Vancouver Whitecaps are my favourite MLS team

After watching the clip on TSN this morning about the temporary Empire Field and them interviewing BC Lions exec and Whitecaps exec with non of the immature behaviour we saw go on in Toronto with MLSE and TFC and the city and the Argonauts, I have total respect for how Vancouver is dealing with the CFL and MLS. Nice job Vanouver! :thup:

I'll be buying a Whitecaps shirt if I can find one around here even though I don't really understand soccer that much. No TFC stuff for me. Go Whitecaps!

Cool Earl and certainly as commented previously I hope FIFA improves the clarity of the game for sake of the growth of the game not to mention all the unnecessary fuss.

Otherwise I am not very optimistic about the future of soccer in North America, as we like explanations for whistles and penalties as do most soccer fans worldwide for that matter.

I couldn't believe the atmosphere on TV for the Seattle Sounders home games in the MLS and felt like I were watching a European match when I tuned into the Union playing them a few weeks ago. We have the Union on here on local broadcast affiliates too as they are just that popular with the second-highest average attendance in the league now if you can believe that though the team are not very good! Beating Toronto for that matter!

I see at least the Great Northwest as the looming regional soccer mecca with Seattle, Vancouver, and Portland.

Interestingly otherwise those folks could care less about the NBA or MLB for the most part any more if not previously as in Vancouver which is fine with me too.

Why not Montreal Impact? Joey Saputo seems like a classy guy. :lol:
Anyways, yeah .. if I wasn't a TFC fan Whitecaps team is the one I'd probably root for, at least for Steve Nash's (one of my favorite sports personalities) involvement with the ownership group.

True enough TFCfan, I've never heard a bad word out of Saputo and what I did read he respected the Als I believe. I will admit Tanenbaum at the CFL awards last year did impress me and I'll remember that. But for now, Whitecaps are my team. We'll see if Tanenbaum and MLSE can change that for me. Saputo and the Impact well I'll keep a watch. Any team that comarkets with the CFL is no. 1 in my books, and vica versa actually.

Have a look at the latest MLS average attendance figures by team by scrolling down a bit on this site:

http://www.mlssoccer.com/stats

Right now I am watching the end of the Seattle-LA Galaxy match, and its stands are so packed that I thought at first the game had to be in Seattle but it's in LA! Amazing for the 4th of July too for that matter. :o

The LA Galaxy's average attendance ought spike well over 20K now that Donovan and Buddle are back.

The rankings in average attendance so far go

  1. Seattle
  2. Philadelphia (never would have imagined, but they have only had three home games so far)
  3. Toronto
  4. LA Galaxy and highly likely to overtake Toronto after tonight

High hopes I say for Vancouver and Portland considering the success in Seattle.

With also low attendance yet again, the following clubs ought pack it up in my view and will only drag on the entire league:

-Colorado: Having a brother living in Denver now and knowing the turf somewhat myself, way too many options for folks there beyond pro sports too; by comparison with a Canadian analogy imagine if someone tried to have a team based near Whistler BC but with far more people and MLB,NBA,NFL, and NHL teams.

-FC Dallas: Also way, way too many local options and competition from other pro sports

-Kansas City: Going nowhere averaging less than 10K per game in an area where folks never cared about soccer that much

-San Jose: Also less than 10K per game and already had one MLS franchise fail; way too many local options and seriously on borrowed time

-New England: A real surprise on the list given the cosmopolitan and youthful nature of the area near Boston, but also apparently way too much competition from also beyond pro sports.

Though expanding, the MLS would just plain fare better by downsizing to 14 teams after adding Vancouver, Portland, and Montreal. Then re-assess the situation.

Also it would be best if the expansion at least in the US were focused on cities that did not have too many options for pro sports especially in the spring and summer with the NBA,NHL,and/or MLB. I'd be more optimistic for more of Canada including Montreal in that regard, as your chief fan competition to work around would be more the NHL in the spring and early summer than the CFL.

In mostly the US there is nothing the MLS can do about the fall and having to compete at times with the NFL and NCAA football though competing with those sports does not start in earnest until mid-September and hardly affects the MLS playoffs that start about November.

Good points Paolo.
Having said that, you did not mention and no doubt you are aware how the MLS, unlike any other league, is known to be giving away freebies be it two for one or out and out free tickets.
It is estimated how on average one third of the overall league average is freebies.
The league continues on life support and the future does not look good unless they get rid of the bottom feeders.

I was wondering … does MLSE count the empty seats as well as people actually there when they give out the attendance??? If you look at the game yesterday there were a lot of empty seats all game yet the attendance was suppose to be over 21000!!! Or did they expand BMO field to over 35000 seats when I wasn’t looking!!! :roll:

They probably do, but I don’t think they’re the only guilty parties. Yesterday’s announced attendance at the Calgary-Hamilton game was around 25,000. It certainly didn’t feel like there were that many people there to me.

Excellent point Argotom thanks. No doubt just the minimum threshhold to examine the health of any given team are the attendance figures before considering as you pointed out also the freebies and other factors. The list of teams to ditch probably could be enlarged on that point as well.

For sake of empty seats because folks don’t show up, well IMHO that works the other way in FAVOUR of the team as if the seats were paid for in the first place, few could care less if an actual body is in them in the regular season because the money is still in the coffers. During the playoffs this hardly happens for sake of such folks who paid for such seats, as the action and weather are generally better than especially in the spring and summer due to more rainstorms and high heat in those seasons.

[url=http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com/take-me-out-to-the-ballgame-week-26-2/1025]http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com/ta ... -26-2/1025[/url]

(note that the stadium capacity figures shown are not accurate)

Sure enough three months after my post in July, the order for top attendance in the MLS is about the same.

Looking at these numbers, I'd say there is some cause to jettison all teams but the following six plus Chicago and Houston despite overall attendance to games up:
Seattle, Toronto, Philadelphia, LAx2 (in sharing a stadium Chivas need not bring in as much revenue as a team having to fund its own stadium), New York City

Add Vancouver, Portland, and Montreal that look to be set to do well, and then you have nine teams that are successful and go from there to improve the bigger markets like Chicago and Houston and dump the rest.

I don't see how a team in any market other than the largest ones, such as NYC, LA, and Chicago, makes money and pays player salaries, including for top players, averaging when averaging less than about 17K in average attendance.