MLS Thread: 2019 Edition

[bluesfan94]

Since the start of the season there's been probably 50 games with under 10K ANNOUNCED attendance even a 5k in Miami. Ratings are down...

Meanwhile, the Dodgers are more than doubling LA Galaxy. The Angels are 10K above the Galaxy. Only two MLS teams average >29K. 16 MLB teams do, and I'm gonna guess that number will increase because Seattle is right there and have been good.

I'll grant you that Miami sucks as a baseball town.

 

[bluesfan94]

If kids and adults also wouldn't like playing soccer they wouldn't play. They would play other sport, or play computer games etc.

A lot of kids play a sport because their parents put them in it. Soccer is a cheap one, so they play it. I never played football or basketball or hockey growing up, but I still watch those sports. I played soccer religiously growing up - I mean, in middle school I was on three teams. But I didn't start watching soccer until high school, and that has more to do with FIFA than because I played it. Just because people play soccer doesn't mean they watch it; just because people watch a sport doesn't mean they play it.

Local ratings improved in baseball. And the MLS finally got back to late 90s numbers. I'm bullish on MLS. I want St. Louis to get a team. I will get season tickets if they do; I have season tickets to the USL team here. That doesn't mean baseball is dying.

 

[Pouchkine]

Well MLB is the #1 league in baseball worlwide, MLS is not even top 15 probably. I think with that in mind MLS is doing quite well...

If you take soccer as a whole though World Cups Euros Champions League EPL LaLiga Messi Ronaldo MLS the game being played by far the most people in North America then overall soccer is #1.

Where do you think baseball would be if they didn't have the best players and all of them played in Asia for example?

 

[Pouchkine]

A lot of kids play a sport because their parents put them in it. Soccer is a cheap one, so they play it. I never played football or basketball or hockey growing up, but I still watch those sports. I played soccer religiously growing up - I mean, in middle school I was on three teams. But I didn't start watching soccer until high school, and that has more to do with FIFA than because I played it. Just because people play soccer doesn't mean they watch it; just because people watch a sport doesn't mean they play it.

Local ratings improved in baseball. And the MLS finally got back to late 90s numbers. I'm bullish on MLS. I want St. Louis to get a team. I will get season tickets if they do; I have season tickets to the USL team here. That doesn't mean baseball is dying.

Baseball is declining not dying.

MLS Ratings are not good for a variety of reasons, but attendance is up in a lot of places and if the league could improve the quality of play and quality of the broadcats it would help a lot.

I played Baseball Hockey Soccer Tennis and these days not much baseball and only a bit of hockey, I watched a lot more when I played.

 

[Pouchkine]

You have to admit that with the young people these days sitting in front of a 3h00+ slow happening game isn't gonna seduce them very much. There was a very good study about this recently, basketball and especially soccer score big with the Millenials much better than football and baseball.

 

[HoseEmDown]

Meanwhile, the Dodgers are more than doubling LA Galaxy. The Angels are 10K above the Galaxy. Only two MLS teams average >29K. 16 MLB teams do, and I'm gonna guess that number will increase because Seattle is right there and have been good.

I'll grant you that Miami sucks as a baseball town.

How many MLS stadiums can even hold 29k? I know the two that do in Seattle and Atlanta hit that number but most MLS stadiums are 25k or less. So as a whole the numbers will of course look a lot lower but what is the filled capacity %? MLB has a lot of bigger stadiums that I can't see being more than half filled.

 

[Pouchkine]

Look at the attendance so far this year in Baseball, a lot of places are in big trouble.

Of course there's half the markets which are going quite well...

 

[bluesfan94]

How many MLS stadiums can even hold 29k? I know the two that do in Seattle and Atlanta hit that number but most MLS stadiums are 25k or less. So as a whole the numbers will of course look a lot lower but what is the filled capacity %? MLB has a lot of bigger stadiums that I can't see being more than half filled.

Does it matter? Not to be glib, but I think it's more important how many people you bring in than capacity in terms of measuring attendance across sports. Basically, the MLS isn't building huge stadiums because most teams can't support that. Baseball teams can, partially because of television rights and also partially because they have 81 home games, so they make more money in total.

 

[Pouchkine]

And they spend much more. The thing is just ask yourself where baseball would be in America if we didn't have the best league in the world, ask yourself the same with hockey. Those leagues MLB and NHL would never be close to MLS level now which is at best the #15 league in the world. That shows you just how much soccer is popular right now here.

 

[HoseEmDown]

Does it matter? Not to be glib, but I think it's more important how many people you bring in than capacity in terms of measuring attendance across sports. Basically, the MLS isn't building huge stadiums because most teams can't support that. Baseball teams can, partially because of television rights and also partially because they have 81 home games, so they make more money in total.

Of course MLB will bring in more people, they play 4x as many home games. Is 20k in a 60k stadium better than 20k in a 25k stadium? On a per game basis MLS probably brings in similar amount of people but have a better capacity %. Plus MLB has like 8 more teams so that adds even more to the total number of fans per year. I don't think any league matches MLB in that just because they play so many home games a year.

 

[bluesfan94]

Of course MLB will bring in more people, they play 4x as many home games. Is 20k in a 60k stadium better than 20k in a 25k stadium? On a per game basis MLS probably brings in similar amount of people but have a better capacity %. Plus MLB has like 8 more teams so that adds even more to the total number of fans per year. I don't think any league matches MLB in that just because they play so many home games a year.

But we're not comparing 20K to 20K. We're comparing 32K/40K to, say, 20K/25K

 

[HoseEmDown]

But we're not comparing 20K to 20K. We're comparing 32K/40K to, say, 20K/25K

Which MLB teams are bringing in 35/40 nightly? Besides the Red So, Yankees and Cubs I can't see that being a normal figure while most MLS teams probably get close to 20.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Which MLB teams are bringing in 35/40 nightly? Besides the Red So, Yankees and Cubs I can't see that being a normal figure while most MLS teams probably get close to 20.

10 averaged 35k or more last season. Cardinals are always over 40k a season.

 

[bleedblue1223]

And they spend much more. The thing is just ask yourself where baseball would be in America if we didn't have the best league in the world, ask yourself the same with hockey. Those leagues MLB and NHL would never be close to MLS level now which is at best the #15 league in the world. That shows you just how much soccer is popular right now here.

This is such a backwards argument. Those sports are the best leagues in the world because they are the most popular here, that's why they have the most money invested in them compared to the rest of the world and why they attract the top players.

The best that soccer will ever get in the States will be like hockey in Europe. Our best hope is to be the KHL. I don't mean in terms of developing talent, but in terms of league quality.

 

[HoseEmDown]

10 averaged 35k or more last season. Cardinals are always over 40k a season.

10 teams averaged 20k or more in the MLS and the 11th team was at 19,950. Only 8 MLB teams were at 75% capacity or more while 20 MLS teams had that. I would say it's probably easier to fill the stadiums when you only have to do it 20 times a year instead of 80 so in that regard MLS should be doing better in the capacity category.

 

[Pouchkine]

This is such a backwards argument. Those sports are the best leagues in the world because they are the most popular here, that's why they have the most money invested in them compared to the rest of the world and why they attract the top players.

The best that soccer will ever get in the States will be like hockey in Europe. Our best hope is to be the KHL. I don't mean in terms of developing talent, but in terms of league quality.

Again look where soccer was here 30 years ago to now. One is only improving, the other is slowly declining.

 

[Pouchkine]

Another VAR disaster last night in the Vancouver-Chicago game...

 

[kingsboy11]

What a gorgeous stadium

 

[Pouchkine]

How about the inside?

 

[kingsboy11]

How about the inside?

 

[Pouchkine]

Nice!

 

[Bakayoko Ono]

What was this guy thinking?

 

[East Coast Bias]

Hopefully they fire Kaku into the sun.

He tried moving to Mexico in the offseason. Went off on Twitter a few times about it and then kept blaming his agent saying it wasn’t him and he doesn’t manage his account. He’s just an immature moron.

He should get a lengthy ban. I’m not sure he ever plays for them again. Everyone’s tired of him.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

What was this guy thinking?

Ask @Duchene2MacKinnon.

What he did there was despicable. I couldn’t blame the fan for running onto the field and attacking him. Kicking a football into someone’s face from a few yards away could be construed as assault.

He’s acted up all season and should be banned until the summer before he’s transferred out of the club.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Ask @Duchene2MacKinnon.

What he did there was despicable. I couldn’t blame the fan for running onto the field and attacking him. Kicking a football into someone’s face from a few yards away could be construed as assault.

He’s acted up all season and should be banned until the summer before he’s transferred out of the club.

Looks around confused?

Maybe he’s mad at himself for joining that league?