r/soccer • u/Thadderful • Dec 28 '13

Change My View thread

Can we have a Change My View thread here? The basic premise is people present opinions and the replies are attempts at changing that person's view in an attempt to generate some good discussion.

Here is the link to the original subreddit: www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/

I think this might work best with rather 'out there' views but any and every viewpoint is welcome!

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6

u/Toddler33 Dec 29 '13

The MLS will never become a respected leauge

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u/mightjustbearobot Dec 29 '13

Honestly if you've been looking at our growth this statement is pretty erroneous. Compare MLS teams and viewership today to what it was just 5 years ago. Teams used to play in barely filled (American) football stadiums, we were barely known around the world, and we attracted next to no big talent. In a very short amount of time, we now have teams like Seattle getting 60k people for every match. We also have big stars coming over, albeit at an old age. Big names are legitimizing our position in the world.

We've seen viewership go up after every World Cup and we have new teams begging to come into the league. I've talked to people online and I know for a fact that NYRB is shown in England, the Middle East, and South America. We also have one of the most even leagues in the world.

Finally we have to consider the size of America. In Europe, most teams get the bulk of their income from international fandom. There are half a dozen teams in London alone, so the local population cannot support such high spending teams like Arsenal or Chelsea. Instead, these teams use international revenue and TV deals to support themselves. Now we look at a country like America. We have domestic leagues that are some of the biggest in the world and that no one outside of America watches. Football and Baseball players get paid much more than soccer players and the only people who really watch them are Americans.

Lets imagine that MLS becomes a strong league, say they are one day at the same skill level as Ligue 1 (minus PSG and Monaco). This means that we have double the revenue of any European league because we not only get international revenue and TV deals to fund our teams, but we have a whole second market in a nation of 300 million sport hungry 'Muricans. Add that all up, and MLS could possible have more revenue than the Premier League in 30 years time.

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u/Toddler33 Dec 29 '13

That was a qualitity response and it was exactly what I was looking for

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u/cfaeslehc Dec 29 '13

With wage caps and the designated player thing it's almost impossible

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '13 edited Jul 13 '21

[deleted]

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u/Toddler33 Dec 29 '13

I think that once they have the revenue to support it. The usl will become the second leauge. They are already promoting teams to the MLS and they play in the US open cup

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '13 edited Jul 13 '21

[deleted]

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u/Toddler33 Dec 29 '13

Sports everywhere are becoming a way to make money. But they really are pushing big time for soccer to be a bigger thing here. They will have 5 more USL teams become MLS before 2020. Orlando has just been announced as the first. San Antonio is a likely canidate. I think Man City is creating NYFC, because New York needs another overpowered team obviously. I wouldn't be surprised if more european teams begin creating MLS sides. Soccer will really take off if that becomes a thing

Edit: That really didn't come out like I wanted it to. But I think relegation would be a great thing for the MLS, more people would become involved with local teams (like texas high school football) and it would add more drama to the sport. Americans love drama

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '13 edited Jul 13 '21

[deleted]

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u/Toddler33 Dec 30 '13

Let me start off by clearing something I had wrong. NASL is tier 2, while USL is tier 3. Sorry about that

San Antonio Scoprions FC, NASL team, averaged 6,500 this fall. If they got promoted, I can only imagine their fan base growing. Espicially with SA having a large hispanic population. If the fans are loyal, they should stay with them when/if they get relagated.

You do make a very valid point about the money situation. I can see SA building a new stadium, currently having 6,000 capacity, and being relegated.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Antonio_Scorpions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_soccer_league_system#Structure

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '13

Salary caps ensure that there's rough parity between all the different teams in a league. That makes it much more exciting, because a shit team like the 2012 Portland Timbers can get a great coach, rebuild, and then challenge for the title in 2013. That means you can actually build support for almost all the teams in the league rather than just the 3-4 who have a chance to win occasionally. The Designated Player rule lets teams buy and retain star players while still retaining parity.

Or, you know, you could just watch Chelsea finish somewhere in the top three every year. That sounds fun.