Cynamon on the Fan

CFL Talk
21

TooMuch,
If TFC is so big, and I know they do have a great following, why doesn't MLSE or whomever expand BMO? I don't get that.

Maybe people want the Argos out for the Bills. Remember, there are a lot of people who want the Argos in and don't care about the Bills. Soccer fans, TFC fans, don't care about the Argos or CFL. Hey, lots of CFL fans and NFL fans don't care less about soccer or the MLS.

So, what if Beckham leaves? I guess this takes the ooomp out of the "major" part of "Major League Soccer". Why don't you address the post of mine above where I inserted an article from someone who knows a lot more about soccer and the MLS than I do? Maybe, just maybe, because this person actually makes sense? Here's a quote from that post above where he says:

And now he's on his way out, soon to leave the Galaxy, and MLS, holding a bag full of transfer money with bills to pay, seats to fill and no idea what to do next.

22

The city of Toronto owns BMO field, not MLSE.

Maybe people want the Argos out for the Bills. [b] Remember, there are a lot of people who want the Argos in and don't care about the Bills. [/b] Soccer fans, TFC fans, don't care about the Argos or CFL. Hey, lots of CFL fans and NFL fans don't care less about soccer or the MLS.
How many of those people are from Toronto? It is rest of Canada that want Argos in Toronto. You honestly think that people will care if Argos left Toronto?
So, what if Beckham leaves? I guess this takes the ooomp out of the "major" part of "Major League Soccer". Why don't you address the post of mine above where I inserted an article from someone who knows a lot more about soccer and the MLS than I do? Maybe, just maybe, because this person actually makes sense? Here's a quote from that post above where he says:

And now he’s on his way out, soon to leave the Galaxy, and MLS, holding a bag full of transfer money with bills to pay, seats to fill and no idea what to do next.


So what Beckham leaves? L.A. is going to get paid a lot of money for transfer ($22 million). Beckham isn’t the face of MLS. MLS existed before Beckham came here. Beckham was just a show that MLS made tons of money off. As for the blog your posted, the fact now we got cities lined up (including Vancouver and Ottawa) willing to pay up $40 million to join MLS (remember Vancouver currently play in USL) speaks volume in terms of state of MLS. Not only that, but now we got teams making money in this league…which was the problem couple of years ago.

23

So when Becks left EPL, then La Liga, did that make them any less of a league? No - it was just a big name player leaving for anoth team/ league. Beckham is not the be all and end all of MLS. It was there before him.
MLS is a third tier league - I don’t think anyine who follows it thinks otherwise. That’s just something non-followers like to rub in their face. I find that funny when it comes from some of us CFL fans - we have a lot more in common with the MLS than some of us here like to think.

As for as expansion of BMO Field- in due time - it will be expanded to a 30k stadium. You don’t run out in year 3 and throw all your money into a venture.

24

Provide me with facts please. Otherwise you have nothing but hollow, worthless words. Trolling on CFL.ca and making unsubstantiated claims isn’t helping your credibility, or your clearly biased cause.

Indeed, you appear to be doing nothing but repeating other people’s opinions. People who, like yourself, are wishful thinkers with an anti-CFL agenda.

“A lot of people want the Argos out…” Drivel. I can also say “a lot of people want the Argos in”, which is equally meaningless without without some kind of credible source backing up such a statement.
“Soccer fans in Toronto couldn’t care less about CFL…” How arrogant and presumptuous of you to speak for all fans, again with nothing to back up what you say.

You have nothing. It’s as simple as that. You keep repeating the same mantra over and over again, and you offer nothing constructive that would be in the interests of all sports fans. Your trolling is tiresome and irrelevant.

25

how did this topic turn into soccer-bashing / cfl-bashing?

ignore the troller...his league will be gone soon enough.

26

“TooMuch 187 wrote”

“You’re comparing apples and oranges here. NASL failed because they over expanded and demographic wasn’t as multicultural like how today’s society is in Canada. If you look at MLS history, they have been improving. Now they got teams making money while signing big TV deals with ESPN and Hispanic sports channels unlike the past where every team was losing money. Not only that, but now we got teams paying $40 million to get into MLS”.

Not true, obviously you missed the notice from ESPN of a couple of weeks ago. They have dropped soccer from ESPN2 on Thursdays due to abysmal ratings and the only reason they will carry the odd game, but no longer on regular Thursday nights is the contract which has $8M annually(less then the $15M CFL deal) has two more years to run. At the end they have said they WILL NOT renew.
Oh yes you may have also heard how the only name, the washed up Becks is also leaving.
Flush the toilet and the fat lady is warming up in the wings.

27

Troller big-time, at least we have the class not to go to soccer sites and spit elementary back-alley garbage. Go home and bite a pencil in the corner goof-ball. As rpaege says, constructive factual information is what us CFL'ers are looking for.

28
:thup:
29

And anyone who think a crappy tier soccer team is worth 40 million, plus a stadium in also an idiot.

MLS keeps losing money and yet they expect to charge people over 40 million for a minor-pro soccer team? Only 2 or 3 teams are profitable in that league, Beckham, ESPN, Saputo, etc. all can’t get further away from MLS any faster. Face it, if the league persists with it’s moronic and assanine valuations for teams, the league will fold within five years guaranteed.

30

Oh please that’s b.s. and you know it! TFC took the tournament seriously until they lost because they suck and the caliber diferance between USL an MLS is not very large, really. But of course TFC will try to spin it, had you won we wouldn’t have heard the end of it :roll:

Once again, don’t buy it. But nice try, come again.

31

MLS and the USSL or whatever it is called are equal in caliber, that being both bad 4th or 5th division types.
Bye Bye.

32

MLS TV ratings are much lower in the U.S. than the CFL ratings in Canada. The CFL likely outdraws the MLS in the U.S. also. The MLS average attendance is about half the average in the CFL, and the MLS is known to paper many crowds with promotional tickets. And those 0.0 cable rating on the Fox Soccer Channel don't bode well either! Here is the story from the Sports Business Journal:

David Beckham helped kick up MLS’s attendance and ratings in 2007, but the league wasn’t able to build on that growth in 2008.

This season the league suffered its first decline in average regular-season attendance and television viewership on ESPN2 in three years. Half the teams in the league saw a decline in average attendance in 2008, causing the league’s average attendance to fall by 1.8 percent, or to 16,459 a game.

Attendance remained strong in Toronto, which sold out every game for the second straight season. The league also saw increases in average attendance for the Houston Dynamo, Chivas USA and the New England Revolution.

But those increases were offset by declines in two key markets — Colorado and Dallas. FC Dallas had a league-worst 14 percent drop in average attendance to 13,024. The Colorado Rapids, which are playing in a new MLS stadium that opened in 2007, saw average attendance drop 7.4 percent to 13,659.

The league’s mixed results at the gate were mirrored in its performance on TV. MLS games on ESPN2 averaged a 0.2 cable rating for the third consecutive year, but total average viewers per game fell to 253,000 — down from 289,000 viewers in 2007 and 263,000 in 2006.

On Fox Soccer Channel, which just began getting ratings in October, MLS averaged a 0.1 cable rating and 30,000 viewers over four games. The last game of the season on the network between the Dynamo and Chivas USA delivered a 0.0 cable rating and 24,000 viewers.

A spokesperson for FC Dallas said the team reduced the number of complimentary tickets offered this season and televised all home games for the first time, which affected attendance.

http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/60481
33

Good posting X.
The ratings and the bogus attendance figures are a joke.
So this league is going to last and or outlast the CFL?
Melnyk needs his head examined and so do the other suckers lining up with $40M large.
Duration prediciton: 2-5 years.

34

As I’ve written before. It doesn’t matter if Toronto and even this mythical Ottawa franchise sellout every game. If the teams in the US fail, the MLS is history. It doesn;'t matter what happens in Canada. When you’re a small part of a foreign league, you’re at the mercy of the foreign teams. Which is why the MLS is doomed to failure.
And if Ottawa goes ahead and builds a soccer only stadium for Eugene Melnyk, and spurns the CFL, they deserve the disaster it is going to create in the future.

35

LOL

I’ll take that bet

36

If they choose to build a soccer stadium… how will that be a disaster? If the league fails? That’s a big if.
I’m more concerned about the Argos stadium situation than MLS failing.

37

You are on.

38

As I’ve said before - a lot of people on here clearly don’t understand MLS league structure or it’s economics. Instead you focus on ratings and attendance while ignoring the new sponsorship and fnancial partners coming into to league. You also forget that people are willing to pay the $40 million while we have yet to expand the CFL effectively…and the CFL has a relatively tiny expansion fee. So why is that?

39

stakes?

40

Yeah but you see expansion can be a flawed concept. Look at the NHL, at the start it was great and all the owners were happy with teams in Phoenix, Raliegh, Nashville, Chutanooga, Montiki Beach, Honolulu, etc.

But now do you think they’re happy? These are the same guys who now have to pay to keep alot of these teams afloat. It has been made public that Phoenix is having alot of trouble and losing 30 million a year, but really that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The same concept applies to MLS, eventually this flawed system will catch up and the league will be in a world of hurt. In quite honesty, I don’t see the league reamaining afloat over 5 more years if they keep up this complete lunacy (for lack of a better term).

It’s mind boggling how someone can put 40 Million for an MLS team. It’s insane, and earlier this week Bob McGown ripped MLS to shreads and while harsh I agree with alot he was saying.