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Some people are concerned about attendance


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#91
JBigjake54

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320,000, out of 320 million.  1 in 1,000.

What are the regular season viewing numbers?


We are good enough to beat the best teams, and bad enough to lose to the worst teams. 


#92
hurricane1091

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Not sure. The reality of it is that I was upset that soccer is not mentioned as a major sport, so I took to prove people wrong. Turns out I am wrong. No one cares about it still. I'd be surprised if there are many more fans now versus 10 years ago in 2006.



#93
irishapple21

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MLS is kind of a sub-standard product, so I'm not surprised that a lot of people don't want to watch it. If we are honest with ourselves, we know that's true. We're a bargain basement Mickey Mouse league.

#94
JBigjake54

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And MLS keeps diluting the product by overexpansion.


We are good enough to beat the best teams, and bad enough to lose to the worst teams. 


#95
hurricane1091

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The product is OK, not great. I think in terms of value, MLS is #1. The TV programming on ESPN and FOX is good and legitimate as well. There are some barn burners, like when Seattle hosts Portland. But there's just too many stinkers like the Chicago game we had.

 

Too many teams is something I agree with. I'd rather stop at 20, and increase salary cap and make the teams we have better. Not sure when the play is going to improve.



#96
ianuaditis

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Not sure. The reality of it is that I was upset that soccer is not mentioned as a major sport, so I took to prove people wrong. Turns out I am wrong. No one cares about it still. I'd be surprised if there are many more fans now versus 10 years ago in 2006.

While TV viewership is definitely the gold standard as far as advertising money and everything else, there are other metrics that are relevant and significant in showing that Soccer is far more popular in the US than ever before. 

 

I posted something earlier in the thread about average attendance (and while that's tickets sold and not turnstile count, the fact is as many people are buying soccer tickets as they are to some other 'major' sports.) 

 

the TV ratings problem has big ramifications because higher ratings will mean more money for the league, which means a higher salary cap, which means greater roster depth.  11 vs. 11 this league is as good as Liga MX and many of the lesser Euro leagues, but 11-18 (and further) is where the tiny tiny salary cap is really damaging, and where MLS teams struggle in comparison.

 

I


Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.


#97
JBigjake54

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Liga MX consistently defeat MLS in the Champions League.

Even if MLS averages 21.5K, as claimed at www.statista.com , exceeding NBA & NHL averages, that is nowhere near a true measure of support for the sport.   

http://www.statista....sports-leagues/ 


We are good enough to beat the best teams, and bad enough to lose to the worst teams. 


#98
ianuaditis

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Liga MX consistently defeat MLS in the Champions League.

Even if MLS averages 21.5K, as claimed at www.statista.com , exceeding NBA & NHL averages, that is nowhere near a true measure of support for the sport.   

http://www.statista....sports-leagues/

I'm having trouble understanding how tickets sold is not a 'true measure' of support for a sport. I'm not even going to look into it, but I'm sure that MLS ticket sales far outstrip minor sports like Lacrosse or Rugby or non-major Tennis or what have you.

 

It's kind of like saying 'the Grateful Dead was not a popular band,' because they had only 1 hit record in 30 years, while ignoring the fact that they sold out 100 concerts a year for 20 years.


Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.


#99
sabremike

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Compare the cost of MLS tickets to NHL or NBA tickets. That's the main difference. Also the TV ratings.
Let's Go Buffalo!!!

#100
JBigjake54

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Well, I went to a lot of Dead concerts, so I can say that your comparison is weak.

When it comes to ratings/viewership, NHL is smaller that NBA, NFL & MLB,

but MLS is barely on the chart.  Syndicated reruns outdraw our games.

If 200,000 watch us, in a market of 20 million people, that's one percent.

Not much interest. 


We are good enough to beat the best teams, and bad enough to lose to the worst teams. 


#101
ianuaditis

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Not sure. The reality of it is that I was upset that soccer is not mentioned as a major sport, so I took to prove people wrong. Turns out I am wrong. No one cares about it still. I'd be surprised if there are many more fans now versus 10 years ago in 2006.

So this is what I started out replying to - My argument was going to be that based on all forms of soccer, it is a major sport.  But after looking at those numbers this is as far as i can go:

 

I think soccer is becoming a major sport in this country.  MLS has some of the characteristics of a major sports league (e.g. high average attendances,) but MLS TV ratings are not comparable to other major sports.  Other soccer competitions still have crappy ratings compared to other sports, but are posting ~10-20% increases each year.  Among the top 10 markets for the Premier League are cities like Louisville, Tulsa, and Richmond. (i.e. 'average american audiences)  And obviously events like the World Cup garner massive audiences, probably underestimated due to viewing parties, watching in bars etc.

 

When you compare that to 10 years ago, when the Premier League was only available on a high tier cable channel with awful production values, or to 20 years ago when it was only on satellite, it has come pretty far in a short time.  And its hard to get a truly accurate picture of the state of soccer viewership

 

In my lifetime, the NBA finals were not even on live TV, now 8 million people watch the NBA All star game (WTF?!)

 

There's an out-of-proportion segment of the sports media that doesn't like soccer and wants it to fail.  That bias is evident in some of the articles you see on soccer ratings (a USA today piece from last year for example.)  People like me, who want it to succeed, are no doubt ready to label it a major sport when its not there yet, but I think the days of 'no one cares about soccer'  are in the past for good.

 

Well, I went to a lot of Dead concerts, so I can say that your comparison is weak.

When it comes to ratings/viewership, NHL is smaller that NBA, NFL & MLB,

but MLS is barely on the chart.  Syndicated reruns outdraw our games.

If 200,000 watch us, in a market of 20 million people, that's one percent.

Not much interest. 

the comparison was of a form of entertainment that, based on its media performance, could be assumed to be only marginally popular, when in fact, in terms of event attendance, it is among the most successful acts in its category.  I don't see why the fact you went to a lot of concerts has anything to do with the validity of the comparison.

 

Compare the cost of MLS tickets to NHL or NBA tickets. That's the main difference. Also the TV ratings.

I'm sure the value has something to do with the popularity, but WNBA and MLL are both cheap, and averaging 1/4-1/3 the attendance of MLS.


Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.


#102
JBigjake54

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Back in the day, a common response when someone said, "Hockey must be popular, the Rangers are always sold out" was, "Yeah, but it's the SAME 18,000 people!" 


We are good enough to beat the best teams, and bad enough to lose to the worst teams. 





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