posted Oct 16, 2008

Michael Jordan not big in Africa?
Your smoking summfin funny right...
David Beckham is huge granted and football coverage is huge the world over...
But having lived in asia the coverage of the big american sports is huge as the tv companies use ESPN to get the content.

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posted Oct 16, 2008

And another quick note.
Some College Football Teams (american football but not the NFL!) get average attendances of over 100,000 people... That is by miles past premiership attendances and not even at a professional level.
No football/soccer team manages that regularly in europe as far as I know there isn't anywhere big enough!

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posted Oct 16, 2008

Personally I would be dissapointed if Barcelona get the franchise. It's not right that a football team should be physically owned by another team. Feeder clubs are one thing but to actually own another team goes against, in my opinion, the principles of football. It would be like Barcelona becoming the Microsoft of football and would no doubt set a precedent.

Though I must say, much kudos for Barcelona for supporting UNICEF.

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posted Oct 16, 2008

@Mighty Morfa Power Ranger

Maybe basketball isn't popular in the UK but it's popularity worldwide is strong and growing. Michael Jordan had a major impact on this trend. Was his popularity as great as David Beckham's? Mabye not but that doesn't take away from what he did. The 1992 olympics? You don't think his presence there had an impact outside of the US? That was the single biggest event for the spread of basketball worldwide.

Nobody from Africa wants to play in the NBA? Tell that to the African players that actually do.

Look outside of the UK in Europe, China, Australia and South American. It may not be the number one sport in these countries but you only have to look at the growing numbers of Europeans in the NBA and at the strength of play in European basketball to see it's growth and popularity.

As for how American "messed up", you don't seem to understand that we just don't care about those sports. Make of that what you want but it's not that we can't compete, we just don't care to compete. The only one you listed that we do care about is football. It's popular with children but most move to something else by their teens. Unfortunately for me because I love the sport.

Out of my own curiosity, what do you know about the NBA or basketball in general that makes you feel qualified to make your comments?

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posted Oct 16, 2008

MLS in Miami..It did not last before..Will Barca have that much pull??? Montreal is a better choice..Barca should buy the New York Red Bull..JP

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posted Oct 16, 2008

I need Fox Soccer Channel,ESPN stinks.....JP

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posted Oct 17, 2008

I don't like the idea of any team owning or trying to own another team, yet it demonstrates a recognition of how much MLS has grown recently.

However that recognition might not be so good. It's already very easy for MLS teams to lose players through mid-season transfers both within and outside MLS and I can see a possible future where most of the young potential in MLS is owned by one of the big European teams - the fees would be peanuts to them - and merely on loan to their MLS team - to be dragged to Europe whenever it suits the big club, likely midway through the MLS season.

If this is the future path for some MLS teams then we might need a transfer window and tighter transfer/loan rules to be brought into MLS to protect the stability of the squads. Not to stifle movement (either way), but to at least give teams a chance of finishing a season with the majority of their starting 11.

About FSN's coverage, they seem to have lost most of the Saturday games up here to Setanta. RSN's coverage is pretty good. What they all miss out on is post-match interviews with managers - it's final whistle, commercials, straight into something else.

I'd imagine ESPN's coverage would end up like Score's. If so the info bar is a pain but bearable. Quite a few of TFC's matches have been on their and they've managed to avoid commercial breaks during play so far.

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posted Oct 19, 2008

I came to USA from Italy and have been very impressed with the growth of MLS, the national team and TV coverage.

once every team has their own stadium it will be so much better as at this time of year, seeing MLS games on gridirons is disheartening.

I agree with the poster who suggested Barca take over at New York, whenever Barca visit New York for exhibition games against Red Bulls, Giants stadium is sold out.

the main improvement for MLS would be to get rid of the east/west conferences and just have a single countrywide division and to somehow make USL a kind of Serie B of MLS with possibility of promotion/relegation.

one worrying thing is that if the game grows faster than expected then all these brand new 25-30,000 seat stadia will be too small!!!

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posted Oct 20, 2008

I think the reason for the western and eastern conferences is due to the vast size of the US that LA Galaxy vs the New York Red Bulls regularly wouldn't be feasible and would cost a huge amount. Though I do agree there should be relegation from, and promotion to, the MLS, but with there being league below each of the two conferences so an Eastern Conference Division Two and a Western Conference Division Two or something. That'll make things more interesting...

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posted Nov 7, 2008

No ownership group is going to stump up the large expansion fee, buy and build a stadium, spend money on a designated player, only to end up playing 2nd or 3rd tier soccer. The mindset for that isn't there in the U.S., which is a shame, but it's not gonna change, and why should it?

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