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View Full Version : Former MLS commish: Target rowdies, not soccer moms



Carefree
07-08-2009, 04:15 PM
An interesting article I found where the former MLS commissioner Doug Logan says the league should target rowdy 18-35 males, not soccer moms and their kids, at their core audience.

http://www.oregonlive.com/timbers/index.ssf/2009/07/pitched_battle_to_marketing_ml.html

Finally, someone sees the light! I'm amazed it took them this long to realize this.

Darlofletch
07-08-2009, 04:23 PM
excellent, hopefully garber and other team owners pick up on this.

flatpicker
07-08-2009, 04:44 PM
not a bad article... seems to make pretty clear points about the benefits of marketing to people who are already football fans.

C.Ronaldo
07-08-2009, 04:50 PM
this is why hes the FORMER comish, they dont like his ideas

Dirk Diggler
07-08-2009, 05:11 PM
Wasn't MLS considered a mickey mouse league before Garber stepped in and made various changes (for the better)? I don't think I would put too much stock in his words.

I_AM_CANADIAN
07-08-2009, 05:19 PM
The funny thing is that during Logan's years MLS targeted exclusively soccer moms... Garber, despite his shortcomings, saved the MLS by recognizing, among other things, that you need to put teams in cities with fans.

I guess though that Logan has seen the error in his ways, because he's spot on.

flatpicker
07-08-2009, 05:20 PM
Wasn't MLS considered a mickey mouse league before Garber stepped in and made various changes (for the better)? I don't think I would put too much stock in his words.

I'm sure the issues people had with him being commissioner had nothing to do with him recognising the need to market to actual soccer fans.

rocker
07-08-2009, 05:34 PM
sounds to me like Logan just converted to the good side over the years.
Yeah in his days MLS went the opposite direction, but they probably had no idea what a supporters group was back then in america. And back then you didn't have as much soccer on TV and the internet was an infant, so you didn't have things to emulate.

very different world then compared to now. Logan just realizes it now.

grizzle
07-08-2009, 05:41 PM
Best line: "If you want a family activity, go to the circus."

Great article... I agree.

Get In There
07-08-2009, 05:51 PM
Feck

boy is hindsight 20/20 or what

B

billyfly
07-08-2009, 06:25 PM
I like this part in the comments section:

"and it's been suggested Toronto's entire 20,000 crowds are like that (skepticism invited)."

CoachGT
07-08-2009, 06:34 PM
Amen! Someone who gets it, but then again, as stated above, is probably why they are a former commish.

BakaGaijin
07-08-2009, 06:35 PM
Interesting to see MLS games get betting lines in Vegas. When I was there last year people at the sports books looked at me like I was from outer space when I asked them if I could place a bet on MLS.

TFC247
07-08-2009, 07:14 PM
This is some of the most ridiculous BS I've ever read. He's one of the main reason why the league targeted strictly to kids and "soccer moms" in the first place. Now he comes out and says exactly the opposite? Why does it have to go from complete one extreme to the other? Why can't there be a balance? Find me one league in the world where entire fans are made up of "drunen rowdies".

What this league needs is fans period. Whether it's rowdies or whatever, it needs to fill the seats. Talk about a knee-jerk reaction and stereotyping to the extreme. He didn't have a clue when he was in charge and the guy still doesn't get it.

Oldtimer
07-08-2009, 07:52 PM
This is some of the most ridiculous BS I've ever read. He's one of the main reason why the league targeted strictly to kids and "soccer moms" in the first place. Now he comes out and says exactly the opposite? Why does it have to go from complete one extreme to the other? Why can't there be a balance? Find me one league in the world where entire fans are made up of "drunen rowdies".

What this league needs is fans period. Whether it's rowdies or whatever, it needs to fill the seats. Talk about a knee-jerk reaction and stereotyping to the extreme. He didn't have a clue when he was in charge and the guy still doesn't get it.

Spot on.

Doug Logan was a cesspool of bad ideas when he was Commish ("Let's have shoot outs so that we don't have any tie games." "Let's have the clock count down and stop whenever the play stops, like in American sports."). Garber early on eliminated those stupid ideas. Under Logan, the league got driven down from a promising start in 1996 into near bankruptcy. Only some deep pocketed owners coupled with some deft money-making ideas from Garber saved the league.

The good thing is that not many people listen to Doug Logan about how MLS should be run any more.

GBV
07-08-2009, 07:56 PM
Interesting to see MLS games get betting lines in Vegas. When I was there last year people at the sports books looked at me like I was from outer space when I asked them if I could place a bet on MLS.

you can bet on pretty much anything these days though.
MLS lines are readily available at pretty much every sports book and have been for ages.

boban
07-08-2009, 08:09 PM
Spot on.

Doug Logan was a cesspool of bad ideas when he was Commish ("Let's have shoot outs so that we don't have any tie games." "Let's have the clock count down and stop whenever the play stops, like in American sports."). Garber early on eliminated those stupid ideas. Under Logan, the league got driven down from a promising start in 1996 into near bankruptcy. Only some deep pocketed owners coupled with some deft money-making ideas from Garber saved the league.

The good thing is that not many people listen to Doug Logan about how MLS should be run any more.
While I do agree in your assessment of the guy when he was commish, people do change their view, particularly when they see tangible improvements in another way of thinking and approach.

Cuz
07-08-2009, 08:23 PM
Soccer Moms n Kids?
I thought football was all about the Rowdys in the first place?!
When did this change?
Did we lose a war or something?

FluSH
07-08-2009, 08:32 PM
An interesting article I found where the former MLS commissioner Doug Logan says the league should target rowdy 18-35 males, not soccer moms and their kids, at their core audience.

http://www.oregonlive.com/timbers/index.ssf/2009/07/pitched_battle_to_marketing_ml.html

Finally, someone sees the light! I'm amazed it took them this long to realize this.

When I read the article I interpreted target as follows:

http://image18.webshots.com/19/9/49/39/209094939EJGXYc_ph.jpg

Oldtimer
07-08-2009, 08:46 PM
While I do agree in your assessment of the guy when he was commish, people do change their view, particularly when they see tangible improvements in another way of thinking and approach.

True, and to his credit.

Doug Logan aside, the article was quite good (and the pictures of Timbers Army are well worth seeing).

BakaGaijin
07-08-2009, 09:52 PM
you can bet on pretty much anything these days though.
MLS lines are readily available at pretty much every sports book and have been for ages.

Not last year they weren't......perhaps they used to be though........

I went to about 5 different books on the strip last year, including Mandalay Bay, and could not find one that would take an MLS bet.

jabbronies
07-08-2009, 10:00 PM
Soccer Moms n Kids?
I thought football was all about the Rowdys in the first place?!
When did this change?
Did we lose a war or something?

It's a balance of both. I'm not saying 50/50...should be more like 70/30
but that balance is needed.

Dbl_D
07-08-2009, 10:40 PM
The "Keller do the Cobain" 2 stick (pic) is pretty funny...

Carefree
07-09-2009, 08:57 AM
This is some of the most ridiculous BS I've ever read. He's one of the main reason why the league targeted strictly to kids and "soccer moms" in the first place. Now he comes out and says exactly the opposite? Why does it have to go from complete one extreme to the other? Why can't there be a balance? Find me one league in the world where entire fans are made up of "drunen rowdies".

What this league needs is fans period. Whether it's rowdies or whatever, it needs to fill the seats. Talk about a knee-jerk reaction and stereotyping to the extreme. He didn't have a clue when he was in charge and the guy still doesn't get it.
I didn't interpret his views as being extreme, one way or the other. Rather, I think what he's suggesting is to make subtle changes to the game-day experience to make it more attractive to the more boisterous fans. Families will still come, and they should have their own sections in every stadium. But filling a stadium with soccer moms and their broods doesn't create an atmosphere that's attractive to those who are already soccer fans, and experience has shown that kids who grow up with soccer in North America don't necessarily become soccer fans when they grow up.

I didn't follow MLS when Logan was commish, so I have no opinion on his competence (or lack of), but the point he makes in the article reflects exactly what I think the league should be doing to be taken more seriously.

Parkdale
07-09-2009, 09:26 AM
this has been said by the current owners (and their commissioner) too

Just look at what they are building in Seattle and Philly - Team that put the supporters up front.

Redcoe15
07-09-2009, 10:09 AM
Wasn't it under Logan that Columbus was given a team? :prrr:

TFC247
07-09-2009, 12:50 PM
I didn't interpret his views as being extreme, one way or the other. Rather, I think what he's suggesting is to make subtle changes to the game-day experience to make it more attractive to the more boisterous fans. Families will still come, and they should have their own sections in every stadium. But filling a stadium with soccer moms and their broods doesn't create an atmosphere that's attractive to those who are already soccer fans, and experience has shown that kids who grow up with soccer in North America don't necessarily become soccer fans when they grow up.
Subtle change???

"It's three guys with a beer cursing at the guy on the field. It's not a family activity"
"If you want a family activity, go to the circus."

There's nothing subtle here. He now thinks no families should be associated with footie. No wonder the guy now works at trek and field, and should remain there forever.

For a more balanced reasoning and counterpoint to Logan, which was posted on the same oregonlive website, read the following Q&A with Paulson (Timber's owner).
http://www.oregonlive.com/timbers/index.ssf/2009/07/qa_with_timbers_owner_merritt.html

This quote pretty much sums up my point about Logan:

"That sort of plays to the worst stereotypes. But I understand the point, and I just think he's trying to make the point in a flamboyant manner."

TFC247
07-09-2009, 01:33 PM
An interesting article I found where the former MLS commissioner Doug Logan says the league should target rowdy 18-35 males, not soccer moms and their kids, at their core audience.

http://www.oregonlive.com/timbers/index.ssf/2009/07/pitched_battle_to_marketing_ml.html

Finally, someone sees the light! I'm amazed it took them this long to realize this.

Oh and one more thing Carefree, when I said BS, it wasn't directed at your post but towards Logan. My beef is strictly with Logan and my genuine dislike for him as a commish. Last thing I would want to do is call you out like that.
:scarf:

olegunnar
07-09-2009, 01:43 PM
Wasn't it under Logan that Columbus was given a team? :prrr:

That's on Lamar Hunt.
So is Dallas and KC. See a pattern??

However it'd be unfair to be 100% negative of Lamar Hunt's misguided view of soccer and it's impact on MLS considering he put up a lot of cash to get MLS off and running and financed 2 soccer specific stadiums...Columbus and Dallas.

I wonder if Logan would have rather been the commisioner now, instead of then when the financial backers of the league were "soccer is for suburban families and their little girls" believers

TFC Via Buffalo
07-09-2009, 02:12 PM
Wow. Anyone check out the guy in the green spandex one peice? I thought I looked like an idiot at the games. That guy has me beat 100x over.

Also, that giant lumberjack cutting down the Space Needle was quality. I'll definetly give them that. They definetly look like they got their shit together and will be great to have in the league.