Soccer's Next Great Arrival is Predicted

Everybody watching Real Madrid/Barcelona? Yes?

 

I don't think anyone connected with MLS ever had a realistic goal of drawing 50-75K a match. If they did, then they were delusional. There are maybe 20 clubs across Europe that draw that many. It might be closer to 15.

I'm sure MLS would love to draw 50K a night, but so would NBA, MLB and NHL.
I'm sure the NFL would love to draw NASCAR numbers.

NFL and college football attendances are the 300-pound gorilla.

 

Yes, NASCAR has slipped.

But it all depends on how you look at these things.

There's probably more corporate money spent on Golf than most of these other sports.

And The Masters is the number one corporate hospitality event in the nation every year. And it doesn't matter if Tiger is playing or not.

That's every year. Year in and year out. (Not every four years, like the World Cup.)

It's a tougher ticket than the Super Bowl & corporations will go to far greater lengths and spend many more dollars to entertain at The Masters. They'll rent houses. They spend a fortune on tickets. They hire hospitality companies that prepare meals, etc. It's an entire industry.

 

Hell yes. Xavi's goal was a masterpiece of skill.

 

I'm sorry, but I disagree. If that was the goal, then why did it take so long to build the 20,000 seat stadia they now play in? Why would they continue to rent mammoth 75,000 seat stadia if it was never the intent to fill them?

Instead of talking about where soccer could be in 12 years, a better question might be where would it be in America if it didn't have two billionaires (Hunt & Anschutz) who were willing to bankroll the league at a loss for years and who built the first two soccer specific stadia in America (Crew Stadium & Home Depot Center respectively)?

 

Timeline of predicted soccer arrivals in USA:

1975 Pele joins the Cosmos of the NASL

1996 MLS begins

1999 - US Women's team wins World Cup

2007 - Beckham joins Galaxy

2010 - USA makes medal round of World Cup.

 

The Li'l Magician is a thing to see.

 

Because it would have made no sense to build these stadiums for a league which may not have been viable?

 

Yup.

It took them a while because of the same reason that it’s taking so long for the Vikings to get a new stadium: owners don’t want to pay for it themselves.

MLS is no exception to the rule.

Why is that a necessary discussion? If Anschutz and Hunt have the money to burn and choose to do so then those of us that are happy are indebted. Since what actually happened was two people spending and losing millions, we cannot project what would have occurred if they hadn’t.

 

and you don't hear NASCAR fans wringing their hands.

 

Everyone gets concerned when The Steinbrenners want to burn their money on a free agent.

 

Barca is just curbstomping Real.