Do you follow MLS?

[MrCoffee]

For those who regularly peruse Soccer/Football (I know a couple of you are fans), what are your feelings about MLS? It's really not such a terrible league, and for all its many faults, it has lived up to the promise of elevating the game in the US.

What do you think? Do you have a dog in the MLS fight? Think it's a big joke? Just wondering

[Rambis]

1. No

tried- The standard of play has gotten better but I can't be arsed. It is missing something and I don't know what it is?

[MrCoffee]

2. I think I get what your saying

Personally, I think that missing ingredient is in the stands during most (but in no way all) MLS matches. I actually felt bad for Dallas last year (and I'm originally from Houston, I fucking hate Dallas) watching some of their games in front of what looked like a couple of hundred people. Then you watch DC play in a deserted RFK stadium and it's just sad.

Then again, Seattle, Philly, Kansas City, Portland, Vancouver...they draw huge crowds with fantastic atmosphere. Houston is opening a GORGEOUS new stadium this year that will draw crowds.

Say what you will about those cities/clubs, their support in the stands makes the on-field product better.

[Rambis]

3. Offerred tickets to KC playoff

I was in KC and could have gone home a day later but I just thought no rather get home. I hear the supporters are really up for it and good for them. Place is full so I hear?

[MrCoffee]

4. I've heard great things about the stadium/fans in KC

I think they might have run into some problems with the pitch toward the end of the season (it got some pretty heavy use at the end), but from what I've seen it looks like a dynamite atmosphere.

[HuckleB]

14. Hopefully the pitch will stand up when their home games are spread across a whole season.

KC's schedule last year was just bizarre.

[MrCoffee]

16. That huge road trip at the start of the season was murder

[redqueen]

7. I used to try to go to the Dallas games.

My kids liked going too. Then last year they started having auditions for "FC Dallas Girls"... so they apparently don't want my money or support.

[MrCoffee]

8. Ugh...what a dreadful idea on any number of levels

I like Seattle's halftime show, which consists of a couple of guys with fire hoses spraying water on the plastic carpet pitch*, and maybe some schlub from the stands trying to kick a soccer ball into the sun roof of a Hyundai.

*Sorry, the XBox Pitch at CenturyLink Field, all rights reserved, accept no substitutes.

[Upton]

9. FC Dallas averaged only 12,861 a game last year...

which was actually up from 10,815 in 2010. They have to do something to bring out a crowd..

[MrCoffee]

10. I don't get Dallas at all...

If I had the opportunity to see guys like Brek Shea, George John, Fabian Castillo and Daniel Hernandez (who is a woefully underrated defender), I think I'd take it.

[Ron Obvious]

5. No...

No, I confess that I do not. We do have a local team, the Seattle Shape-shifters or summat, but I can't work up the enthusiasm.

And that's a shame, because in so many ways, the MLS is doing things exactly right, considering the disaster that the NASL was. It's currently a developmental league where young talent can improve away from the stunting effects of the NCAA, and with the right dose of ageing stars from other leagues to add a dash of excitement and experience.

I don't know -- maybe it's the whole artifice of the franchise model and the lack of promotion/relegation that keeps me from caring. I realise this is not going to be an issue for US soccer for some time, but I really loathe the franchise model and draft systems. Finishing bottom should be punished with relegation, not rewarded with high draft choices!

[MrCoffee]

6. LOL, you nailed two of the "many faults" I was referring to

but have learned to live with.

I have to justify the franchise model and pro/rel to myself in the same breath, because I think MLS needed the franchise model in order to survive as long as it has, especially after the contraction out of Florida in 2001. Unfortunately, franchising utterly destroyed any possibility of pro/rel in the foreseeable future, since the franchise owners bought an MLS club, MLS can't kick them out of MLS.

I have no head for business, but I can't see any other way a viable league could have been created within the structure US Soccer had at the time MLS was founded other than through franchise.

What I really, really hate more than the lack of pro/rel is the MLS Cup and its co-evil, the conference structure. I think the league tried too hard to copy the NFL/MLB model by instituting a playoff format to determine the league champion, which in turn (in my mind, anyway) does less to attract casual fans to a playoff win-or-die match than promoting a season-long competition for the Supporter's Shield would have done.

Don't even get me started on next year's unbalanced schedule. I'm still too deranged and livid about it to think coherently on the subject.

[Ron Obvious]

11. We're on the same page...

We're clearly on the same page as you're identifying the other problems I have with the league. Besides which, the season is far too short! This is why e.g. Henry, Robbie Keane, Beckham and Donovan seek off-season deals to keep their fitness up. A football season should parallel a school year, not a summer vacation!

Play-offs between conference and division champions made perfect sense for historical reasons in a huge country like this one, when teams would only play each other in their division because of geographical reasons. Given inter-conference and inter-division play and 'wildcards', they make no sense whatsoever and play-offs are a poor substitute for pro/rel battles and European placings to keep interest near the end of a season in any case. Lastly, mascots and cheerleaders have to go. I like looking at pretty girls as much as the next guy, but football doesn't need these infantilisations to keep the interest alive, or at least it shouldn't.

But let me stop pissing vinegar and end on a positive note: draws are allowed to stand, and there are no more shootout tiebreakers, and that's a major improvement!

"Tell that Kraut to get his ass up front! We don't pay a million for a guy to hang around in defence!" -- New York Cosmos owner on Franz Beckenbauer.

[regnaD kciN]

25. IMHO, you're really missing out...

The Sounders offer a great game experience and a fine style of play. I'd rather watch a Sounders game from the Brougham End than any EPL game -- even involving LFC -- on the tube at 8:00 A.M.

[Ron Obvious]

26. I've heard that from others as well

I've heard nothing but good things about the fan experience. I'll definitely take in a game one of these days.

[JonLP24]

12. I think they're doing good job

I felt that some of their restrictions to ensure parity as well as restraining budgets was harming, but at the same time probably helped their financial solvency.

[MrCoffee]

13. I agree

Even with its faults, MLS has created a viable professional soccer league in the US, and has dramatically increased the quality of play league-wide.

The faults were necessary ones, and for all my whining about them, I have to credit MLS for doing what needed to be done to take soccer in the US to this level at all.

I think the majority of MLS matches are as entertaining as any league match anywhere in the world. If only we could get some tactical innovation in the league, then things would get really fun.

[HuckleB]

15. Yes.

Do I enjoy watching the best teams in the world play on television, yes. Would I much rather go to a live game played at the MLS level (or even the USL level, as I did for ten years) rather than watch the tele: YES!

It's really that simple to me. Besides, once one follows a team, one follows the league, and thus I do watch televised MLS games that don't involve my team almost as much as I watch the overseas "big leagues."

[Codeine]

17. I go to several games a year in Los Angeles.

I've been a big Galaxy fan since the inaugural season (with the hideous uniforms!)



Yes, they were THAT bad!

[HuckleB]

27. Now they're stuck with Quackalife, so their kits are still horrific.

[regnaD kciN]

28. Nah, their kits are just bland. Now CHICAGO'S new third kits are horrific...

At least, I assume those were the third kits they were wearing last night. Navy with white and red accents would probably work pretty well, but to combine those with a bright green name and number on the back? Painful. And their keeper's kit (maroon with bright green) was even worse.

[HuckleB]

30. If your sponsor is a scam company like Herbalife or Xango, the kit is horrific.

Last edited Sun Apr 29, 2012, 04:54 PM - Edit history (1)

It doesn't matter beyond that.

[truebrit71]

18. Yes. I'll watch it if there are some good teams on...or the Galaxy is playing...

..been to a couple of Fire games, had a good time for a relatively small outlay of $$$...It's obviously nowhere near as good as the European leagues, but it's good fun if there's nothing else on the telly...

[regnaD kciN]

29. "...nowhere near as good as the European leagues..."

Let's be more specific here -- when you say "European leagues," I suspect you mean England, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany, right? Those are undoubtedly the top-flight leagues in the world. But most Europeans who live in other countries follow their own country's top league, and only watch the "big five" as a secondary interest. Some of those leagues -- like Holland or Portugal -- are still an undeniable level of quality above MLS, but there are a lot of European countries whose leagues are not. I would guess that, if one was to rank MLS in a list of all European top-level leagues, from the EPL to first-division leagues in places like Belgium or Slovenia, you'd find it ranked pretty much in the middle of the pack, if not higher.

[DaveBrett]

19. MLS is a lot better than it used to be

The new stadiums have made all the difference.

[Marooned]

20. No

Although the quality of play has improved, watching the Premier League, La Liga, Ligue 1, Serie A and even the nPower Championship the MSL looks like a minor league operation. I'm sure given time the quality of the league will continue to improve but for now I don't watch it.

[musiclawyer]

21. Shocked to see so many Euro-snobs here

Real football fans in the USA watch and embrace MLS, warts and all. I dare you to go to Portland or KC and sit anywhere near the ultras and forcefully say that MLS is not here to stay. Within 20 years it will be the 5th or 6th best league in the world. Why?
1. Because the whole socialist cost control structure is working and being loosened up as the times dictate;
2. Because we amercans have playoffs, thank you very much. We are an embryonic soccer nation; relegation will never work here until we have a stable D2 And even when we do, the investors will not want the economic instability that comes with relegation;
3. It's very exciting to see young American start to "get it." We will see many more Clint Demspeys, and Jozy Altidores, just younger and better as the years go by;
4. For every snoozer MLS game their is a great game. The game at the end of the '11 season betwen DCU and PDX for the last playoff spot was the best game I have ever seen in my life. And I have been watching soccer live, on tv and closed circuit since 1978 Argentina, including virtually every WC game played since;
4. Finally, and most importantly, the young people, the U 25 demographic, like MLS. It's "theirs" even if its not yours.

So as my brit friend likes to say to all you Eurosnobs, "piss off!" Please do get all excited about QPR v Rover or whichever other crappy team you want to watch. Or whichever Spanish team not named Barca / Real that will never win the Spanish title. I'm geared up RSL-Dallas tonight-- one or both of whom one day could win the CCL and be playing in the Club World Cup against........."oh......"

[T_i_B]

22. The way I see it....

....I support my local team from where I grew up, and at the moment that means League 1, or even watching Sheffield FC (World's oldest football club) who are non-league. Can't be doing with glory-hunters.

Far more rewarding then watching premier league on sky sports.

[Upton]

23. Real football fans in the USA watch quality....

no matter where it comes from. I support the Sounders..but when I want to see some world class players and action, I watch a top European league like the EPL...Call me a snob if you must, but I'm not into jingoism when it comes to enjoying football.

[musiclawyer]

24. I didnt say avoid Euro ball

Did I ? I watch arsenal. I watch any Spanish or Italian game that looks good
But I support MLS. If people don't, they are part of the problem in arresting the development of thè game here. Not part of the solution And if you are a real football fan here in north America you want the game to grow here in north America And that game is MLS

[Twillig]

31. I'd support Portland if I could, but I can't.

I'd have to be rich to get in, and I don't live in the city.

Life must be so much simpler in England.

I live, in Oregon, as far away from PDX as teams--thought to be distant--are separated in the EPL.

FFS the Beavs and the Ducks are as far as distant rivalries are considered in the EPL.

And, there are no seats available in 'Jeld-Wen.'

So I can watch that on TV--If I can find it,

Or I can watch Man City on TV--or on my computer--and watch players a step above. (Nevermind the fookin' Derby tomorrow!!)

C'mon City.

[HuckleB]

33. Actually, Portland fans bash scalpers, thus...

One can usually get tickets at face value.

Go to facebook and find the Timbers Ticket Exchange group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/229250620520409/

Or join the 107ist, with membership fees minimal and going to worthy causes, and go to their ticket selling page.

Everything must be at face value in both places.

[dezz]

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