ESPN throwing shade on The MLS:
The stadium south of downtown Los Angeles was packed and roiling with excitement two hours before Messi’s first game against the Galaxy, a five-time MLS champion franchise long known as the preferred destination for superstars of Europe looking for a new home after reaching their mid-30s.
Messi saves the day in the 90+th minute.
Latest popular stat for media, regarding Messi’s potential impact on MLS:
“In the season before Jordan joined the NBA, no team drew as many as 16000 fans.” Now, no team draws less than that.
Nice cherry-picked number. Seattle Supersonics (RIP) broke 16000 each year between 78-79 and 81-82, playing at The Kingdome, without Jordan. Helped that the Kingdome was huge. I mean, BOS played seemingly to packed houses every night from 79-80 to 94-95, the average attendance over 14,000, no Jordan (but guess who did play?) And, winning really helps.
So, what should The MLS do? Bigger stadia would help. I hope these tiny stadia can be easily enlarged. Many English teams simply build a bigger side, one side at a time (MCI, TOT, and EVE being major exceptions). Pro/Rel would really help the attendance for those bottom-dweller matches with major implications. More fans who are not distracted by other, lesser sports. Fewer sports in America to compete against, for that matter.
Counterpoint regarding star-driven sports:
Start-driven sports make more money off the “casual fan,” but it is fleeting, cyclical.
And, say what you want about Gretzky’s mover to LA opening up the Southern states. I say that top-level hockey is an awesome sport, and hockey’s owners and commissioner were wary to bring it there until there was proof of profit.
For USOC, a compromise was reached where only some MLS teams will play. I’m not thrilled, but at least it’s better than the original proposal where MLS unilaterally pulled out. I hope they manage a better format this year.
Sort of stupid that there are now 2 stadiums in the same league called BMO.
BMO has never been very smart about how it spends its depositors’ money. It is one of the Canadian banks I have avoided holding the stock of.
“Waah, it’s snowing and I don’t wanna go out and play!”
I need to google, but wasn’t Cherundolo on the USMNT when they played in Colorado that one time?
To enhance visibility, the officials introduced an orange ball midway through the second half.
Uh, probably should have started the match with a non-white ball.
I love those orange balls. We played with them a few times in Canada for national HS soccer tournaments.
Don’t really disagree with the manager TBF as the game just gets silly. Its more funny than anything else.
Not sure what else is going on this week that required them not to postpone a day.
Hmm, CONCACAF Champions League, I think. Neither team is involved in it.
Shut up and coach!
–MLS, to Cherundolo
MLS cited a provision in its 2024 competition manual that states “public criticism” is “conduct that is detrimental to the public image and reputation of MLS and/or the club. Such behavior is subject to discipline by the commissioner or his designee.”
“Look, when we do stupid things, you are not allowed to comment on how stupid they are. That makes us look stupid.”
Another retiree.
OK, so WTF is this?
LAFC owns Giroud’s discovery rights – the right of first refusal among MLS clubs - meaning there is no impediment to LAFC signing the forward, though Giroud is known to have spoken with other MLS clubs.
So, the MLS teams had a draft for all the players in the world, or do they have one every year, just “discovering” players from abroad?
Its stupid, but I think mostly a formality. If some other club holds rights on someone your club is ready to sign, you might need to throw them a few Garber bucks to make it happen.
Should be abolished, but yet here we are.
What’s the ratio of Garber bucks to Stanley nickels?
Same as the ratio of unicorns to leprechauns
MLS is turning into a bit of a joke league
Not as bad as SA…yet.
I watched a few games these past few months and the quality of the players is just woeful.
MLS needs more competition. And relegation.
Thanks for showing up… 30 years late.
Oh, and thanks for your sacrifice (of time). I’ve got no time to waste on mediocrity.
Whitecaps looking at a large windfall if Bayern sells Alphonso Davies to Real Madrid. Did not realize they had a sell-on clause with Bayern.
CONCACAF Champions League going on. LigaMX dominating, could be an all-LigaMX semi-final. So much for MLS being one of the top leagues in the world. Can’t even beat Mex.
Maybe Messi will show up tomorrow. No guarantees.
Apparently there was a kerfuffle after the InterMiami Herons match l;ast week. I like this appropriate use of “the bonny fingers” (quote punctuation) here, from ESPN:
Herons’ assistant coach Javier Morales went on the record to say “the most important thing happened on the field, which is a Cup match,” while Martino opted for a “no comment” approach.
“I don’t have a comment, the same way we haven’t commented on the situation before, it remains,” Martino said.
"Revenge because where I come from, if two games are played, the first is called the first leg, the second is called the revenge. Nothing to do with this whole issue. I’m not even interested in creating anything.
“We are going to go play a game, if we win we will continue and if we lose we will return home and think about the league. Everything that has to do with the soap opera is not our idea.”
Crew get through, but otherwise all LigaMX.
“We were kind of prepared for this, to be honest with you,” Inter Miami’s Julian Gressel said after the game. "This was a beautiful atmosphere, great stadium, great fans. I guess a good team, and these are the nights you want to play. You want to be with the best in the best competitions.
Yeah, this year second in the Apertura table (ousted in QFs), and currently third in the Clausura. So, yeah, “I guess a good team” applies.
Messi pulling in 70K at Arrowhead. Rest of team also expected to play.