[Semi-OT] Simmons: Why SOTAS Suck

[Dub Narcotic]

Reading this will be frustrating for many on this board. MLS can not compete with the NFL or the NBA on athleticism or level of play. Where MLS *can* compete is providing an organic, old-school atmosphere where fans can live and die with their team and not have to sit through endless timeouts and a sterile atmosphere. I think Garber and the MLS braintrust have done some good things, but building the leauge up through grassroots support is such an obvious good idea I don't know why it isn't priority number one for the league.

I don't think I'm saying anything new here, but Simmons sums up the increasing problems in NA sports well.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/partone/081121

[mlsintoronto]

Thanks for posting this. I think he's got his finger on a trend that many people see but he's articulated well. What if that Bug guy decided to save thousands of dollars and get his comeraderie at a Revs game? What if MLS had rules around the aesthetics of their stadia in order to capture this?

Our basic BMO Field, warts and all, (insert grass comment) is another unplanned factor in TFC's success. The irony here is in it's modesty and lack of opulence BMO has become a desireable place to be.

[Beach_Red]

Yes, a good article. I think the main thing the league and the owners don't like about building up through the grassroots is that it takes so long - but once that fanbase is in place it lasts. I think you can see what trouble the NHL is starting to have with teams in areas with no grassroots interest in hockey. This is something that soccer won't have to face, with kids playing it everywhere. But it will take time.

MLS teams should really pay attention to this trend:

"As for Bug and his friends, they planned to give up their seats after this season until Niko talked everyone out of it. After all, the man is in his grilling prime... You can't take the tongs out of Niko's hands. He has people to feed.


"Doesn't matter, I'm sure we'll get our seats yanked within the next two seasons," Bug predicts. "Grover is going to flip out soon. He's like 25 more 'SIT DOWNS' away from causing an international incident. It's not gonna end well. He takes this stuff personally."

Someone should take these guys to a Revs game. Everything they say they want they could have there.

[Dub Narcotic]

I'd like to see the league take two immediate steps:

i) Appoint a VP Supporters, whose job is to make the supporter-club interaction uniform and healthy across the league.

ii) Hire RPB and Barra Brava founders to go across the leauge helping the supporters groups with organization and logistics.

There, two cheap steps to help build this league the right way.

[Canary Canuck]

This whole thing describes the Leafs problems in a nut shell. Maple Leaf Gardens was a fortress. Ask season ticket holders who are holdovers from the old joint and they'll all tell you how they've been nudged out of the lower bowl the same way.

[Redcoe15]

For a moment there, I thought you were referring to Fat Evil Bozo Steve Simmons. :mad:

[nascarguy]

I'd like to see the league take two immediate steps:

i) Appoint a VP Supporters, whose job is to make the supporter-club interaction uniform and healthy across the league.

ii) Hire RPB and Barra Brava founders to go across the leauge helping the supporters groups with organization and logistics.

There, two cheap steps to help build this league the right way.

you forgot the there dc supporter group


but that is a great idea

[ensco]

Our basic BMO Field, warts and all, (insert grass comment) is another unplanned factor in TFC's success. The irony here is in it's modesty and lack of opulence BMO has become a desireable place to be.

I think the better game experience is more about the sport of soccer than it is about BMO. I'm not slagging BMO.

Soccer, because of the absence of commercial interruptions, offers a game experience that remains focused totally on the sport, in a way that all other sports used to, but don't anymore because of the rampant commercialism.

At Leafs, Raptors or Jays games, I'm sick of the relentless, overwhelming, loud, in-your-face promotions and advertising. You can't talk to your seat-mate between whistles anymore, because of all the loud, insistent crap being constantly pushed or peddled the second the play stops. At ACC there must be 100 different billboard ads visible from every seat, plus distracting digital displays that are constantly catching your eye, whether you want that or not.

In Europe the prawn-sandwich brigade have priced many fans out of the big clubs, but the game experience itself is mostly unaffected. Home field advantage remains a huge factor in European soccer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/sports/soccer/12score.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

[Beach_Red]

I'd like to see the league take two immediate steps:

i) Appoint a VP Supporters, whose job is to make the supporter-club interaction uniform and healthy across the league.

ii) Hire RPB and Barra Brava founders to go across the leauge helping the supporters groups with organization and logistics.

There, two cheap steps to help build this league the right way.

Those are both good ideas.

Could all the supporters' group - league wide - form an association? The league might actually listen to them then.

(I know, I know, we hate them all and for good reason, but just like the league holds all the players' contracts for now it could be an interim step until the league is more solid).

[CoachGT]

Well written article, and documents a trend that has been happening for several years at all sporting venues. A few years ago, I complained that hockey games in small and medium sized towns were moving from arenas where fans were right on top of the players to sterile arenas with separations from the ice and, even though there was more seating, the arenas turned into mausoleums.

Also interesting to see the comments about tailgating being one of the main positive. Again, it is being replicated even here in Toronto (planned tailgates for the Bills games, Raptors and Argos trying to do the same). Hopefully someone here is listening (I know that mlsintoronto gets it already).

Strange how the home field trend is reversed in MLS. Few teams are really strong on the road - most live on their points from home games.