Will MLS eventually surpass the NHL in revenue?

[nyrmetros]

Actually, no.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/pu...ey-Gold-medal-ratings-huge-for?urn=nhl-224998


http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/20...watched-mens-world-cup-game-ever-in-u-s/55461

You'd have to add the spanish language numbers for both broadcasts......... in order to get the true number.

 

[Breakaway3527]

Include me in those World Cup numbers. International competitions are usually interesting for me. That and perhaps the Euro Cup is it for me when it comes to soccer.

I will never watch MLS because I do not like the sport that much. It is a very frustrating sport to watch. The fake injuries plus the fact that every rule is designed to limit scoring and action. Offside, substitutions, giving the goalie the ball on missed shots and so on all limit scoring. The problem with soccer is there are too many traditionalists.

Hockey is 10 times the sport soccer is measured in every aspect of the game. From drama to checking to pretty passing plays. I am an Italian immigrant whose dad loves soccer and still watches it. However, when you analyze it, it is not worth my time. I cannot waste my time watching sports in the summer and when hockey is on I cannot justify watching soccer over hockey.

 

[krudmonk]

Also, Americans will not fork over NHL type ticket prices to see a league that is not the best in the world, and the MLS is far from the best. Teams from Portugal come over and thump them.

Funny how that's always a one-way street. Exhibitions serve only to shame MLS, I guess? Kansas City didn't even make the playoffs last year but beat Manchester United. Oh, but it's just a friendly and ManUre weren't trying, of course!!!!!!1112

 

[HabsByTheBay]

Funny how that's always a one-way street. Exhibitions serve only to shame MLS, I guess? Kansas City didn't even make the playoffs last year but beat Manchester United. Oh, but it's just a friendly and ManUre weren't trying, of course!!!!!!1112

Yeah it was and yeah they weren't.

 

[Brodie]

Nobody has ever dove in an NHL game. That has literally never happened.

 

[blueandgoldguy]

Funny how that's always a one-way street. Exhibitions serve only to shame MLS, I guess? Kansas City didn't even make the playoffs last year but beat Manchester United. Oh, but it's just a friendly and ManUre weren't trying, of course!!!!!!1112

I have never been to any MLS games let alone seen an exhibition with an EPL team, but don't the EPL teams usually play their reserves for these matches? Not trying to downplay KC 's win,just wondering.

 

[nyrmetros]

I have never been to any MLS games let alone seen an exhibition with an EPL team, but don't the EPL teams usually play their reserves for these matches? Not trying to downplay KC 's win,just wondering.

The theory though is that those MAN U reserves individually still make more than the starting XI of KC. That's why people still care. At any rate, the idea that KC beat Man u sells tickets for KC, and KC gained about a thousand new season ticket holders after that game.

 

[billycanuck]

I have never been to any MLS games let alone seen an exhibition with an EPL team, but don't the EPL teams usually play their reserves for these matches? Not trying to downplay KC 's win,just wondering.

The theory though is that those MAN U reserves individually still make more than the starting XI of KC. That's why people still care. At any rate, the idea that KC beat Man u sells tickets for KC, and KC gained about a thousand new season ticket holders after that game.

Manchester United dressed: Da Silva, Scholes, Nani, Berbatov, Giggs (not exactly a reserve squad!)
Did not Dress:Ji-Sung Park, Rio Ferndinand, Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick

MLS vs EPL 2010
Toronto FC 1-1 Bolton July 21, 2010
Philadelphia Union 0-1 Manchester United July 22, 2010
NY Red Bulls 1-2 Tottenham July 23, 2010
NY Red Bulls 2-1 Manchester City July 25, 2010

 

[Jumptheshark]

Manchester United dressed: Da Silva, Scholes, Nani, Berbatov, Giggs (not exactly a reserve squad!)
Did not Dress:Ji-Sung Park, Rio Ferndinand, Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick

MLS vs EPL 2010
Toronto FC 1-1 Bolton July 21, 2010
Philadelphia Union 0-1 Manchester United July 22, 2010
NY Red Bulls 1-2 Tottenham July 23, 2010
NY Red Bulls 2-1 Manchester City July 25, 2010

you are reading far too much into the final scores of games Prem league teams played as X-gamed over seas. All the above mention games, rthe English side put into new plays, tried new things and played people out of position. Also in friendly games, Prem league teams never go all out.

 

[He Lied to Mario]

Nobody has ever dove in an NHL game. That has literally never happened.

Nobody has ever dove, and laid on the ice like they are writhing in pain. Then when the trainer comes out and sprays water from the magic water bottle on their supposed injury, all of sudden get up and start skating again. Now THAT has never happened.

 

[MountainHawk]

 

[htpwn]

Does something like that happen every 10-15 minutes? Or once or twice a season? Thought so.

 

[Brodie]

How many soccer matches have you watched? Diving is hardly as common as people who have never watched a game like to pretend

 

[Rocket]

Now THAT has never happened.

That never HAS to happen in hockey. Temporarily injured or fatigued hockey players can just go sit on the bench for tens of minutes, a luxury soccer players don't have (if they do go for few minutes the team will be shorthanded). With so many line changes, long intermissions, and commercial breaks, an average hockey player spends many times longer on the bench, fully resting, than he does on ice.

Diving is hardly as common as people who have never watched a game like to pretend

I blame mostly the American media for this attitude. They exaggerate way too much about how much soccer players dive. Anytime someone falls it's a dive to them, forgetting (either intentionally or unintentionally) that in soccer it's natural to fall down more than in other sports. Soccer players are off-balance a lot, comparatively speaking, when running and kicking with one of their feet at the same time (at some point it doesn't take much to bring a player down) while in other sports they use mostly their hands to control ball/puck while their feet are free to concentrate on keeping a good balance.

 

[Franck]

Does something like that happen every 10-15 minutes? Or once or twice a season? Thought so.

I can barely remember the last time I saw someone genuinely trying to feign an injury on a football pitch, and I usually watch more than 3 games each weekend.

 

[81ragnaH]

Revolution are owned by the Kraft family.

Kraft family owns the Patriots and Gillette stadium.... so yea, new venue is not happening.

Also, Americans will not fork over NHL type ticket prices to see a league that is not the best in the world, and the MLS is far from the best. Teams from Portugal come over and thump them.

actually, Jonathan Kraft has been planning on a new soccer-only stadium for a few years now.

http://www.tribalfootball.com/new-england-revolution-re-launch-somerville-stadium-plans-938301

Getting the team into a soccer stadium of its own remains a top priority for our organization.

 

[Pentothal]

Can't see the MLS being a threat to the big European leagues even in the long run. Obviously there is a lot of room for growth there, but with a salary cap and the draft system, the NA clubs won't be able to compete with the big fish. They are at a huge disadvantage there.
And if and when a true American football superstar comes through he will be playing in Europe before his 20th birthday just like what happens with players from SA / smaller European nations (or European hockey stars for that matter).

Add to that the inability for MLS clubs to participate in the Champions League where so much money is to be made and where all the best players want to play, it really isn't looking like the MLS is going to be threatening the English, Spanish, Italian and German leagues anytime soon.

 

[Roomtemperature]

How many soccer matches have you watched? Diving is hardly as common as people who have never watched a game like to pretend

I've watched enough Italian and Spanish national team games to know it happens alot.

 

[Brodie]

so the Italian national team, who everyone hates for exactly that reason, is the proof that EVERY player on EVERY team dives EVERY 15 minutes in EVERY match.

MLS' salary cap won't be a problem. If they were to ever get it up to, say, NHL levels they would significantly better off than all but the top 1% of clubs in Europe. Certainly a Los Angeles Galaxy with a potential payroll of $56m would be able to compete with the likes of Ajax and Aston Villa.

 

[htpwn]

How many soccer matches have you watched? Diving is hardly as common as people who have never watched a game like to pretend

I can barely remember the last time I saw someone genuinely trying to feign an injury on a football pitch, and I usually watch more than 3 games each weekend.

I watch about 9 or 10 a year, more if it is a EURO or Cup year. Not as large as a sample size, but there is at least 1-2 blatant dives a game. So, yes, my previous comment may have been an exaggeration however diving is still a problem in soccer and that turns people off a sport.

 

[MountainHawk]

I watch about 9 or 10 a year, more if it is a EURO or Cup year. Not as large as a sample size, but there is at least 1-2 blatant dives a game. So, yes, my previous comment may have been an exaggeration however diving is still a problem in soccer and that turns people off a sport.

That's less than the NHL.

 

[OthmarAmmann]

That's less than the NHL.

Here I was expecting you to make a comment about the standard for full credibility.

 

[Melrose Munch]

I watch about 9 or 10 a year, more if it is a EURO or Cup year. Not as large as a sample size, but there is at least 1-2 blatant dives a game. So, yes, my previous comment may have been an exaggeration however diving is still a problem in soccer and that turns people off a sport.

There is not a lot of diving in soccer like that.

 

[Mathradio]

Can't see the MLS being a threat to the big European leagues even in the long run. Obviously there is a lot of room for growth there, but with a salary cap and the draft system, the NA clubs won't be able to compete with the big fish. They are at a huge disadvantage there.
And if and when a true American football superstar comes through he will be playing in Europe before his 20th birthday just like what happens with players from SA / smaller European nations (or European hockey stars for that matter).

Add to that the inability for MLS clubs to participate in the Champions League where so much money is to be made and where all the best players want to play, it really isn't looking like the MLS is going to be threatening the English, Spanish, Italian and German leagues anytime soon.

The MLS has been compared to the Football Championship League, the division lies directly under the Premier League, in regards to playing level; while it may not compete directly with the European major leagues, an all-star MLS team would be able to play in the Bundesliga, for instance.

Would making the MLS a cap-free, UFA-only league help?

 

[Pentothal]

The MLS has been compared to the Football Championship League, the division lies directly under the Premier League, in regards to playing level; while it may not compete directly with the European major leagues, an all-star MLS team would be able to play in the Bundesliga, for instance.

Would making the MLS a cap-free, UFA-only league help?

Personally I believe so since it would create a scenario where a few top end team would have a better chance at competing with the European clubs when it comes to attracting the best players. If you go for league parity and reward mediocrity in a global sport like this one, none of the teams will be attractive enough.

By going with the "UFA" alternative, some clubs will obviously suffer but the best get to grow to their true potential. Survival of the fittest basically.