Football (Soccer) Thread

[Josephus]

I was at the Toronto game. With 47,000 others. Great atmosphere. Shame about that last goal. Oh well.

Wow. You get that many at American games now?

Yes but there is an asterix. (And Toronto being in Canada, as an aside.)

Toronto FC holds their games at BMO field which can hold around 21,000 and frequently does. When this game was scheduled back in December the fear was it would be cold, snowy, etc so it was moved to Rogers Centre, a domed stadium used by the baseball team. The capacity is double BMO. There was a fair bit of marketing done and cheap upper level tickets sold to get the 47,000.

[Gups]

How are average attendances exceeding capacity at some of the clubs?

[Viking]

Toronto  is 3rd in attendance only passed by Seattle who averages 38,000 and MLS has passed basketball and hockey in avg attendance to only trail Football and Baseball here in States.

Those attendance percentages are nice and high. Attendencewise this puts you yanks up there with the dutch league (only without the big stadia in amsterdam and rotterdam). My two questions are

1- TV deals, is there TV money in the american league?
2- Supporters, are the supporters still limited to ethnic minorities? Basically, are whitey and the blacks going to the games?

[FunkMonk]

How are average attendances exceeding capacity at some of the clubs?

Seattle plays at CenturyLink Field, which is an NFL stadium. I assume it can expand to sell a few more seats.
67,000 came to watch when Manchester United visited last July.

[katmai]

Viking- MLS has tv deals with Fox sports and with ESPN, the contracts are ending next year and talk of how much the new deal could be worth since the game is gaining popularity.
I have no idea the breakdown though i did just see the other day for 18-34 year old Latinos it is 2nd only to NFL in popularity.

Funk- Yeah when Seattle first started they set it up for like 22,000 seats and it has been bumped up to close to 40,000 in current configuration.
Both Portland and Vancouver also came in last year and were averaging 19k per game.

[katmai]

Ooops apparently missed the news. So ESPN and NBC have the tv rights here in US.

For the 2012 season, NBC Sports signed a three-year deal with MLS to nationally televise 40 matches per year, primarily on the NBC Sports Network. All NBC telecasts will include pre- and post-game coverage, and NBC intends to promote its games during its other major sporting properties, such as the Olympics.

[FunkMonk]

1- TV deals, is there TV money in the american league?

TV money for MLS broadcasting rights is miniscule compared to the big leagues, of course. Kat alluded to the new deal with NBC. As far as I can see the amount is undisclosed, but is rumored to be between $10-$12 million a year for three years. ESPN's current deal of $8.5 million a year runs out in 2014. It seems MLS is trying to use World Cup fever as a way to leverage more money when these deals end in 2014.

Clubs can also sell rights to regional TV broadcasters. LA Galaxy just made a deal with Time Warner for $55 million over ten years.

2- Supporters, are the supporters still limited to ethnic minorities? Basically, are whitey and the blacks going to the games?

Having never been to an MLS game, I can't honestly say. However, the teams that seem to have the most excited supporters seem to be the two northwest clubs, Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers, which are populated largely by white folk. When the Sounders play on TV it's basically a sea of white hipsters wearing neon green. 

[Josephus]

If anything, in Toronto, the ethnics DON'T come out. They're only interested in teams from their home country. Toronto FC is by and largely supported by Whites of Anglo origin.

[Jacob]

If anything, in Toronto, the ethnics DON'T come out. They're only interested in teams from their home country. Toronto FC is by and largely supported by Whites of Anglo origin.

Yeah... I don't think immigrants from football culture countries. get into the MLS style teams. I have a buddy who's really into it - he's got season tickets and all - but it's just not the same for me. I care way more about my hometown team in Denmark than I do the Whitecaps.

[The Larch]

Kat, are you watching the ManU - Athletic?

[Josephus]

If anything, in Toronto, the ethnics DON'T come out. They're only interested in teams from their home country. Toronto FC is by and largely supported by Whites of Anglo origin.

Yeah... I don't think immigrants from football culture countries. get into the MLS style teams. I have a buddy who's really into it - he's got season tickets and all - but it's just not the same for me. I care way more about my hometown team in Denmark than I do the Whitecaps.

To me, and I don't mean this antagonistically, but to me that's your loss. Nothing against supporting your DAnish team, but if you like football, there's nothing wrong with going out and cheering on the Whitecaps either.
When Toronto FC started out here five or six years ago, I was a skeptic. A fan of the big leagues, I didn't think the MLS would measure up. Which it doesn't. But my older brother got seasons tickets and invited me down to a few games and I slowly got into it so that now I've become a diehard and go to 10-15 games (all competitions) a year.  It's all good fun, there's a great atmoshphere. It's not the Serie A or EPL (though I'm sure it measures up against the Danish league) but it's just a lot of fun.

[FunkMonk]

Kat, are you watching the ManU - Athletic?

I saw it. 3-2 was generous.

Bielsa's Athletic Bilbao

[Jacob]

To me, and I don't mean this antagonistically, but to me that's your loss. Nothing against supporting your DAnish team, but if you like football, there's nothing wrong with going out and cheering on the Whitecaps either.
When Toronto FC started out here five or six years ago, I was a skeptic. A fan of the big leagues, I didn't think the MLS would measure up. Which it doesn't. But my older brother got seasons tickets and invited me down to a few games and I slowly got into it so that now I've become a diehard and go to 10-15 games (all competitions) a year.  It's all good fun, there's a great atmoshphere. It's not the Serie A or EPL (though I'm sure it measures up against the Danish league) but it's just a lot of fun.

Yeah I think you're probably more or less right.

The reason I'm attached to my Danish team is not that it's a superior quality of football in that league compared to the MLS (it may or may not be), it's a nostalgia thing.

I might end up following your trajectory, though. My buddy got seasons tickets to the Whitecaps, so I expect I'll be seeing a few games with him and get drawn into it.

[The Larch]

Kat, are you watching the ManU - Athletic?

I saw it. 3-2 was generous.

Bielsa's Athletic Bilbao

Yeah, if it wasn't for that dumb penalty at the end United would be toast for the return leg.

[Josephus]

It will be fun Jacob. You'll like it. Try go to the rivalry games ( I think Portland or Seattle? Not sure). Too bad the Whitecaps will suck again this year. There's sort of an on-going rivalry with Toronto over the Canadian championship (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Edmonton vie in a knockout tournament for the honours).