MLS ratings up 64%

[nyjunc]

Do you have any proof of this? Or do you want to admit it was a statement of wishful thinking and unvarnished hatred towards soccer, known as football throughout the world minus U.S./Canada (the sport you actually use your foot with the ball).

I do hate soccer, there isn't a more boring sport on the planet.

By the way, here's my proof: DC United vs San Jose had a sell-out of 24,000+; LA vs N.England had a crowd of 25,152; Columbus vs NY had a crowd of 20,356; KC vs Chicago had a crowd of 20,229. This was 4 games out of the 5 opening games that did this well. Basketball arenas, nonetheless a WNBA game, can't fit these many. MLS games will mostly be on weekends, simiilar to the NFL, I don't see why you would think attendance figures will drop drastically. In fact, most of the fans that go to MLS games have season tickets (15 home games).

I don't buy those #s and they aren't great either. I know the Meytrostars inflate their attendance #s and I assume it is done in most of the MLS Stadiums. Also, MOST of the fans at Metrostars games are their w/ FREE or very cheap tickets.

MLB Opener (NY Yankees vs Devil Rays in Japan) aired on ESPN on Sunday night 8:00pm had a rating of 1.9 which ESPN stated it was the best rating EVER on their network for a MLB opener. MLS Opener had a rating of 1.8 - But then again, let's just assume the "WNBA is more popular".

Do you realize that game was live at 5AM? then shown on tape delay at night?

Show me the great soccer TV #s, I GUARANTEE you can't find any b/c no one watches soccer in this Country.

MLS attendance SHOULD be higher than the WNBA, no one cares about the WNBA either and they play in 15-20,000 seat Arenas while MLS teams play in 50,000+ seat Stadiums.

 

[nyjunc]

Agreed. Soccer is the real football!!!

:lolcry: :lolcry: :lolcry: :lolcry:

 

[iceblizzard69]

Originally posted by nyjunc


I do hate soccer, there isn't a more boring sport on the planet.



I don't buy those #s and they aren't great either. I know the Meytrostars inflate their attendance #s and I assume it is done in most of the MLS Stadiums. Also, MOST of the fans at Metrostars games are their w/ FREE or very cheap tickets.



Do you realize that game was live at 5AM? then shown on tape delay at night?

Show me the great soccer TV #s, I GUARANTEE you can't find any b/c no one watches soccer in this Country.

MLS attendance SHOULD be higher than the WNBA, no one cares about the WNBA either and they play in 15-20,000 seat Arenas while MLS teams play in 50,000+ seat Stadiums.

The numbers aren't inflated. I watched the Crew vs. MetroStars game last week and there were 20,000 people there. Also, DC United's game sold out a few days before the game, so they aren't inflating their numbers either.


Also, the USA vs. Germany game in the 2002 World Cup had great ratings. The game was shown live at 7 AM!!! :
http://www.mysoccer.com/ussf2/m0701.phtml

(July 1, 2002) - ESPN's July 21 telecast of the U.S. vs. Germany quarterfinal match, which was seen in an average of 3.77 million television homes based on a 4.36 rating, became the network's most-watched and highest-rated soccer telecast ever, according to Nielsen Media Research data. Also, the telecast is ESPN's most-viewed program ever in the second quarter of a year (April - June).

The quarterfinal game surpassed a 1999 Women's World Cup semifinal match between U.S. and Brazil, watched by 2.88 million television homes. Previously, the highest-rated soccer telecast on ESPN was a 4.26 for the first-round match of the 1994 World Cup between U.S. and Colombia.

Even more impressive, the U.S.-Germany match was ESPN's highest-rated program of the year among men 18-34 (5.32 rating) and cable's most-viewed morning (7A-1PM) program ever among men 18-34 (1,351,571 impressions).

 

[McGahee Nation]

Can you say Freddy Adu?

Ratings are up because of one man oh should I say one teenager. Freddy Adu is the one that is putting interest in the game soccer. The one thing that irritates me is that these soccer elitists which are the coaches will not play him. He needs to start and he needs to play the whole game. People are following DC United games not because they are United fans. They are following United cause they wanna see a young sensation. Look at the success Tiger Woods, Lebron James, and the ratings where high when Michelle Wie was golfing with the men. Freddy Adu is the man and deserves to start for the whole season.

 

[McGahee Nation]

Pop the popcorn and sit back, enjoy Freddy Adu

:eat: I will be having fun watching Adu play this year.

 

[Bodzilla29]

Re: Can you say Freddy Adu?

Originally posted by McGahee Nation
Ratings are up because of one man oh should I say one teenager. Freddy Adu is the one that is putting interest in the game soccer. The one thing that irritates me is that these soccer elitists which are the coaches will not play him. He needs to start and he needs to play the whole game. People are following DC United games not because they are United fans. They are following United cause they wanna see a young sensation. Look at the success Tiger Woods, Lebron James, and the ratings where high when Michelle Wie was golfing with the men. Freddy Adu is the man and deserves to start for the whole season.

Can you imagine LeBron driving the lane against Shaq as a 14 year old? NO!

Adu is young, and will get burned out by the time he is 17 if he plays all the time. There have been players with just as much potential as Adu who either got burned out or just didn't progress enough to make it big.

Ppl clamoring for Adu to play makes me lagh, to be honest. He is nowhere near ready to be a 90 minute/game player.

He has great POTENTIAL, but that is all he has right now. Good to see some people actually paying attention to the beautiful game tho.

And how can Futball be more boring than baseball, golf, nascar, etc? Assanine if you ask me. Not the most popular sport ever for no reason. All opinion.

 

[nyjunc]

Can you imagine LeBron driving the lane against Shaq as a 14 year old? NO!

Completely different, the players are SO MUCH bigger, stronger and more athletic than those in the MLS.

And how can Futball be more boring than baseball, golf, nascar, etc? Assanine if you ask me. Not the most popular sport ever for no reason. All opinion.

I hate golf and don't care for NASCAR but in all honesty i'd rather watch those sports than soccer. It's not that the scores are low in soccer(I appreciate a good defensive game) it's that there are so few shots on goal. The game is mostly spent in the middle third of the field.

I'll use The Simpsons to explain how most Americans feel about soccer. In a classic episode they went to a soccer game and they showed a couple of players kicking it back and forth at midfield and the American announcer was bored saying "and the cneter kicks it back to the halfback, over to the fullback,,..." then they panned over to the Spanish announcers booth and he was on his feet w/ excitement screaming "over to the fullback, back to the halfback,..." all as the crowd was bored to tears they had to start a clasic soccer riot

Words don't do it justice but hopefully some of you have seen it, an all time classic

 

[iceblizzard69]

Originally posted by nyjunc


Completely different, the players are SO MUCH bigger, stronger and more athletic than those in the MLS.



I hate golf and don't care for NASCAR but in all honesty i'd rather watch those sports than soccer. It's not that the scores are low in soccer(I appreciate a good defensive game) it's that there are so few shots on goal. The game is mostly spent in the middle third of the field.

I'll use The Simpsons to explain how most Americans feel about soccer. In a classic episode they went to a soccer game and they showed a couple of players kicking it back and forth at midfield and the American announcer was bored saying "and the cneter kicks it back to the halfback, over to the fullback,,..." then they panned over to the Spanish announcers booth and he was on his feet w/ excitement screaming "over to the fullback, back to the halfback,..." all as the crowd was bored to tears they had to start a clasic soccer riot

Words don't do it justice but hopefully some of you have seen it, an all time classic

Soccer players are extremely athletic. They aren't the same type of athletes as basketball players, but how many basketball players do you think could run 45 minutes non stop, take a 15 minute break, and then do it again? I doubt many could do it. Soccer players in general may not have muscles like David Boston, but great speed and endurance are crucial in soccer. Also, soccer players tend to have very strong legs and if you aren't strong in soccer, you will get knocked around.

Saying that soccer players aren't as atheltic as NBA players is dumb. They are athletic in different ways.

 

[nyjunc]

Soccer players aren't as athletic as NBA players, I didn't say they weren't athletic but not as athletic as NBA or NFL players. That's not a knock on soccer players. I have tried to watch many soccer games and I neevr see guys consisently running for the full 90 minutes, when they are around the ball they are moving but when play is on the other side of the field they are standing around. W/ that said they are incredibly conditioned athletes just not as athletic as NBA or NFL players.

 

[iceblizzard69]

As I said before, not saying that soccer players aren't as athletic as NBA or NFL players is dumb. They may not have the big arms that you see at a NBA or NFL game, but they have a lot of strengths that basketball and football players don't have.

I doubt any soccer players could do well in the NBA or NFL, but I also doubt that any NBA or NFL players could play soccer professionally either.

 

[Bodzilla29]

Just go to africa and you will see some of the greatest athletes on this green earth, for any sports, and most of them play soccer.

They have just as good verticals as NBA players, they just arenèt 6'8+ for the most part.

They are just as fast as footall players.

The super athleticism is there, they just use it differently.

Eye to foot co-ordination is the toughest kind in my opinion. I'd laugh my *** off tryin to see some of gthe world class athletes try to do things with a soccer ball that I have seen around various fields.

There are phenominal athletes in soccer, and by the sheer number of soccer players out there there is a huge number of equally or better athletes in the game. Sheer numbers determine this.

And that Simpsons episode? CLASSIC!

 

[nyjunc]

Agaian, I never said soccer players weren't athletic but you have to take into account the size of the athletes. For a guy like Sahquille to be able to do things he does at his size is absolutely amazing or a guy like jason Taylor who is 250+ and is quick, strong, etc...

 

[Bodzilla29]

nyjunc, i know what you are saying. no doubt every sport has great athletes. But as you have acknowledged you do not follow soccer so your knowldege of the types of athletes in the game has to be VERY limited.

On the other hand, I follow the 4 major sports in N America and soccer so I have a better knowledge to compare(I am not implying a greater knowledge of football or bball or anything, not at all). Believe me, there are many soccer players with size that can do amazing things. They may not be 7'2, but different horses for different courses if you know what I mean.

As for Taylor, there are a hundred rugby players with similar size/athleticism, believe me. ugby is one of the most underrated sports in the world, when it comes to athletes. Those dudes are REAL MEN without doubt.(this is coming from a HUGE JT fan.)

 

[Dolfan02]

Originally posted by nyjunc


I do hate soccer, there isn't a more boring sport on the planet.

Well there's no denying you're a Yank.

To me it sounds like you hate soccer because you fear its popularity and the fact that its the world's #1 sport that has been played for over 500 years to the best of our records. Do you really think BILLIONS of people from so many nations, over so many years, would play a "boring" sport? I understand you're entitled to your opinion and thats fine, but dont take your opinion as fact. I think you can save yourself a lot of embarassment if you actually played soccer for yourself with some guys that know what they're doing. That is always the single-most best advice I give to someone who doesn't know much about soccer. I guarantee you'll change your mind.

I don't buy those #s and they aren't great either. I know the Meytrostars inflate their attendance #s and I assume it is done in most of the MLS Stadiums. Also, MOST of the fans at Metrostars games are their w/ FREE or very cheap tickets.

Stop trying to find excuses, just find the attendace figures on each web page (usually at the bottom):
http://www.mlsnet.com/games/04/tracker.php?gamename=04102004_DCLA&version=tracker
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=143902&cc=5901
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=296263&cc=5901
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=296887&cc=5901

Show me the great soccer TV #s, I GUARANTEE you can't find any b/c no one watches soccer in this Country.

Here's the link to the TV ratings: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/soccer/04/05/bc.soc.mlsratings.ap/

MLS attendance SHOULD be higher than the WNBA, no one cares about the WNBA either and they play in 15-20,000 seat Arenas while MLS teams play in 50,000+ seat Stadiums.

Hey you're actually kind of funny. Now you're bashing WNBA? So why did you bring it up and say it was "more popular"? Make up your mind please.

Secondly, MOST MLS teams play in NFL stadiums, but upper level seats are not sold for those venues, so realistcally some of the games were sellouts with 25,000 in attendance. In the case of LA and Columbus that have their own stadiums, they packed all seats.

 

[iceblizzard69]

Originally posted by Dolfan02


Well there's no denying you're a Yank.

To me it sounds like you hate soccer because you fear its popularity and the fact that its the world's #1 sport that has been played for over 500 years to the best of our records. Do you really think BILLIONS of people from so many nations, over so many years, would play a "boring" sport? I understand you're entitled to your opinion and thats fine, but dont take your opinion as fact. I think you can save yourself a lot of embarassment if you actually played soccer for yourself with some guys that know what they're doing. That is always the single-most best advice I give to someone who doesn't know much about soccer. I guarantee you'll change your mind.




Stop trying to find excuses, just find the attendace figures on each web page (usually at the bottom):
http://www.mlsnet.com/games/04/tracker.php?gamename=04102004_DCLA&version=tracker
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=143902&cc=5901
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=296263&cc=5901
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=296887&cc=5901



Here's the link to the TV ratings: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/soccer/04/05/bc.soc.mlsratings.ap/



Hey you're actually kind of funny. Now you're bashing WNBA? So why did you bring it up and say it was "more popular"? Make up your mind please.

Secondly, MOST MLS teams play in NFL stadiums, but upper level seats are not sold for those venues, so realistcally some of the games were sellouts with 25,000 in attendance. In the case of LA and Columbus that have their own stadiums, they packed all seats.

Well, the USA isn't the only country where soccer isn't king, but it is one of the few. Soccer isn't number one in Canada, a few Caribbean countries (while soccer is #1 in some Caribbean countries, baseball is #1 in quite a few and cricket is the sport of choice in some as well). Also, there are a few other countries where soccer isn't the most popular sport, cricket is the most popular sport in India and Pakistan for example. However, soccer is the most popular sport in most countries. My point is that just because someone doesn't like soccer doesn't mean they are American.

As for MLS attendance, I think the only team that closes the upper deck is DC United. They do it because they want their fans to get used to buying tickets in advance since they plan on building a stadium with 25,000-30,000 seats. I don't think it is smart at all because they could definitely sell more tickets if they made them available.