MLS- What do you footballers think of it?

[hoos]

I was just watching a game tonight (DC United vs. FC Dallas) and it seemed that it was pretty full there and that it had a small spirit of Premier league football. You could faintly hear people chanting and some drum beats (obviously nothing to the magnitude of you over the ponders).

So do you guys think the MLS can take off and maybe rival th International leagues? I think that it might with our expanding population. But I don't think that it will be for a good 15 years.

[Jacx]

I was just watching a game tonight (DC United vs. FC Dallas) and it seemed that it was pretty full there and that it had a small spirit of Premier league football. You could faintly hear people chanting and some drum beats (obviously nothing to the magnitude of you over the ponders).

So do you guys think the MLS can take off and maybe rival th International leagues? I think that it might with our expanding population. But I don't think that it will be for a good 15 years.



some notes:


Major League Soccer has lost more than $350 million since its founding, according to a report by BusinessWeek in 2004.[14] However, there are positive signs for profitability in the near future. As soccer-specific stadiums are built, ownership expands and television coverage increases, MLS has managed to see their revenues increase while costs are kept to a minimum. The 2003 season saw the Los Angeles Galaxy make a profit in their first season at the Home Depot Center, while FC Dallas turned a profit in a similar fashion after moving into Pizza Hut Park in 2005. With the expansion of the league to 13 teams, the signing of the TV rights deal, and the construction of 2 more soccer specific stadiums, the Las Vegas Sun reports the league is expecting 3 teams to make a profit this season.

Let me comment on that above... That $350 figure is for the current version of MLS, the previous version lost MORE.

However its good to see that profits are now being made, it needs it desperately!

Television coverage has consistently expanded throughout the league's history, with MLS brokering a deal with ESPN in 2006 for rights fees and greater presence across its networks. 2007 will also see a return of MLS to Univision and its Spanish-language networks. They will join Fox Soccer Channel and HDNet as MLS' national outlets, while the league has mandated that every league game receive television coverage, if not nationally, then by at least locally in one of the two teams' cities.



MLS Commissioner Don Garber said on May 11, 2006 that he expects the league's clubs to be profitable by 2010 overall. He stated that FC Dallas and LA Galaxy are already profitable, with several other clubs nearing profitability.[15] According to earlier remarks, they are the Chicago Fire and New England Revolution.

Recently there have been some potential investors expressing reservations about the MLS leadership's decisions on bringing in designated players and the raised franchise fee. One such potential MLS investor is Seattle Sounders owner Adrian Hanaue, who was quoted by ESPN: "But at this point to me the franchise fee has gone up to $30 million, plus there is the expectation of a stadium being built so it will cost someone another $30 million. So you're up to $60 million and you're going to lose money operationally. Operational costs and start-up costs are what's holding us back, that is fair to say. We have been looking for partners to do it with, but I won't do it alone."[9]


MLS operates under a single-entity structure in which teams are centrally controlled by the league. In order to keep costs under control, revenues are shared amongst the league, and player contracts are negotiated by the league.

That bit above worries me... Its team vs team, state vs state etc...contracts should be done by teams, not something central thats open to favritism and curruption!

The 2007 MLS offseason is considered by some to be its most productive,[3] and there have been a number of changes for the league, bringing about a slow rise in its standings both financially and athletically. The league announced a youth development initiative,[4] which will require youth development teams for all the league's teams, which will help the league develop "home-grown" talent on its own. The hope is that by being able to sign up to 2 of its own youth players to the senior team each year that the league's teams will have an incentive to improve the quality and talent pool of the league organically and also benefit from the transfer fees they may bring. Perhaps the first example of a success in "home-grown" talent development is the New York Red Bulls' Josmer Altidore, who has risen to prominence as one of the league's most skilled young strikers.

That bit in blue...great, i see soccer teams of kids all over the place here, same as i see in the UK but in the Uk they get trained and scouted, Thats needed much here and its good to see thats started! In europe, hell the world every major club has a youth setup, and its worth every penny spend!

Furthering the development of the league was the decision to create the Designated Player Rule, which allows for a league team to pay up to two players a salary beyond that covered in the salary cap at their own expense. Following David Beckham to MLS are a host of veteran players, including Claudio Reyna, Juan Pablo Angel, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Abel Xavier. Following the creation of the Designated Player Rule, the league announced in conjunction with the La Primera División del Futbol Mexicano (Mexican First Division) that it would be creating a tournament called Superliga, which would start in 2007, with 4 teams from MLS and 4 from Mexico competing for a US$1 million prize to become the champions of North American club soccer.[5] These matches will initially only be covered in Spanish by Univision and Telefutura. Currently an English broadcaster has not signed to cover the tournament, although if its debut is a success this may change

Im not sure about the last bit, it might work...we can see. The beckham effect has already started to show. Before he arrived the shirt sales for the WHOLE of MLS was $250 mil, since he arrived in the last week $25 mil worth of shirts with his name on then have been sold!... aka in 1 week his shirt covers 10% of sales on shirts...without even kicking a ball!

I think in time football (yeh yeh soccer to u turds) will become big, it has to. Already there are complaints that kids are playing less baseball in favour of playing soccer. Also companys like coke, pepsy etc want it to be big to tie in with sponsership currently done around the world.

Citys also want to get in on the action, i.e : http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070714/SPORTS/107140049/1001

and when u can earn money like this: http://club-sportsmania.blogspot.com/2007/07/soccer-top-earning-players.html

plenty of kids want in.


The main crutch. The american soccer generation is at KID age, they are small kids, the adults will NEVER give up their love for baseball, basketball and of course American football. So expect in 20 years time to see soccer on a more even base as those games...till then i figure u need to let the kids grow!

[Mitch]

The teams in the MLS probably couldn't cut it in the Championship in England, but you gotta start somewhere. I reckon with the huge population you guys have it could be on the same level as other major competitions.

[Eyez Neverclear]

Ha good luck. I've been hearing the kids are choosing soccer over baseball, football etc for 10-15 years now and all this time later soccer is still far below the top3 sports here and for that matter not even a blip on the publics radar. Seriously, not only are baseball, football and basketball 10 times more popular here but so are the college versions, golf, hockey and so called extreme sports. Sadly, the fastest growing sport in this country is far from soccer. Its a take off of football played indoors on a smaller field. Arena league football is doing amazing around the country and is incredibly profitable in every city that has set up shop so far. There are even offshoots of the original arena league doing well around here.

Soccer has had a large youth presence in the US for a very long time and those same athletes always end up choosing another sport as they grow up. For at least the last 20 years there have been more youth soccer teams than youth football or basketball teams in the US, and only baseball has had more. In the end its that way only because its cheaper to set up those leagues and more kids get to play on each team and at a time. 20 years later things haven't changed and there really is no reason to believe that they will have in another 20. When those same kids get to high school and they are forced to choose between soccer, football, baseball, or track depending on whether or not its a spring or fall sport in their area more often that not those kids choose something else.

Soccer still has a extremely long ways to go towards popularity in the US and other than the popular "it is everywhere else arguement" there really is no reason to believe its gonna surpass the top3 let alone some of the others. Soccer doens't even win out with women around here and women don't have football, hockey, boxing and a few other sports stealing their attention. Fastpitch and womens basketball are doing far and away better and growing faster than soccer is.

[Asshole]

for your info 90% of women around the globe dont like football, if any of my exes had ever suggested sitting and watching the football (other than internationals) id probably have died of shock.. its almost taboo for a female to liek it, if they like to watch football it somewhat ruins the fun especially when your meeting the lads in the pub !!

Any while you can say you doubt anything will change i really think your wrong.. with the beckhams moving there you will definatley see a huge impact.. on you americans who havent encountered them first hand yet could not imagine.. victoria will be in your gossip columns and newspapers week in week out.. forever.. and you guys are so much more celeberity obsessed than we are.. and they can really hug the spotlight.. they will glamorise the world of your "soccer" and thats something american kids will want to grow too..

and thats just from them being physically there.. theres many other factors such as beckhams youth schools he is opening.. and the fact people will flood to watch him.. over this next year.. MLS is gonna have a real boost..

unfortunatley you americans cant grasp the power of the beckhams methinks.. and now they even have a PR guru...

[hoos]

See I figured he'd help for a bit because I would like to go see him play. But once the novelty wears off, the question is, will people stay fans and watch their cities team? I live 2 hrs away from the closest team, so it can be a long day for me to go out and see a match. Granted I have places to stay around the DC area, other soccer fans might not, and that will hinder their coming. That's the only thing I think that holds back soccer at the moment. People in urban areas don't play soccer and aren't fans (in America) because they don't have the space to play it, or care to try. Kind of sad, but I feel like that's how it is going at the moment.

[Dymond]

I would love to see Soccer get a boost in popularity. Then again I would also like to see Real Salt Lake actually win a game too. I think Beckham will be good for American 'Futbol' and honestly as the population shifts and we get more hispanics in the larger markets it has the potential to take off.

Here in Logan Soccer is a big deal and the high school teams get as much coverage if not more than what would be considered the big sports. Its possible its because all 3 local high schools here usually have some powerhouse soccer teams.

[Smokie]

The premiership is the greatest league in the world and to even come close would be a huge feat but when i tell you of crowds consisting of 40-75,000 all chanting there clubs songs to the height that talking to the person next to you becomes a shouting conversation i think it illustrates how pastionate we are about football and for the MLS to achieve anything like that, soccer HAS to become your national sport

[hoos]

Very true, I believe that the way England is packed with people, and the shear amount of people lead to a diversity of interest in a small area. America is so spaced out, soccer just doesn't have a chance to take off. We only have a 2nd 'minor' league, whereas there are leagues in what, 4 or 5 countries in Europe? I think in 15 years, once America is more densely populated, it'll be more popular. Though Lacrosse is starting to become a bigger sport.

[Smokie]

in england we have a tiering system which incorporates 8 stages of a pyramid scale with basically from park football on a saturday to the football league and premiership will take 8 years if promotion is gained at the end of each season and that league requirements are met. However within each stage there are many leagues meaning competition for places is highly intense. For example level 7 of the pyramid scale is supply league and throughout the country there is 213 supply leagues consisting of approximately 15-20 teams in each.

So football is well regimented in this country and getting from grassroots to the top is well set out but getting there is the hard part with competition being so fierce.

[Dymond]

I think in order to that we would have to get away from a 'Town/City Team' to a club team mentality.