Saturday Night Sports Theater

by Dave Clark on Feb 14, 2009 9:05 PM PST in Life in the Sound Comment 3 comments

Now for something that I may continue as a regular feature, or if you have learned by now semi-regular.

I've had a lazy day arguing the difference in quality between the USL and MLS, posting a bit here, but now for some entertainment.

A Goal Celebration worth remembering

Hattip on that to Kenn

From the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, local Nate Robinson wins for the second time
Nate Robinson is Kryptonite

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Hey Dave,
I read the post and commnets, I definitely agree with you but I like the fact that there are die hard fans who defend their league, at least it shows that the growth and impact of soccer.

I’ve alwasy believe that is important for both leagues to work together and come to an agreement of making USL finally the official 2nd division. It would make more sense to have a partnership that would allow both leagues grow together. It’s easier to grow from a league that has established fans and history(Seattle, Portland, Montreal, Vancouver, etc.) than start your own 2nd division like it’s been discussed.

If MLS and USL can work together they would profit and the growth of soccer would be easier for both. For now, USL is upset that MLS is stealing the best clubs without any type of payment or benefit for USL. A partnership would allow more talent to flow from one league to another with more fluidity and young talent to develop until they are ready for the big teams. This is the best option that I see for MLS and USL to have relegation and promotion in the future. The involvement of more communities in soccer will eventually make soccer bigger.

This is the best thing for soccer, keep legitimazing the sport. There are millions of soccer fans that live in the US and Canada but prefer to watch European soccer because of quality. The misconception that we can turn “traditional Amerian sport fans” into soccer fans has to end. It has been proven by the growth of MLS of the last 5 years that we grow our fans, they are out there and still undiscovered.

The benefits for both leagues are too good to pass up, the ideas to make this work are endless. I know that there are a lot of fears for making soccer traditional, just like in Europe and Latin America, but I beleive that we can take out the best things of North American sports and soccer and finally hit it big.

Do you believe a partnership needs to happen? What would work?

by Enrique on Feb 15, 2009 7:30 AM PST reply actions

I think the notion that we will see promotion/relegation is actually absurd. Why would investors who have put hundreds of millions of dollars into growing the league ever vote in favor of sending their own team down?

At most all we will ever see is that MLS Reserve Teams will play in the PDL &/or the USL-2. One thing that USL fans need to realize is that the USL is not in the driver’s seat on this. Their tv deal is worse, their attendence is worse, their stadiums are worse and the play on the field is worse.

So while yes the USL was great for Seattle to have, it was not top-flight soccer and while yes the USL does well to maintain passion in cities that do not have top-flight soccer. The USL does not have exclusive province as to what cities will be successful MLS cities. One need only look to Toronto (which was an awful USL city), or Miami (which is a decent USL town, but was a bad MLS one), or Salt Lake (which looks to be a great MLS town now with its stadium).

To recap
USL – decent
MLS – better
Correlation between USL success/MLS success – non-existent
Better system of loans/reserves within the USL model – absolutely mandatory

by Dave Clark on Feb 15, 2009 11:27 AM PST up reply actions

Of course right now relegation sounds absurd, it would stunt the growth of MLS. That’s why I wrote that in the future it would be a good idea, when the leagues is established and is not in jeopardy to fail, maybe 15 to 20 years from now. I believe that it would bring excitement to the bottom teams the way that American leagues do not and allow a 2nd division to have importance, the way triple A baseball does not. I have to agree with you, it would probably not happen because of the owners.

I disagree with you when you say that Miami FC is more successful than the Miami Fusion was, the attendance was terrible with only a 2,300 average and not performing like they should on the field. The Fusion were runners up in the US Open Cup in 2000 and won the supporter’s shield in 2001 in their short history. Plus, Miami FC has never had the attention down here the way the Fusion did.

by Enrique on Feb 15, 2009 9:26 PM PST reply actions