[QUOTE="shaunk89"]I don't really understand why the MLS just isn't as big a league as say Serie A , LA Liga or the Premiership...I mean the potential pool of population is way bigger, and yet its just not as successful as NFL, NHL, NBA etc, and nor is the national team (except recently in the Confederations Cup)...odd, really. Plus it has had its share of top-class players, back when Pele, Georgie Best (rip) etc played there... hoh hum.bluezy
Gotta give it time. The league's come a long way since '96 and I think we're just starting to see things really happen. Seattle, in its first year, averages about 30,000 people per game, which would put it in the middle of the Premiership as far as attendance is concerned. It's still growing, there will be 18 teams in 2011 and possibly 20 a year or two afterwards (when hopefully they will cap it and grow from there).The quality of play is certainly improving, and now we're attracting guys like Fredy Montero with European aspirations. Montero, a young Colombian, has reportedly received interest from Fulham. Guys like Jozy Altidore (Villarreal, currently on loan elsewhere) and Maurice Edu (Rangers) have shown that MLS is a stepping stone to Europe, and that will bring more young talent to the league, something that can only be seen as positive. Once expansion is complete in a few years, teams will spend more resources on development of domestic talent, too.
I think one thing that we're seeing more of now is a better supporter's culture at games. Seattle had a brilliant marketing campaign in the lead-up to their inaugural season, including the "Scarf Seattle" campaign. Season ticket holders (all 22,000 of them) had the first game's ticket attached to a scarf, so there were at least that many scarf-toting supporters in the crowd that night, on national television. Columbus has a raucous northeast corner of their stadium where the "Nordecke" (German for 'north corner') houses three supporters groups. Clubs have started to direct their attention away from the kids and soccer moms and more to the young, 20-something sports fan and the changes have been almost immediate. It's going to get very exciting.
In short time, MLS will be seen as more of a "major league" on par with at least the NHL (and with better media exposure). The league's average attendance as a whole is only about 1,000 short of NHL and NBA levels (though there are roughly 1/3 less home games in MLS) and the media coverage is improving (regular games shown on ESPN2 as well as Spanish-language channels, not to mention national coverage for Toronto here in Canada). The league and the players union are currently discussing a new bargaining agreement, which is expected to produce some changes to propel the league into the spotlight.
As an MLS fan, I cannot wait.
Soccer in the US is certainly catching on, especially after the heroic effort US team put forth in the Confederation Cup against Spain and Brazil. Albeit MLS still has a way to go before it can truly become "world class" on play level, if the US can get more gifted athletes to play soccer and win a few more international matches against the elite teams on a regular basis it is only a matter of time before everyone takes US soccer seriously.
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