OT: MLS closing in on NFL, NBA, MLB in U.S. - Landon Donovan

[Melrose Munch]

Depends on the next lockout.

 

[patnyrnyg]

Last week I spent several days in Boston and the number of people with Revolution gear was ZERO. It was all about Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins and Celtics. It is incredible how irrelevant is Boston's soccer club in its home market.

Not sure I would use that as a barometer. I live in NY and can't remember the last time I saw someone wearing Red Bulls or NYCFC stuff, but I do know people who are fans and attend/watch games. See plenty of people wearing stuff from European teams.

 

[Coinneach]

"Univision’s coverage of last Saturday’s MLS game between the San Jose Earthquakes and LAFC delivered Univision’s highest numbers for MLS since the opening weekend. However, average viewership is still down 4.3% from March of 2018. MLS’s woes on FOX Sports 1 continued last week with Sunday’s broadcast drawing only 130,000 viewers to the network."

Most-watched soccer games on US TV for March 20-April 1, 2019 - World Soccer Talk

130.000 viewers for exclusive game of the week....Woow.

I remind you, that last year's MLS TV ratings on ESPN and Fox Sports 1 were both down.

 

[Rcknrollkillnmachine]

Last week I spent several days in Boston and the number of people with Revolution gear was ZERO. It was all about Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins and Celtics. It is incredible how irrelevant is Boston's soccer club in its home market.

Apart from the buses that say ’Soccah’ and the odd advert in a T stop I agree, completely irrelevant in Boston.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

130.000 viewers for exclusive game of the week....Woow.

On a Spanish language channel that isn't available to most of the country.

edit: Misread.

 

[Coinneach]

On a Spanish language channel that isn't available to most of the country.

You are wrong. It was on Fox Sports 1.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

You are wrong. It was on Fox Sports 1.

Oops, misread that.

To be fair I couldn't tell you what channel # FS1 is, but that 130k figure is quite ugly.

Good, nobody should watch those 2 miserable franchises

 

[famicommander]

I live in Denver and the Rapids here are well behind the Broncos, Rockies, Nuggets, Avalanche, CU football, and CSU football. The Rapids are ahead of teams like the NLL's Mammoth, the MLL's Outlaws, the CU and CSU basketball programs, and DU hockey but they're not anywhere close to the big boys in town.

 

[Coinneach]

MLS has attendance problem...

 

[Bookie21]

Wow! I knew things were bad in the MLS, but didn't know attendance was that bad. That's a bad look

 

[BKIslandersFan]

Not sure I would use that as a barometer. I live in NY and can't remember the last time I saw someone wearing Red Bulls or NYCFC stuff, but I do know people who are fans and attend/watch games. See plenty of people wearing stuff from European teams.

I see people wearing NYCFC gears. Not Red Bull.

 

[HajdukSplit]

I enjoyed going to Red Bull’s games but they are largely irrelevant too in the NY/NJ market which is crazy considering this area is a soccer hotbed. NYCFC had some buzz when they first entered the league but that seems to have died down and their TV deal is awful (barely any games are shown live on YES, Red Bulls are on MSG which has no competition in the summer)

I recently moved to the Orlando area and the team gets good coverage on TV and print media, helps that there is little sports competition, but I have seen their attendance is dipping year to year

 

[Coinneach]

 

[Big McLargehuge]

I truly believe the Red Bulls branding severely hurts the Red Bulls chance to really build that brand in New York City far more than having a stadium in New Jersey does.

For a city that tends to view itself as the greatest city on Earth, having a team named after a shitty energy drink from Austria just doesn't add up.



As for some of the other pictures...it's the start of the season and most of those empty stadiums belong to teams that either need to win back fans (Columbus), are outright bad (Orlando), or are poorly run (Chicago, Philadelphia, Colorado, etc.). Look to baseball and you'll find empty seats all over the place in cities with similar stories at this time of year.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

I enjoyed going to Red Bull’s games but they are largely irrelevant too in the NY/NJ market which is crazy considering this area is a soccer hotbed. NYCFC had some buzz when they first entered the league but that seems to have died down and their TV deal is awful (barely any games are shown live on YES, Red Bulls are on MSG which has no competition in the summer)

I recently moved to the Orlando area and the team gets good coverage on TV and print media, helps that there is little sports competition, but I have seen their attendance is dipping year to year

That’s because Orlando City isn’t any good.

 

[Giuseppe Franco]

I truly believe the Red Bulls branding severely hurts the Red Bulls chance to really build that brand in New York City far more than having a stadium in New Jersey does.

For a city that tends to view itself as the greatest city on Earth, having a team named after a ****ty energy drink from Austria just doesn't add up.

Spot on. I’m a New Yorker that wants to give soccer a chance but can’t get past that horrible Red Bull’s branding. As for NYCFC, as a Mets fan, I can’t get past their Yankee connection. So instead of the MLS, I’ve made a half-hearted attempt to follow Tottenham the past year.

 

[LeHab]

I truly believe the Red Bulls branding severely hurts the Red Bulls chance to really build that brand in New York City far more than having a stadium in New Jersey does.

For a city that tends to view itself as the greatest city on Earth, having a team named after a ****ty energy drink from Austria just doesn't add up.

Red Bull is actually a marketing company who happen to be known, among other things, for the drink.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Red Bull is actually a marketing company who happen to be known, among other things, for the drink.

I'm failing to see how being named after a marketing company is any better than being named after an energy drink company.

 

[LeHab]

I'm failing to see how being named after a marketing company is any better than being named after an energy drink company.

I'm not going to comment on which one is better but a marketing company may own a sport franchise for different reasons than a single product company.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

What does Red Bull do other than make drinks and own sports/racing teams & events?

It's a drink company.

 

[Burke the Legend]

What does Red Bull do other than make drinks and own sports/racing teams & events?

It's a drink company.

The massively successful drink underwrites all the other BS too.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

I'm failing to see how being named after a marketing company is any better than being named after an energy drink company.

You can spin NYCFC as being named after NYC. And if they ever sell they can still keep the identity.

Cant really do that with RB.

 

[garbageteam]

The massively successful drink underwrites all the other BS too.

Kind of like being named the New York Cokes. That actually might have some pull to it. That said the Red Bull F1 team is huge, the branding isn't hurting that team much. But of course F1 is an entirely different sports league than anything else.

 

[LeHab]

What does Red Bull do other than make drinks and own sports/racing teams & events?

It's a drink company.

They also own media and create a lot of content. What really drives them is their ability to sell a certain experience/lifestyle to a specific demographic. Similar to how Apple or Starbucks sells an experience and not electronics or coffee.

There is nothing special about the Red Bull as a drink. Ingredients are pretty much well known. In order to maintain market dominance and protect high profit margins they have to continue differentiating themselves and this ability to sell experience is what is so valuable and sets them apart from competition.

 

[Coinneach]

MLS's weekend numbers. Awful...

DCU v LAFC on FOX 341.000 viewers
FC Cinci v SKC on ESPN 239.000 viewers