What I don't get is that soccer is reaching an apex in terms of support in this country. You have the top English teams coming over here every year. You have the head of the Spanish Premera Division talking about wanting to expand their footprint in the US including possible league matchups. You're finding more and more US players choosing to stay home in MLS.
IF they wanted to do, it would be very easy to expand the Champions League such that the US and really Mexico were brought into the discussion. Getting North America even more tied into the Champions League would be a no brainer IMO and with transportation to/from the US and Europe easier than it has ever been, you could also very easily have a breakout "Super League" with the Top Teams from Europe breaking off from the "Financial Fair Play" that is in place right now.
I'm all for the World Cup going to other parts of the world. Russia makes sense. Strong domestic league. Fairly strong national team. Qatar makes ZERO sense. It's just a flat out bad idea. The sooner Sepp Blatter gets away from the European control the better for soccer in general.
Agree with most of what you said.
However, each continental federation already has their own Champions League. The winners play each other in the Club World Cup. You would want to expand that tournament.
Also, MLS will never take off unless we start producing more American talent. We don't have the financial means to import good talent, and won't for at least a couple more decades. I find most of the games to be unwatchable dreck, which is one of the reasons why I can't get into the Sounders.
I think what needs to happen is for a major league like the EPL or La Liga to tell FIFA to fuck off and secede. That's the only way they lose their grip on the sport.
I agree with most of what you said as well (we should all drink chocolate milk and sing soccer chants - $75k) ...
I realize each federation has their own Champions League and that they all play in the Club World Cup ... which is fairly worthless because the scheduling. IMO there's room to expand the tournament one way or another or to have some kind of joint agreement in place. Growth of the game is good for all parties ... so thinking outside of the box of how to make it work is what is needed.
I agree with you that MLS needs more local American talent - which I think we'll see over the next 20 years as all of the guys that I play soccer with all have their kids playing soccer and playing at relatively high levels. Not only is the success of the National Team taking place, but we're starting to see some success at the U-levels as well. This is very similar to what we saw in the past 20 years or so with hockey. Big event with the 1980 team inspired the first generation of American talent in the 90s which has in turn spawn this generation where the US is now on the short list of favorites in any junior or senior national tournament.
The Sounders are at times painful to watch in many ways to me because of the other teams and their lack of skill and talent. When the Sounders get going, if you didn't know better, you could see them playing in a mid-tier European league.
The big thing that is missing in the US though is $$$. I think that the $$$ is there in the US for elite level soccer. But I don't think it is there for middling soccer. MLS needs to further figure out the divide between having good young players like DeAndre Yedlin who have to go to Europe to get paid (and it's good for his development as well) versus being able to pay them at home. Having only 3 DP slots on the roster really limits the growth. What I'd rather see the league move more in the direction of is more of a Financial Fair Play model where the teams have a certain floor that they can spend up to regardless of profitability but then anything about that they can spend and invest in their team as long as they remain at minimum a break-even franchise. I think it's ridiculous that Seattle can sell 40k tickets per game but have more or less the same financial limitations to them that a team like Columbus has. Although I also understand that you can't let the gap between the have's and have nots get too big.
It would not shock me if the EPL and La Liga as the richest leagues in the world at some point tell UEFA to fuck off.
Spent two and a half weeks down in Brazil for the WC...probably spend about the same in Russia in 2018. No way in hell I'm going to Qatar in 2022.
Not sure how much you know about them, but it's fucked up...when the Saudis call them rich relative to themselves (the Saudis) it's nuts to begin with, but when you see/hear what they do with the money...
I support soccer. I'll be at the MLS all-star game in Portland wearing my 2010 Auburn vs. Oregon National Title t-shirt if anyone wants to meet up.
Will you be wearing a warm winter scarf in the summer heat so you can look the part of a wannabe European?
I just hope all the Europeans like the Tifo we made.
I know you are being sarcastic, but the Euros won't truly respect us as a futbol nation until we learn to write more offensive chants and start engaging in large-scale riots after every match. Not likely, when you consider the fannypack wearing motherfuckers that currently follow MLS.
Agree. Some of the kilt wearing tryhards down here talk about fighting Seattle supporters inbetween their barista shifts.
Spent two and a half weeks down in Brazil for the WC...probably spend about the same in Russia in 2018. No way in hell I'm going to Qatar in 2022.
Not sure how much you know about them, but it's fucked up...when the Saudis call them rich relative to themselves (the Saudis) it's nuts to begin with, but when you see/hear what they do with the money...
Waiting for the punch line ...
No punch line...$200 billion for the World Cup...$15 billion for an airport...think it has the highest per capita income per citizen by far of any country. And never been, but have heard they take pride I importing the professional girls from most every country in the world. May be why they made the first WC stadium look like a VJJ.
Qatar getting the cup is ridiculous. Fifa makes the NCAA look good. Soccer will never take off in the US, at least anytime soon. Every single World Cup it seems like soccer is really taking off. Then the cup ends and it's always the same. I can't recall meeting one person in LA that is a Galaxy fan. Not one. The MLS sucks.
I support soccer. I'll be at the MLS all-star game in Portland wearing my 2010 Auburn vs. Oregon National Title t-shirt if anyone wants to meet up.
Will you be wearing a warm winter scarf in the summer heat so you can look the part of a wannabe European?
I just hope all the Europeans like the Tifo we made.
I know you are being sarcastic, but the Euros won't truly respect us as a futbol nation until we learn to write more offensive chants and start engaging in large-scale riots after every match. Not likely, when you consider the fannypack wearing motherfuckers that currently follow MLS.
Agree. Some of the kilt wearing tryhards down here talk about fighting Seattle supporters inbetween their barista shifts.
Kilt baristas sounds like a great bidness model. It fits the area much better than bikini baristas.
The MLS is fundamentally flawed. Franchise system, salary cap, no promotion/relegation, playing on turf, designated players (DP!!!1), season played during the summer, etc.
Nothing changed with me. Just got call from FRANNY 5 minutes ago and told me I was to show up inMaltby. If dad has stuff to do have him leave with you. I'll have Anna take me and Dad can leave with you. I would prefer u and dad leave together. I'll ask Anna. Shouldn't be a problem. If she can't I'll let you know
The MLS is fundamentally flawed. Franchise system, salary cap, no promotion/relegation, playing on turf, designated players (DP!!!1), season played during the summer, etc.
It's a Mickey Mouse league.
I'd disagree...its not the EPL, and won't be for 50 years if ever.
But I'd argue they are doing it the right way...starting small and growing as they grow the fanbase. The NASL tried to go big quick and it bankrupted them (remember the Cosmos had higher attendance numbers than both the Giants and Jets at the time). MLS is taking the incremental approach, and its kept them in business so far. They just signed a TV contract that is 5-10X their current contract, so you'll see the salary cap go up next year with the new deal. No league in the US started from scratch at was instantly popular...it took a generation or two for it to grow that way (even and esp the NFL). Doesn't fit the ADD mentality of a lot of folks but it is what it is.
Its also letting them figure out player development...each you have teams like KC and to a lesser extent Seattle that are starting to see rewards for developing players, etc. You can't just build that infrastructure from scratch.
I don't disagree that what they are doing is in direct response to the mistakes of the NASL. However, I do think that they are also going to the opposite extreme of making the mistake of stifling the monetary growth and influence of those that have the ability to have larger ambition.
I do agree with you though that the building out of the player development with the clubs and integrated with the National Team is vital to the growth of soccer in the US. For as good as Jurgen is with what he is doing with the National Team, I firmly believe that his lasting legacy to US Soccer will be what is taking place at the developmental levels of soccer.
I don't think that it's going to take multiple generations for the sport to take off. If you want to think in those terms, we're essentially through the first generation as the World Cup in the US was 20 years ago. I could definitely see by 2025 to 2030 that the infrastructure behind the MLS is strong enough to see growth. You have a number of very strong markets in the league right now IMO with Seattle, Portland, KC, LA, Vancouver, and RSL to just name a handful. There are some markets where I do think that they need to figure things out in greater detail but I think that that can come with time. There's definitely a strong market in the US and I expect that it will only continue to grow.
If you think back to even 10-15 years ago, the ability to watch high-end international soccer on a weekly basis and being in the discussion of the average sports fan is a night and day difference. Yet, when you think about it, the knowledge in this country of everything going on globally is still very, very limited and there's so much more room for growth.
Pat Gillick is working on testing ideas out in an independent league to speed up the pace of play in baseball. If games last 2 hours and 30 to 45 mins, they'll only be about 30 mins longer than regular soccer games (45 min halves, about 20 mins for halftime, and 5 to 10 minutes for whining). Soccer games that go into extra time or even worse, penalty shots, would last even longer.
Unlike soccer, there's no crying in baseball. I'll never consider being a soccer fan until they start throwing out more yellow cards for blatant faking and acting as if crimes against humanity have occurred. Most sports, you only leave your feet as a last resort but in soccer, players often get rewarded for it with penalty kicks.
Oh and fuck Qatar. Drill Baby Drill and throw solar on every roof we can so that we can compete with them for O & NG exports.
1. Baseball is not a contact sport. 2. Soccer players should never any larger than 200 lbs. (unless they play goalie). They run about 10 miles per game. Simple science dictates that. It's much more advantageous to weigh less. 3. Michael Bradley sucks. Fight a real player, like Lukaku or Balotelli. 4. IDGAF about Minor League Soccer. Thought I made that clear. 5. Profit
I'll say this - I watched more World Cup than ever which isn't saying much but at its highest lever when the teams aren't playing safe and there is good action - soccer still sucks.
Having said that - if Team USA ever stops sucking we could get behind it once every 4 years. I don't know shit about soccer but the US team doesn't belong on the same field once they get to the round of 16. Fucking pathetic.
Comments
I realize each federation has their own Champions League and that they all play in the Club World Cup ... which is fairly worthless because the scheduling. IMO there's room to expand the tournament one way or another or to have some kind of joint agreement in place. Growth of the game is good for all parties ... so thinking outside of the box of how to make it work is what is needed.
I agree with you that MLS needs more local American talent - which I think we'll see over the next 20 years as all of the guys that I play soccer with all have their kids playing soccer and playing at relatively high levels. Not only is the success of the National Team taking place, but we're starting to see some success at the U-levels as well. This is very similar to what we saw in the past 20 years or so with hockey. Big event with the 1980 team inspired the first generation of American talent in the 90s which has in turn spawn this generation where the US is now on the short list of favorites in any junior or senior national tournament.
The Sounders are at times painful to watch in many ways to me because of the other teams and their lack of skill and talent. When the Sounders get going, if you didn't know better, you could see them playing in a mid-tier European league.
The big thing that is missing in the US though is $$$. I think that the $$$ is there in the US for elite level soccer. But I don't think it is there for middling soccer. MLS needs to further figure out the divide between having good young players like DeAndre Yedlin who have to go to Europe to get paid (and it's good for his development as well) versus being able to pay them at home. Having only 3 DP slots on the roster really limits the growth. What I'd rather see the league move more in the direction of is more of a Financial Fair Play model where the teams have a certain floor that they can spend up to regardless of profitability but then anything about that they can spend and invest in their team as long as they remain at minimum a break-even franchise. I think it's ridiculous that Seattle can sell 40k tickets per game but have more or less the same financial limitations to them that a team like Columbus has. Although I also understand that you can't let the gap between the have's and have nots get too big.
It would not shock me if the EPL and La Liga as the richest leagues in the world at some point tell UEFA to fuck off.
mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/al-wakrah-vagina-stadium-qatar-world-2807997
Hate posting on an ipad. Good thing is, that's $200 billion less that goes to Hamas and other nut jobs.
The MLS is fundamentally flawed. Franchise system, salary cap, no promotion/relegation, playing on turf, designated players (DP!!!1), season played during the summer, etc.
It's a Mickey Mouse league.
But I'd argue they are doing it the right way...starting small and growing as they grow the fanbase. The NASL tried to go big quick and it bankrupted them (remember the Cosmos had higher attendance numbers than both the Giants and Jets at the time). MLS is taking the incremental approach, and its kept them in business so far. They just signed a TV contract that is 5-10X their current contract, so you'll see the salary cap go up next year with the new deal. No league in the US started from scratch at was instantly popular...it took a generation or two for it to grow that way (even and esp the NFL). Doesn't fit the ADD mentality of a lot of folks but it is what it is.
Its also letting them figure out player development...each you have teams like KC and to a lesser extent Seattle that are starting to see rewards for developing players, etc. You can't just build that infrastructure from scratch.
-HH
I don't disagree that what they are doing is in direct response to the mistakes of the NASL. However, I do think that they are also going to the opposite extreme of making the mistake of stifling the monetary growth and influence of those that have the ability to have larger ambition.
I do agree with you though that the building out of the player development with the clubs and integrated with the National Team is vital to the growth of soccer in the US. For as good as Jurgen is with what he is doing with the National Team, I firmly believe that his lasting legacy to US Soccer will be what is taking place at the developmental levels of soccer.
I don't think that it's going to take multiple generations for the sport to take off. If you want to think in those terms, we're essentially through the first generation as the World Cup in the US was 20 years ago. I could definitely see by 2025 to 2030 that the infrastructure behind the MLS is strong enough to see growth. You have a number of very strong markets in the league right now IMO with Seattle, Portland, KC, LA, Vancouver, and RSL to just name a handful. There are some markets where I do think that they need to figure things out in greater detail but I think that that can come with time. There's definitely a strong market in the US and I expect that it will only continue to grow.
If you think back to even 10-15 years ago, the ability to watch high-end international soccer on a weekly basis and being in the discussion of the average sports fan is a night and day difference. Yet, when you think about it, the knowledge in this country of everything going on globally is still very, very limited and there's so much more room for growth.
Unlike soccer, there's no crying in baseball. I'll never consider being a soccer fan until they start throwing out more yellow cards for blatant faking and acting as if crimes against humanity have occurred. Most sports, you only leave your feet as a last resort but in soccer, players often get rewarded for it with penalty kicks.
Oh and fuck Qatar. Drill Baby Drill and throw solar on every roof we can so that we can compete with them for O & NG exports.
And baseball & MLS are in the same season so they compete for summer fan $$$$. HTH
2. Soccer players should never any larger than 200 lbs. (unless they play goalie). They run about 10 miles per game. Simple science dictates that. It's much more advantageous to weigh less.
3. Michael Bradley sucks. Fight a real player, like Lukaku or Balotelli.
4. IDGAF about Minor League Soccer. Thought I made that clear.
5. Profit
Having said that - if Team USA ever stops sucking we could get behind it once every 4 years. I don't know shit about soccer but the US team doesn't belong on the same field once they get to the round of 16. Fucking pathetic.
America loves a winner. - Patton