back and watch old games if they do not have a DVR.
Radio just is not that important anymore. Not to mention that radio is a fading medium that the internet is slowly putting out of business. I dont even see AM/FM radio existing in 20 years. Satellite and Internet radio will take it's place by then. That will make it much easier and cheaper to broadcast games. The MLS and the teams should focus on more important projects for now.
The reason that soccer is terrible to listen to on the radio and is that there are 22 players on the field and every single second, all of them are doing something that matters. An announcer can only talk about one player at a time and that takes all the joy out of the sport. It renders listening to the game completely useless IMO. I can get more info from reading the recap after the game is over.
The announcer can talk about the formations the team is running, strategies, etc. Valid points, however, although I still really like listening to soccer on the radio. Not as good as TV, of course, but better than nothing. And I am definitely the type of person who would much rather follow the game live if at all possible. But we can definitely agree to disagree on these points.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RjRobb2
Do there Sounders fans not have DVRs? Also, the MLS website has a subscription service where you can go back and watch old games if they do not have a DVR.
I think it's more that Sounders fans want to follow the game live. Also, like I said, many people in the Seattle area do not have access to FSC (the channel that was broadcasting that game, which also precluded live Internet video streaming of the game by MLS). I know MLS does make those archives available, but I do not know of many people here who want to watch a taped version of the game if following it live is available.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RjRobb2
Radio just is not that important anymore. Not to mention that radio is a fading medium that the internet is slowly putting out of business. I dont even see AM/FM radio existing in 20 years. Satellite and Internet radio will take it's place by then. That will make it much easier and cheaper to broadcast games. The MLS and the teams should focus on more important projects for now.
True - radio is not as important as it used to be. However, it does still hold an importance. And, if it is not that important (i.e. fewer listeners), then it should not cost the teams much money at all to buy the air time to broadcast the games (in my opinion, definitely worth whatever cost there is). With that said, however, if the teams would make English audio streams (and Spanish in appropriate markets) otherwise available, that would be a step up from what they currently offer (offer satellite radio broadcasts, online broadcasts especially when video is not possible - i.e. for U.S. Cup games, etc.).
Bottom line, it just doesn't make sense to me that so many teams and leagues with significantly less interest than MLS have every game broadcast on radio yet a league that is trying to become mainstream is lacking so much in this area.
Who cares about MLS. There leagues like the EPL and other leagues in the world that are better.
That's part of the reason. Every dollar that is spent on foreign leagues instead of our own league hurts the quality of MLS. Of course MLS is nowhere near the standard of play of the EPL, etc., and it will stay that way if American soccer fans refuse to support it. Wouldn't you rather have top-notch soccer in your own country? Then again, this country is full of front-runners who look down on teams (and leagues) that are not the best in the world.
Who cares about MLS. There leagues like the EPL and other leagues in the world that are better.
Yes, there are. However, how do you expect MLS to become that kind of quality if you do not support it.
People that have this kind of attitude are not very bright. They refuse to support MLS because it is not top tier quality yet but fail to realize that without support the MLS will never get there.
No one can wave a magic wand and the MLS suddently be at the level the EPL is. The MLS is several decades behind those others leagues and needs time and support to get there.
Not to mention that a lot of people couldnt tell the difference between the MLS and EPL if it hit them in the face.
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