It will make for an awesome homefield advantage though, the thin air combined with the fumes from the Conoco refinery.
it's simply hillarious that MLS has to juke it attendence figures to pu them on the pathetic level.
NHL vs MLS
- Thread starter nyrmessier011
- Start date
It will make for an awesome homefield advantage though, the thin air combined with the fumes from the Conoco refinery.
it's simply hillarious that MLS has to juke it attendence figures to pu them on the pathetic level.
Bixby Snyder
IBTFAD
People will show up for Beckham's first time thru just out of curiosity, that's about it, the MLS is going nowhere.
Meichel Kane
My Name Is
- Jun 6, 2006
- 11,033
- 348
I forgot the MLS excisted. Beckham thing will last 4-5 months and will eventually die, he'll collect his paychecks and we won't hear about soccer for another 5 years.
South Florida Canuck
Biggest Canucks Superfan in South Florida
Hopefully within 5 years MLS will be nothing more than a distant memory and we can stop having these threads on how it is going to take over the NHL in popularity
You know what, this quote is pretty much on par with the average american and the NHL. Just change the acronym "MLS" with "NHL" and "Soccer" with "Hockey."
Soccer has a much better infrastructure for growth in this country than hockey does. Soccer has more participation at many levels than hockey does here, and the NCAA soccer division is probably going to overtake NCAA hockey which is already a regional thing at best.
South Florida Canuck
Biggest Canucks Superfan in South Florida
but you're missing one point though. hockey is more ingrained in the culture here in the states than soccer is. Plus, I really don't know too many people that want to watch a game that is very likely to end in a 0-0 tie
As it did when the MLS started and they still don't draw.
I've said it before I'll say it again, I would love to see what hockey would do with the hype devoted to soccer as opposed to getting kicked around by the media.
people still get their soccer shots in, and the MLS draws alright, they have an average of 15,000 or so at their games.
Without even getting into the paid attendence, that's about what hockey and the NBA draw per game, with 3-4 games a week and more expensive tickets.
yeah sure, we all realize that but attendance isn't dismal and the league has not even had the same amount of time to build the cache of both those leagues.
that's pretty dismal. Baseball draws about 30k on average with 5 times as many games and it's not like the MLS has built much on their gate.
Red
Registered User
However, the MLS has only been around ten years as an entity. They're doing things smart now though, demanding owner-owned and operated soccer specific stadiums and with controlled expansion (16 teams by 2012). Toronto FC has already sold 12,000 season tickets for their first season, and a lot of billionaire owners want in (Vancouvers, as an example when our SSS stadium gets built in 2010).
I'd dismissed the league for a long time but I have to admit they are doing things smart as a league and will be on the rise in the future. They're creating a SuperLiga with the top Mexican and MLS teams that will only increase competition as well as raise the MLS' profile internationally, getting more homegrown talent to stay and more international talent to come over. However, they aren't yet in the NHL's/NBA's league, but IMO their marketing department and commissioner is decades ahead of the NHL's in terms of thinking. I would not be the least bit surprised if the league averaged 20,000 per game this year and continued to grow from that year in and year out.
I'd dismissed the league for a long time but I have to admit they are doing things smart as a league and will be on the rise in the future. They're creating a SuperLiga with the top Mexican and MLS teams that will only increase competition as well as raise the MLS' profile internationally, getting more homegrown talent to stay and more international talent to come over. However, they aren't yet in the NHL's/NBA's league, but IMO their marketing department and commissioner is decades ahead of the NHL's in terms of thinking. I would not be the least bit surprised if the league averaged 20,000 per game this year and continued to grow from that year in and year out.
This portland dude needs to talk a walk and leave this forum. He's a parasite planted here by a MLS forum...or wait those probably don't excist. I'll let facts speak for themselfs. Hockey is no.4 in the USA..300 million it's still going to have a solid fan base. Rangers sell out every game there mr.nyr display pic. Don't be so negative, your disowning facts based on ignorance.
And all that, coupled with the NHL's horrible marketing, thug reputation, press blackout, spotty corperate support and snobbish fansbase at the best you could say soccer is tied with hockey (and this is stretching it).
And let's compair this which do you think is greater: Basketball's progress in the rest of the world or soccer's progress in the states?
I don't care about MLS, but I care about the NHL, ergo NHL > MLS
I care about soccer and hockey, so I get a bit irked when the two sides feel the need to snipe at each other.
A few things-
MLS does not have $5-10 tickets. I bring the team I coach to DC United games every year, and the group rate is $18 a ticket. Not expensive by any stretch, but I wanted to get the accurate info out there.
To the person who mocked MLS for announcing paid attendance over those actually in attendance, just about every sports league does the same thing.
For those who are knocking hockey or trying to make it look like the MLS is going to outdo the NHL, please stop. This is an NHL board.
For those who are knocking the MLS and speaking out of general ignorance, please go to a game. I love hockey and soccer (and baseball and football) because they are different. Nothing compares to the pace of a good hockey game. Football is more visceral. Baseball is more analytical. That said, go to a soccer game. There is nothing in sports that can compare to actually being at a good soccer game. Sit with the ESC at a Metros game. Sit anywhere near the Barra Brava at a DCU game (supporters groups).
Although a well known soccer-basher, I found this column of Frank DeFord's illuminating. He suggests that soccer is, essentially, un-American and, therefore, will never be accepted in the U.S.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/cover/news/2001/07/04/deford/
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/cover/news/2001/07/04/deford/
Why do hate the NHL so much? I don't think you have ever said something positive about the NHL.
Atlas
Registered User
- Sep 7, 2004
- 3,355
- 1
It doesn't matter to the NHL if soccer takes off or not. Ice hockey is a great sport...it has everything you could want in a sport: speed, skill, bone-rattling hits, fights, and rabid fans.
I happen to think Bettman & Co. have made a terrible mistake by adding so many teams to the league...but there is nothing at all wrong with the game itself and the NHL is not going to go away so who cares how the MLS does? I hope they are successful and happy. What's great about a sport is not how much money is involved...it's the Quality of the game. The NHL was at its best for me in the 80s...so many good teams and great rivalries. Today it is less interesting because there are 90 teams and dynasties/rivalries are all but gone. But it will correct itself at some point.
I happen to think Bettman & Co. have made a terrible mistake by adding so many teams to the league...but there is nothing at all wrong with the game itself and the NHL is not going to go away so who cares how the MLS does? I hope they are successful and happy. What's great about a sport is not how much money is involved...it's the Quality of the game. The NHL was at its best for me in the 80s...so many good teams and great rivalries. Today it is less interesting because there are 90 teams and dynasties/rivalries are all but gone. But it will correct itself at some point.
What the heck are you talking about? Last year I was all about the NHL, now I'm just more interested in the business of it, if the Truth Hurts ignore it, but it's the truth.
I'm a fan of European club soccer, I love watching the Champions League every year and the FA Cup, etc. But I just don't get excited about MLS. Everything about MLS just feels manufactured. It has a good group of businessmen behind it and it's amazing what they've done thus far. But to me it's like really getting into the ECHL, it's fine on the regional level but I doubt it will ever get national attention.
No kid grows up playing soccer dreaming of playing in the MLS. I saw the MLS Draft televised and I couldn't tell you how sad it looked. Does the international soccer community give it much respect? Adding Beckham may be good for ratings for the first couple months, but it's a gimmick. He's past his prime and his prime wasn't even that amazing, I'd compare it to Joe Nieuwendyk going to play in the SEL five years ago (if Joe was hyped beyond all hype). It didn't work the first time around when the Cosmos brought in Pele.
MLS brings in 15K fans a game for 32 games per team a year for about 2.9M tickets sold each season. The NHL on the other hand sells approximately 21M tickets at higher prices. I really don't understand the comparison.
No kid grows up playing soccer dreaming of playing in the MLS. I saw the MLS Draft televised and I couldn't tell you how sad it looked. Does the international soccer community give it much respect? Adding Beckham may be good for ratings for the first couple months, but it's a gimmick. He's past his prime and his prime wasn't even that amazing, I'd compare it to Joe Nieuwendyk going to play in the SEL five years ago (if Joe was hyped beyond all hype). It didn't work the first time around when the Cosmos brought in Pele.
MLS brings in 15K fans a game for 32 games per team a year for about 2.9M tickets sold each season. The NHL on the other hand sells approximately 21M tickets at higher prices. I really don't understand the comparison.
Excellent point. Soccer in general has a ton of fans but MLS lacks any Synergy or serious quality. ECHL or AHL might be more accurate at the moment. Monetarily and quality wise. Down the line who knows?
I don't see the Wild, MapleLeafs, RedWings etc. etc. ever ever being ******* stepchilds in any town. DC, LA, Chicago? might already have some issues in comparison. No joke DC United has the same tv viewership as the NBA Wizards and 2 1/2 times as many as the Caps for the last 8 yrs. Yes gate revenue is different and will be for quite awhile.
I'll never stop being a Wild fan or a DC United fan.
There is no comparison. NHL gets better number in almost every category as it should with a 75 year head start. Many generations grew up with the league and passed it down to the next. MLS is still in phase one, building stadiums and working on the first generation of fans. Give it few more years before comparing with any of the established leagues.
Soccer, overall, is more popular than hockey though. NHL gets almost every hockey fans in the country to follow the league. Soccer numbers, on the other hand, get divided into many pieces, because different groups of soccer fans watch different types of soccer. Some only follow the European leagues; some do South American, Mexican, or international soccer (for example, the meaningless exhibition game between the US and Mexico last Wednesday drew higher TV ratings on ESPN2 than the NHL all-star game. Five million more watched on Univision, and 62,000+ attended the game in Phoenix.) Only a small minority of them follow MLS.
A lot of soccer fans tried to follow the league when it started but gave up after seeing all the gimmicks like shootout, backward clock, music during play etc. Football marking all over the field, horrible atmosphere in huge NFL stadiums did their part in turning the fans off. On-field quality wasn't that high to offset those either. Quality improved by leaps and bounds since then but MLS was not able to get them back, neither did it try too hard. As mentioned before, the owners are concentrating on building stadiums, expansion, recruiting investors and establishing a solid youth development system. They are confident, fans will come back with some major player signings and marketing blitz and stay for the better game-day atmosphere smaller stadiums will provide. The 'phase two' is still a few years away (lets not be confused by the Beckham signing), and the NHL has nothing to worry about until then.
Soccer, overall, is more popular than hockey though. NHL gets almost every hockey fans in the country to follow the league. Soccer numbers, on the other hand, get divided into many pieces, because different groups of soccer fans watch different types of soccer. Some only follow the European leagues; some do South American, Mexican, or international soccer (for example, the meaningless exhibition game between the US and Mexico last Wednesday drew higher TV ratings on ESPN2 than the NHL all-star game. Five million more watched on Univision, and 62,000+ attended the game in Phoenix.) Only a small minority of them follow MLS.
A lot of soccer fans tried to follow the league when it started but gave up after seeing all the gimmicks like shootout, backward clock, music during play etc. Football marking all over the field, horrible atmosphere in huge NFL stadiums did their part in turning the fans off. On-field quality wasn't that high to offset those either. Quality improved by leaps and bounds since then but MLS was not able to get them back, neither did it try too hard. As mentioned before, the owners are concentrating on building stadiums, expansion, recruiting investors and establishing a solid youth development system. They are confident, fans will come back with some major player signings and marketing blitz and stay for the better game-day atmosphere smaller stadiums will provide. The 'phase two' is still a few years away (lets not be confused by the Beckham signing), and the NHL has nothing to worry about until then.
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There is no comparison. NHL gets better number in almost every category as it should with a 75 year head start. Many generations grew up with the league and passed it down to the next. MLS is still in phase one, building stadiums and working on the first generation of fans. Give it few more years before comparing with any of the established leagues.
Soccer, overall, is more popular than hockey though. NHL gets almost every hockey fans in the country to follow the league. Soccer numbers, on the other hand, get divided into many pieces, because different groups of soccer fans watch different types of soccer. Some only follow the European leagues; some do South American, Mexican, or international soccer (for example, the meaningless exhibition game between the US and Mexico last Wednesday drew higher TV ratings on ESPN2 than the NHL all-star game. Five million more watched on Univision, and 62,000+ attended the game in Phoenix.) Only a small minority of them follow MLS.
A lot of soccer fans tried to follow the league when it started but gave up after seeing all the gimmicks like shootout, backward clock, music during play etc. Football marking all over the field, horrible atmosphere in huge NFL stadiums did their part in turning the fans off. On-field quality wasn't that high to offset those either. Quality improved by leaps and bounds since then but MLS was not able to get them back, neither did it try too hard. As mentioned before, the owners are concentrating on building stadiums, expansion, recruiting investors and establishing a solid youth development system. They are confident, fans will come back with some major player signings and marketing blitz and stay for the better game-day atmosphere smaller stadiums will provide. The 'phase two' is still a few years away (lets not be confused by the Beckham signing), and the NHL has nothing to worry about until then.
Probably the most accurate assessment of the MLS I've seen so far. Incidentally, are you the same Rocket from Bigsoccer?
