Soccer attendance

Discussion in 'Prem talk, Those Other Leagues, and International' started by HatterDon, Aug 19, 2012.

  1. HatterDon

    HatterDon Moderator

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2006
    Location:
    Peoples Republic of South Texas
    There was an article in this morning's Excuse-Nuisance about the mighty San Antonio Scorpions. What made it amazing is that it appeared above the fold on page 1, and the Cowboys had to play second fiddle. A couple of things gleaned from the article:

    • San Antonio leads all "minor league" football franchises in attendance with 9623
      six of the top 10 teams in the minor league group are NASL teams. This includes the Atlanta Silverbacks who might not be able to beat a decent pub team
      In the MLS, Seattle's attendance is more than 40k per game -- well above most Premier League totals [including ours]
      The worst attendance in MLS is at New England, but their average of 12,922 is pretty consistent with what you get in the Championship.

    Oh, and the Scorps are still in first place. :banana-guitar:

    Here's the full article:

    http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/scor ... 798895.php
     
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  2. terrinh73

    terrinh73 Member

    Joined:
    Feb 10, 2007
    Always beating up on my Silverbacks **sigh** :cry:
     
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  3. dcheather

    dcheather Administrator

    Joined:
    Jul 29, 2005
    If only the sports media and ESPN would give even more attention to the sport, sigh. It seems the sport in this country gets more and more supporters each year, and that's a very good thing. Just hope the TV rights keep going to channels that can show it across the nation to a wide audience. It won't keep growing if we niche supporters have to hunt down streams.

    Good luck to the Scorpions, sounds like they have some great support. Would you like to see them in the MLS or no?
     
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  4. Clevelandmo

    Clevelandmo Active Member

    Joined:
    Sep 13, 2007
    ESPN Sportscenter is starting to include soccer highlights quite frequently so I think that's a big step. Get the average sports fan knowing the teams, the names and the top highlights.

    Also the NBCSports Network took on MLS and so far it has been a viable experiment for them. I dont know if their network is mainstream though for the average cable viewer - it certainly is for satellite. They also started an MLS 36 program to highlight MLS player stories. I saw one on Freddy Montero and really enjoyed it. I think this show will really help make MLS players, and therefore MLS, more popular.

    I really think the key is that MLS needs to get on par with the top leagues in the world. People want to watch the best. The TV ratings for the WC, the premier league, and the euros have been skyrocketing. If MLS can get to the point where it is considered by the experts to be on par with Serie A or Ligue uuuuuhhhh, I believe they'll be major network coverage. I think we will eventually get there.

    http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mls-nbc-sports-doing-good-not-historic-tv-173000489.html
     
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  5. AggieMatt

    AggieMatt Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 20, 2008
    Location:
    Alamo City, Texas
    I think we've come too late to the party for that to happen since future expansion has already been sorted. The only way I could see it is if there was relegation/promotion and we all know that ain't happening. I guess we could have a shot if a club implodes financially somehow.

    We are still in Year 1, so we haven't proven a lot just yet. But it's a great start.
     
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  6. articbob

    articbob Member

    Joined:
    May 10, 2008
    I think this rant explains most of it. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sD_8prYOxo[/youtube]

    But there two main reasons for the lack of coverage. The American media, and advertisers does not want Proper Football to be more successful than the NFL and the NCAA. Too many people make money off the NFL and NCAA to allow someone to cut into the profits. The second reason is even more asinine than the first. Because we are not the best at the game. The NFL stays on top because they do not play other teams from around the world that have American Football Leagues. They won't even play the CFL or BAFA teams, but they insist on playing games in their countries. Fox Soccer could have picked up an NASL game USL game per week, but as stated earlier, we are not the best at this game. They probably feel they will get better ratings and save money showing replays all damn day instead of investing a one or two camera crew to help promote the game in the US. And even if your not showing the games, just a weekly show would do wonders to get the word out. I won't even get into the race and nationalism issues because it frustrates me to think about it. But once these issues are adressed then maybe they can be solved.

    Anyway this is just my opinion, I could be wrong.

    As far as the Scorpions in MLS are concern, my answer is the same across the board. If you are good enough to be there, than you deserve to be there. You shouldn't have to pay an entry fee, force to change your logo, and forgo your history(ex: Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Montreal) in order to play. Personally I think the NASL is a better brand than MLS and can perhaps implement a promotion/relegation system with USL(slim chance I know). Doing something like that may make MLS turn their heads and realize the american sports model does not work for everything in america.
     
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  7. BarryWhite

    BarryWhite Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2011
    Location:
    Newburgh, IN
    Glad to hear the Scorpions are doing well in SA Don.

    Mo, I get the NBC Sports channel through my cable company and have quite thoroughly enjoyed the MLS access I am getting between the cross coverage ESPN and NBC Sports is providing which is usually between 2-4 matches a week.

    Bob I know Fox Soccer used to cover a USL game on Friday nights before I dropped DirectTV and subsequently Fox Soccer channel. I didn't realize they had dropped it.
     
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  8. Clevelandmo

    Clevelandmo Active Member

    Joined:
    Sep 13, 2007
    Interesting article by a guy who tracks the popularity of the different sports in the USA. Among 12 - 24 yr olds soccer is the second most popular sport, second only to the NFL. He predicts MLS popularity is about to grow big time.

    http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/relegationzone/id/262?cc=5901
     
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  9. shinerbockguy

    shinerbockguy New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 6, 2007
    Location:
    Arizona

    The thing is, the fanbases/following here in the USA have grown tremendously over the last decade or two - despite the lack of really good network coverage. The Internet has ushered in a new generation of fans being able to follow foreign clubs.
    Now that more national TV coverage is becoming available - you see a recent explosion of interest. Big-time soccer games nationally televised on Super Bowl Sunday? I wouldn't have imagined that 10yrs ago. The emergence of NBSports and the Al-Jazeera sports channel could be phenomenal for domestic and (non-EPL) European games. The EPL is of course, way out in front in terms of exposure here.
    I get the point, though - that for the MLS to take off - it needs an actual TV contract. A good one. The big money is in the TV rights, and the MLS just isn't there yet. That's the revenue stream (or lack thereof) that also limits the MLS' ability to compete with other leagues.
     
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  10. articbob

    articbob Member

    Joined:
    May 10, 2008
    The TV rights are indeed an issue. But another thing I've notice unless I am mistaken, MLS has never had a weekly recap or preview show. Having a 30 min to an hour show one to two times a week(Thursday and Sunday) on ESPN or NBC Sports would help immensely. Since neither station or even ESPN NEWS spends 3 minutes showing highlights from MLS games unless they are in the middle of broadcasting a game. I know advertising is a big deal, but just because you can't show a commercial every 5 minites does not mean you should deny people the sport and information about the sport they want.
     
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  11. shinerbockguy

    shinerbockguy New Member

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    Aug 6, 2007
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    ^Good call. That would be pretty cool.
     
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  12. nevzter

    nevzter Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 5, 2007
    Location:
    A City by a Bay
    Good thoughts - DirecTV recently dropped GolTV and my Bundesliga fix.
     
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  13. dcheather

    dcheather Administrator

    Joined:
    Jul 29, 2005

    I mostly made that comment out of frustration that BeINSports was not available at the time, thus losing some of my ability to watch some US players play in Europe. But the thing that made take note of the Premier League and Fulham in the the first place was the ability to watch on Pay-per-view channels back in the day. I wouldn't have gone on the internet looking for streams of an event I really had no interest in seeing at the time. I think that's one possibility to recruiting new fans...channel surfers who just happen to catch an exciting match or goal. The game caught me that way, although I had an interest in the US team before then (I was a teen when the WC was here and played a bit of youth soccer but that's about it). I just didn't go out of may to watch "European" or MLS games, now I do because I just happened to stumble on it while channel surfing one early Sat morning.
     
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  14. shinerbockguy

    shinerbockguy New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 6, 2007
    Location:
    Arizona
    Ironic - Similar discussion in Grant Wahl's Mailbag today.....

    I especially like this part:
    "you can see more live Premier League games on U.S. television than you can in England."
    Wow. Now if we could get more Serie A, more MLS, (insert desired Big league here), and every (I mean every) USMNT game. It's coming.......

    Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/w ... z279Xx1AEH
     
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