Playoffs matter in American sports and the MLS playoffs are showing why. In a country with a packed sports marketplace it is difficult for regular season play to really captivate the country. All the other major professional sports, except for the NFL, similarly rely on the playoffs to serve as their premier national platform. This [...]
Filed under: MLS | 2 Comments »
The Washington City Paper has a good overall rundown on the state of DC United’s stadium search. As we all know it’s not pretty. In the campaign for Mayor both Mayor Fenty and challenger Vince Gray have adopted essentially the same line on the stadium – we want United in DC, but economic times are [...]
Filed under: MLS | 6 Comments »
There has been a lot of outraged reaction to Martin Rogers reporting that Landon Donovan’s price tag by MLS was $16 million. In my mind that seems pretty much right on the money. The point made by many is that $16 million for a 28 year old, who therefore has little resale value, makes little [...]
Filed under: MLS, Transfers, Yanks Abroad | 3 Comments »
The great blog Footiebusiness has an interview with the Director of Marketing for the Colorado Rapids. I have noted before that soccer specific stadiums were no panacea for MLS teams, especially when placed in far out suburbs. The argument goes that playing so far outside of town prevents that young 20 something urbanite – the [...]
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While I think MLS teams are doing a relatively good job in their own local markets, especially with attendance, I think they are missing big opportunities to grow their brands and potentially the leagues TV revenues. TV numbers for MLS on ESPN are not great and the notion of the World Cup tv bounce appears [...]
Filed under: Future of American soccer, MLS | 2 Comments »
Curt Onalfo seems like a nice guy and it isn’t largely his fault for United’s disastrous season. But still he deserves a good chunk of blame. Yes United have been hit with injuries. Yes in many ways this was always a rebuilding year for them. Yes they got unlucky with some late goals and blunders. [...]
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WV Hooligan is adamant that MLS take a break from expansion at 20 teams. This makes sense since at 20 teams the league will have reached the size of other big time leagues, it will give it time to consolidate and will give time to allow for the quality of the league to improve. All [...]
Filed under: Future of American soccer, MLS | 5 Comments »
Many have questioned whether the World Cup would provide a boost to MLS. They have rightly pointed out that past big national team tournaments didn’t really have an impact on MLS attendance. But these writers are looking at the place. The World Cup for MLS was not about gaining fans, it was about gaining investors. [...]
Filed under: MLS | 6 Comments »
This past weekend a winless and pathetic DC United attracted more than 18,000 fans to a collapsing and cavernous relic of a stadium on a chili evening in Washington. Yet in Denver, the Colorado Rapids, possessing a respectable record and playing in a shiny and recently built stadium attracted less than 10,000 fans. There is [...]
Filed under: Future of American soccer, MLS, Soccer and Politics | 14 Comments »
With the threat of a strike over and with the league making steady progress year after year, there are lots of reasons to think that this year could be a breakthrough year for Major League Soccer. What do I mean by breakthrough? For instance, if you look at 2009, I would argue that it was [...]
Filed under: Future of American soccer, MLS | 4 Comments »
Max Bergmann
Ken Gude
Pat Garofalo
Jay Heidbrink