Major League Soccer---Will it catch on ?

[level7hunter]

the MLS is a developmental league. thats why it doesn't have the intensity of the champions league or the premiership

[abpk2903]

I watch the World Cup and that is it. I also love to watch Hockey where they score 5-6 goals tops a game. Professional Soccer on the other hand may score 2-4 goals a game tops. American's do not want to sit around for 2 hours and see their favorite team score twice. It hurts hockey and it will even hurt soccer more. Another problem facing soccer is that it doesnt have a season where it stands alone. It will not be able to go in the fall b/c there is no way it can compete with football and baseball playoffs. If it goes in the spring it has basketball and Hockey playoffs to compete with along with a begining baseball season. Unless it can figure out how to go in the middle of winter i dont see it growing any strengh.

[retro1530]

I absolutely love the World Cup. I never watch the MLS though. What would attract more fans to the MLS is more scoring just like the NHL did. Change the rules some, no offsides or something like that. People love offensive games more than defensive games. I think eventually MLS will grow into a big-time sport, but it'll take a while.

[thatswhatshesaid]

making the game more offensive would probally help the game but then think about how much that could possibly hurt the players when they go overseas to play in europe or in the world cup. They would get used to a certain way of playing then they go to a different league with different rules and that could hurt them becuase they will have to change their style of play.

[level7hunter]

you can't just change the rules of a sport just because it's not offensive enough. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world and has done just fine without it's rules being changed before.

[count2infinity]

the NHL was hurting and needed to bring back a fan base, that was the reason for rule changes and they weren't too big of changes anyways. You could easily remove the new rules and it won't change the game. About the only big change was the shootout added to the end of the game, which yes, does make the game more exciting.Taking away offsides in soccer is a little ridiculous. It would completely change the game.

[abpk2903]

Does anyone else have a suggestion on when would be the best time for the MLS season?I think people could adapt more to a low scoring game than people adapting to watching in over Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Racing, Golf, and even now UFC and Poker which all are more popular right now in American than Soccer. They need to get creative on when to put games on TV and how. What they need is ESPN to televise like a Tuesday night game, ESPN 2 to maybe have a Thursday night game, and ABC to have either a Saturday or Sunday game of the week. Also they need to have FSN's and local tv markets to televise most every game for the local team that way they can follow a hometown team. I know getting TV contract's like that would be difficult but it would allow MLS to take off.

[#1_plumber_coach]

The big question is do you really want MLS to take off? There is a valid point that can be made here to compare a small time high school to a major sporting event. A few small time schools in our area have soccer programs for girls and boys. Our country is trying to promote MLS. Our school graduates 80-90 kids annually. Our country has a major sport already for every part of the calender year. Does there come a point when you have too many sports at your local small time school that the other programs suffer from lack of participation? On the same token do the other sports on the major league level suffer with another coming in and trying to bottom feed from the rest of them? Just my opinion but soccer is good exercise but it lacks the excitement level that fans from the USA demand from a sport. I don't think in our country that it will ever come close to enjoying anywhere close to the same fan base as any of the other major sports. I would also think that our major sports (NFL NBA MLB NHL NASCAR) may already have a hand in trying to keep MLS an insubordinate type of a sport to protect their own interests. On the same note the small time high school coaches (guilty myself) talk to players and coerce them to stay away from soccer also to protect their own interests. I'm rambling put I do see a connection here.....

[level7hunter]

Are you saying that soccer is an inferior sport not worth the same recognition as NASCAR. Your entire theory is flawed soccer is a wildly popular sort throughout the entire world and is becoming that way in the US. So why should it not get the recognition it deserves like all the other major sports. If you have ever played soccer you would have learned it involves lots of skill and physical conditioning, unlike the skill it takes to drive a car around a track five hundred times.

[once a runner]

I think plumber coach makes a good point in that small schools with many sports essentially hurt each other. In a school like Altoona where you have 1,000 kids in a grade, you can have plenty of quality for many sports. However if you only have 80-90 in a grade, the number of quality athletes will be far less. When you split those athletes among different sports in the same season, you hurt the quality of all sports.

I fail to see any significant growth in soccer over the last decade. MLS attendance has remained at about 15,000/game (although the number of teams has increased). The television ratings draw very small audiences outside of the World Cup. I recall that Pele was supposed to bring soccer to the US and they were drawing crowds of 70,000+ to watch him play in NY. In 1994 the World Cup in the US was supposed to bring a rise in soccer popularity to the US. Interest spiked afterwards, but could not maintain that level.

In an era where attention spans seem to be decreasing, it is tough for a sport like soccer to have a lot of spectators. Soccer requires a great deal of attention for a long period of time. I just don't see it catching on among the masses. Those who do get it and follow it are very passionate about the sport. Just don't expect the rest of the country to feel the same way any time soon.