Garber's State of the MLS address

From the MLS - a video link is available to view the speech

On a very positive not Seattle has reportedly already sold over 18,000 season tickets.

From DuNord:

More on Montreal's bid withdrawl

 

Biggest grumble is the come one come all playoffs that gives no incentive to be the best in the regular season or any advantage at all in the playoffs, but that is par for the course for MLS. They always feel to me like they are trying to sell me a bridge and I don't see any rivers.

 

I agree expanding the playoffs really devalues the regular season.

 

Brad unless I misread something the MLS is not changing the number of teams in the playoffs they are changing how the eight teams that qualify for the playoffs are determined because the conferences will be unbalanced next season. This season the top three finishers from each conference automatically qualified with the two wildcards awarded to the highest finishers not receiving automatic berths. Next season only the top two finishers from the two conferences will qualify with four wildcards awarded to the four highest finishers not receiving automatic berths.

What I do like at first glance:

1. The teams qualifying for the CONCACAF Champions League and the SuperLiga have been established so that no team will be entered into both competitions.
2. The attempt to honor more international dates.

What I think is short sighted:

The elimination of the reserve division. I understand that a portion of the payroll reallocated will allow for two more senior players but this move seems contrary to the idea of developing American soccer talent.

 

Hmmmm... The changes seem lukewarm to me.

They are a move in the right direction - yes.

 

Steps in the right direction.

I wonder if you took a survey of MLS fans who attended 6 or more games as to which was more important: MLS Cup or Supporters Shield? I think Garber would be both surprised and dismayed by the response

 

I actually think Garber would know what the response would be (especially with the hardcore fans). However, his job is to get sports fans who don't go to try it out, and the ones who go once in awhile to go again.

I totally understand why many people want to do away w/the playoffs, but it can't be denied it they were good to watch on tv, good for the fans at the matches, and good to the owners (and frankly they need it).

This US sporting public is used to a playoff (unless you're a college football fan :roll: ) format of some kind. How many times does the team w/the best record in the regular season (pick a sport) end up winning the title? Should we have given the Pats the Lombardi trophy after going 16-0l ast year? My team (Angels) won a 100 games this season and had the best record in baseball, but I don't feel ripped off they couldn't get it done in a short series. Playoffs aren't a bad thing, in fact they usually end up being the games you remember 10-20 years down the road.

 

It's all tied together, the MLS Cup game and the State Address...

I wrote a separate thread to address it. But here's another Columbus fan, a better one than I am, addressing the sour grapes and crap put out by the highly regarded scribes; Sean Wheelock and Jamie Trecker.

Actually 'fisking' those arguments put out by those idiots:

Idiot FC

PS: Mateo 319 supports One Velociraptor Per Child.
-gotta like that!

 

What Garber is missing is that the MLS Cup is not, and will never be, the Superbowl - a game that people will buy tickets to no matter who is playing. The closest thing, at the club level, that exist to the superbowl is the UEFA Champions League Final, and even that pales in comparison. Most of the fans at the UEFA CL Final are supporters of one of the two participating teams, not just "general fans."

The problem with the play-off system and soccer is that the games are too close together for fans to plan for the trips. The final is in a neutral venue, but really, how many fans were going to buy game tickets, plane tickets, and book hotels before the 15th, just 8 days before the game? How much planning can you do with just 8 days notice?

NCAAF gets weeks, often months, of heads-up time so that fans can plan in advance to attend. The Cups in Europe also have many week gaps between the semi-'s and the finals. If you want the MLS Cup to be a big spectacle, then you need to have the teams identified far more than 8 days in advance, especially when its going to be at a neutral venue - heck, I bet the majority of the fans there on Sunday were LA Locals who got tickets as part of a multi-game ticket package for Galaxy/Chivas games [this is why there were sold tickets but empty seats] - I went to the MLS Cup final last year that way, and most of the fans there were DCU fans.

Soccer is not a typical American sport; it's different. Get with the program, Garber!

 

Which makes me think my initial thought regarding this was not so crazy after all.

How about announcing 4 regional venue possibilities for the final
(e.g.; San Jose, RSL, Chicago, D.C.) and then picking the best one once you know the final match-up?

I think Chicago would be a much easier sojourn for those in Columbus (by car or rail) and NY (by plane). Yes, a very un-typical idea for a very un-typical sport in the United States.

 

No it isnt and never will be, nor do we want it to be... the only football game most of the ticket buyers attend all season.

Oh, really? Where's the money going to come from, Andy? The 'soccer-fairy'?

 

Where is it coming from now?

Truth be told - The playoffs were mostly ignored.

 

Were they? I know the NE/CHI match in NE was poorly attended but the MLS announcements have led me to believe that in general attendence and television numbers were up over the regular season. I don't know this to be true for a fact but it would be interesting to see some actual numbers.

 

I was talking about attention from the general and sports media, but the butts in seats numbers would be interesting to mix into this discussion.

 

I agree. I have nothing against the idea of the playoffs. I think everyone has a favorite team that was aces in the regular season and couldn't get it done in the playoffs, because of some awful effort like Barry Bonds halfstepping, arguing wrongly with Andy Van Slyke, and not being able to throw out Sid Bream from deep short in 1992. Not that I am still bitter or anything...

When I look at the playoff format, I see the days when it was 8 teams getting the nod in a 10 team league. Remember when it was a three division league? One division was mathematically guaranteed to have everyone in the playoffs. Why even play the regular season then? It will still be more than half the teams get in next year. Since it usually is all about the cash grab for MLS, why should the non soccer fan even care? I am a fan, and I couldn't have cared about the league one whit for about the first 10 years of it's existence. Why should a fan of baseball or football care about the sport when I didn't have a reason?

I guess when the league is at 18 teams that will be less of an issue and I will just have to get over my preconceived notions, but geez, cutting back the number of teams that get the nod, at least down to 6, can only help the integrity of the league.

Boy, do I sound like an anachronism. Garber would not listen to a word of my ideas.

 

The point is that soccer fans want something different out of their sport than, say, Football fans. Soccer fans participation in games is also different and is something that can add or detract from the TV value of games, far more so than any other major US sport. Garber is treating soccer like it's Football, Baseball, or Basketball and it's not - it will never be financially successful until he embraces those differences, rather than ignoring them.