Guys
American Professional sports clubs lost their souls completely the day the Dodgers left Brooklyn for Los Angeles. New Yorker MLS fans got off light at least their team didn't leave town !
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Guys
American Professional sports clubs lost their souls completely the day the Dodgers left Brooklyn for Los Angeles. New Yorker MLS fans got off light at least their team didn't leave town !
at least red bull new york are still gonna be playing in new york,the san jose earthquakes were sold and relocated to houston texas where they'll be given a new name.so there's no team in sanjose now but there's talks of giving them a new team next season
Actually the New York Red Bulls will play this year and probably next at Giants Stadium. Which is in New Jersey. As do the New York Giants and New York Jets. Also I dont think there will be an MLS team in San Jose for quite some time.Quote:
Originally Posted by lim abroad
well hamish i think that's the price for having an advert-free game, particularly over here - two uninterrupted 45 minute chunks of television would not fly in the states no way no how. the tv/ad money u.s. sports gets i'd say allows the teams more leeway with advertising rules?Quote:
Originally Posted by sirhamish
Metrostars, what would be the REAL soccer towns/cities in the US - if you follow me????Quote:
Originally Posted by Metrostars
True KF, I just can't get used to players running around looking like a moving billboard but that's just me I guess.Quote:
Originally Posted by ken foree
hear ya, one thing i can't f*ckin STAND is those animated hoardings they have at o. trafford and bernabeu, so disgustingQuote:
Originally Posted by sirhamish
Too right - drive me nuts (oops already there:D ) they do - it's kinda like trying to read a book with a fly buzzing in front of the page.Quote:
Originally Posted by ken foree
San Jose? Sure that's the back of beyond!:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Metrostars
Even Dionne Warwick had to ask someone how to get there...I'll get my coat.:oQuote:
Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie
The closest you would get is a soccer "area". Places like Southern California and New Jersey are known for producing a lot of good talent mainly due to the interest in those areas e.g. Claudio Reyna, John Harkes, Lalas, Meola and a number of other current/former internations all came from the same area in New Jersey. Other guys like John O'Brien, Donovan, Cherundolo, Mastroeni and Bocanegra(I think) - all current internationals came from southern Californina. The teams with the best following in MLS are LA, DC, Chicago. I think the new team in Houston(formerly San Jose) will do well.Quote:
Originally Posted by sirhamish
I would just like to point out that Claudio Reyna (Man City), Tim Howard (Man U), and Giuseppe Rossi (Man U) are all from New Jersey.
youth-wise, texas has a huge bed of talent. i believe they host a significant underrage championships there every year? i think the revs' dempsey is from there
Yep, cos Bud is pish ... now if it was something like Athlone Carlsberg .. :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by sirhamish
Yep, in Dallas. Teams from all over go to that one: http://www.dallascup.com/Quote:
Originally Posted by ken foree
Also on Dempsey, I think he will do well at the World Cup.
What kills the MLS for me is that so many teams get into the playoffs. For a while there it was a complete p1sstake with 8 out of 10 teams (80%) qualifying!! It meant that the first 2/3rds of the season was more or less meaningless.
It's gotten better with 8 out 12, but that's still way too much. I think it should be top team in each conference gets to SF, with 2nd and 3rd playing off for the other SF spots.
Also, the conference setup doesn't sit well with me. It reminds me of the old provincial set up in GAA, before they brought in the back door. If the strongest 4 teams are in the one conference, then that's unfair.
As far as REAL soccer town, historically St Louis has probably the richest tradition in the sport....... and yet they have no MLS team? Go figure.
Likewise Seattle has a USL/A-league (2nd div, but remember there is no pro/releg) team, the Sounders that is well supported, and that used to play in the old NASL and drew average crowds of 25k or so back in the 70s and 80s....... yet they never get a look in for an MLS team.
I've never been able to understand the logic of that.
MLS is a strange bird sometimes. But it has come a long way though. It was weird there for a bit, with "shootouts" instead of draws, weird points system and that stupid count down clock with the buzzer. The cool thing was that it actually got stronger when they got rid of the silly "americanizations".
You make some good points, Volcan. I agree the playoff system is a bit stupid with the majority of the teams still getting in. But OTOH, being that there is not relegation to prevent the poorer teams from fighting to stay in the league, the other objective of having a lot of teams qualify for the playoffs is to make sure all teams play meaningful games throughout the season e.g. all the teams in the Eastern Conference were still in with a chance of qualifying for the playoff last year going into the last day. If only one or two teams made it, the other 4 teams would have chucked it in with a month or two to go. I think something like you suggest would be better though. As for the conferences set up, there isnt much you can do, e.g. last year Chivas and Salt Lake were new teams in the West and were pretty crap while all the teams in the East was tough.
Regarding places like St Louis and Seattle, it really comes down to money and league management. MLS is not the same as NASL and they are going about it in a better way than NASL did. NASL grew too quickly in the 70's, sometimes teams would come and go in a 2 or 3 year time frame. The criteria for adding a team is you have to provide a $10-$15 million franchise fee but also have agreements with local authorites to build a sss(soccer specific stadium) in place. I have read that places like St Louis, Seattle, Philly, Miami, Rochester, Minneapolis have recently been in talks with MLS to add a team but a lot of these places have not committed the money.
Having teams play in huge 70K NFL stadiums where you only get 15K-20K for MLS is a poor experience. Also because teams dont own the stadiums, they have to pay rent, and lose out on parking money, concessions etc. The Metrostars pay $200K in rent each time they play at Giants Stadium. So getting teams into their own stadiums will help the league get in the black. Teams such as LA, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas now own their own stadiums. Other teams will be adding new facilities in the next few years.
I like the way MLS is doing things. It is not a traditional way of operating a league when compared to Europe. But it's the way it has to work here for it to succeed.
:eek: :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by Ash
Oh God forgive ya Ash.:D
BTW - hoping to get over to the game next weekend if the brother in law is going or maybe might get the bus. If so, are you, Battery Rover and atfconline on for a pint??
If Bubbles isn't working, she might go too.
or maybe Micky Brennan, Michael Francis or Tony Knight might have a spare room and I can "crash" there if there is no late bus back to Beeslow after the game.LOL
Play off bonanzas are part and parcel of American team sports. You see it in Ice Hockey , Basketball, Gridiron and Baseball... it was always going to happen to real football alas!
i hate the whole franchise aspect of american sports,its so soul-less.
sad to see any team get raped by a company for profit.
red bull are parasites.theyve already destroyed austria salzburg-a very annoying story that any true football fan would despise.
anyhoo, no to franchise football, ie red bull fc, milton keynes dons, dublin city fc etc
re: dempsey, has talent but seems a bit lazy sometimes, him and franchino just had a punch-up at their practice! had to be separated and it continued in the dressing room with nicol in-between them, i think dempsey was suspended by them. franchino who seems pretty tough was sent to hospital for x-rays. more like this from the revos please!;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Metrostars
Yeah I heard about that too. Franchino is a bit of a head case though. Dempsey suspended for 2 weeks but will still probably be called up by Arena for the friendly against Germany next week. Pity the Revs didnt have that kind of fire last week :p
Those Budweiser ads are strange - 'Too many teams in London. Let's move Arsenal to the Lake District!''. More like 'Too many teams in London. Let's move Wimbledon to Milton Keynes!'':confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by lopez
Having said that we should all be eternally grateful to them for inspiring the genius that is 'Extra-Time Multiball' (coming soon to an eircom League ground near you!)
I thought that ad was brilliant.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerry The Saint
When I watched it for the first time - SOCCERtainment etc etc I thought some American marketing department had screwed up big time.
The punchline though
"You do the football we do the beer" was brilliant.
Still ****e beer though. :D
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
An old thread that someone dug up for a current discussion, so thought I'd reply on this ! :D
The idea that MLS went down the franchise route because they had no choice is just wrong. Franchising is a core part of the American culture/approach to, and model of, sports ownership. There are numnerous other ways in which ownership of a team and membership of a league could be structured - they just chose the one they're most familiar with.
Granted - franchises with tonnes of money thrown at them probably offer the greatest chance of success for new teams ina new league. But as the League of Wales showed - there are other ways to establish a new league. The US is full of existing adult football teams operating at the highest non senior level. Any of thos with ambition could've been encouraged to secure the funding requried to take the step uo. But no - that's not the American way.
So instead the MLS has a model of sports ownership that is rootless and insecure by its very nature. hence Red Bull taking over NY/NJ, or a team moving to the other side of thwe country regardless of fans, is the price American soccer fans will just have to pay for such a model.
Update....
Thankfully, RedBull is putting their money into the team. Up goes the new Red Bull Arena: (webcam) http://www.earthcam.com/clients/redbullarena/ modeled on the Hypo Group Arena in Austria. It is due to be completed in about a year. Not only that, all the other new soccer stadiums in the US are being built with a few for other purposes e.g. open ends for concert stage etc, Red Bull is building a true soccer stadium. The team still is not great but I'm just estatic that the stadium is finally getting built after years of false promises from the previous owners.
In New York for the week, and myself and a mate were hoping to catch a game. This weekend, on Saturday, New York Red Bull (I prefer Metrostars rather than the corporate branding) vs Toronto F.C., just wondering for a bit of advice on how to go there (I know it's in New Jersey, so wondering about journey times, what trains to get, etc.) and proximity to New York itself. Also is Ronnie O'Brien still playing for Toronto, and Juan Pablo Angel and Landon Donovan likewise for NY? Thanks!
http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/bus/T0351.pdf
All you need to know Pauro.
Nice one Dodge, extremely useful! :)
Actually that was changed recently. There is no 351 bus, only now for Jets/Giants games. Now you have to get the train to Secaucus and then the shuttle bus to GS:Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
http://www.njtransit.com/sa/sa_servl...&NoticeId=2104
Train to Secaucus is about 10 minutes, shuttle bus to the stadium about another 20 minutes. For Saturday, I'd recommend the 6:07pm train, that should give you enough time as the game starts at 7:30pm. You can buy tickets for the game at the stadium, no shortage (usually about 15K in a 80K stadium!).
Ronnie plays for San Jose now. Angel is captain of the team but Donovan plays with Beckham in LA.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pauro 76
Ooops. THought I was OK when i read it was valid form jan 08
Cheers metrostars
Thanks for the info Metrostars! Not sure whether we're going just yet but handy to have a bit of info before going.Quote:
Originally Posted by Metrostars
Was at this game last night. Nice goal on his debut:
Who would have believed it? A lovely new stadium built by rb opening in March:
http://redbull.newyork.mlsnet.com/me...ent_id=7147801
the mls looks really good, i mean, yeah i think going to games would be enjoyable.
YOu still a fan metrostars?Quote:
Originally Posted by Metrostars
I am, although I only went to 3 matches last year because of work/family commitments. Plus the team was shyte.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
I'll definitely get to more matches this year at the new stadium... another new manager, some Swedish guy, probably another turnover of players.
New stadium is opening on Saturday night with a match against Santos (robinho & co). Can't wait to finally get there, its been a long wait.
http://imgsrv.wcbs880.com/image/DbLi...03/6251462.jpg
I'll be there Metrostars. I usually get to a couple of games each season but decided that someone had to support the initiative of building the stadium so have invested in a half-season ticket. Looking forward to seeing football in a proper football stadium.
I took a couple of pictures at the opening of the new stadium last night. It's about 45 minutes travel time from Midtown Manhattan. Very impressive stadium though there isn't much in the immediate vicinity of the ground. Overall I was very impressed (although it's not Tallaght!).
On the footballing side the Red Bulls beat Santos 3-1. Robinho wasn't there - either injured, saved for Santos' league game today or the wages haven't been paid yet.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_H4iJqY9xLrc/S6...0/IMG_1815.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_H4iJqY9xLrc/S6...0/IMG_1795.JPG