The MLS thread

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77

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The MLS 2011 thread

Pre-season about to begin. I'm looking forward to a bit of regional rivalry between Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. Something that's been sorely missing in MLS (LA-Chivas aside). Portland have almost sold out of season tickets and can probably look forward to a full house every game with 500 tickets being reserved for away fans, hopefully this will increase through time once Seattle and Portland learn how to deal with visiting supporters.
 

Dr. Dwayne

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There may in the end be a bigger rivalry between Toronto FC and Vancouver.

Should be interesting anyway, more teams is always better.
 

77

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You ever been to Vancouver Dr. D...? it's a great place. Bit far for a Toronto rivalry but obviously they have the Canada thing going on.

Did Toronto have an NASL team...?
 

charleysurf

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Pacific North west seems like a natural fit for football.
 

Dr. Dwayne

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77 said:
You ever been to Vancouver Dr. D...? it's a great place. Bit far for a Toronto rivalry but obviously they have the Canada thing going on.

Did Toronto have an NASL team...?
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Once or twice in my youth, yeah. It's a lovely place, as is all of British Columbia but the hippies put me off, forever offering you trail-mix.

The Canada thing always brings some extra spice to the rivalry.

I think Toronto had a few differnt teams in the NASL. The Blizzards was one I believe, although I lived closer to Vancouver back then so I was a Whitecaps fan, if you can call it that.
 

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Honest question for american fans. Wouldn´t you guys prefer a 20 league team with promotions / relegations and scrap this playoff nonsense?
 

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maniak said:
Honest question for american fans. Wouldn´t you guys prefer a 20 league team with promotions / relegations and scrap this playoff nonsense?
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Absolutely but I don't see it being a likely thing for a long time. Americans love their play-offs though.
 

Dr. Dwayne

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maniak said:
Honest question for american fans. Wouldn´t you guys prefer a 20 league team with promotions / relegations and scrap this playoff nonsense?
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What, Canadians aren't allowed to answer? :smirk:

It might be preferable but we love a play-off system and the structure of some sports in North America means that a secondary league isn't viable. The College system seems to mandate that you have to have one pro-league that operates a draft system.

Other leagues in other sports (XFL [gridiron], WHL [ice hockey]) tend to compete directly with the major leagues and often fall flat, then fold.
 

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maniak said:
Honest question for american fans. Wouldn´t you guys prefer a 20 league team with promotions / relegations and scrap this playoff nonsense?
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Yes. But then I don't think any of us on here own an MLS team. My guess is that it's the owners that don't want to risk their investment by having their team dropped. As for playoffs, I don't like them. It cheapens the rest of the season too much. Unfortunately, it seems that that's just the way it's done over here.
 

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Dr. Dwayne said:
Once or twice in my youth, yeah. It's a lovely place, as is all of British Columbia but the hippies put me off, forever offering you trail-mix.
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:lol:. Vancouver's a proper city. Going up there from Portland for games always made me feel quite the hayseed.

Toronto was cool as well, though they were forever offering me heroin (years ago).
 

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I just think that playoffs are such a ridiculous way of deciding a champion. A team finishes the season with most points and then they don´t even reach the final... and the champions are the team that finished 7th...

It must make the regular season pretty boring for the top teams. Imagine it in England. Basically Arsenal and United would start playing their 2nd teams until the end of the season from February.
 

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maniak said:
Forgot Toront. You should get a league of your own and stop annexing teams to the american leagues.
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Too much distance between cities and not enough major centres. We'll always be junior parnters in American sport. Makes it more fun when we do win titles, though.
 

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The MLS will never scrap the playoff system. Americans wouldn't be able to handle the concept of a team winning the title with several games still to play. They do have the open cup which is a bit like the FA cup where the second tier teams play MLS clubs.
 

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That is a good piece. I didn't know Vancouver were going to have such a big stadium.
 

IBleedRed

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maniak said:
Honest question for american fans. Wouldn´t you guys prefer a 20 league team with promotions / relegations and scrap this playoff nonsense?
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I would prefer a relegation/promotion system for MLS and I think it would be interesting to implement in other US sports as well.
 

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Portland have Eddie Johnson on their books, former United youth player. Kerrea Gilbert who was on Arsenal's books and Darlington Nagbe who's going to be one to watch.

Managed by former Chelsea gnome John Spencer.
 

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It's amazing the effect the hopefully higher quality and more marketing has made. Back when Seattle was still in A League, we'd go up there for the Portland games and their stadium would be embarrasingly empty. There'd be about 300 of us they'd shoved off in a corner making all the noise.

I went back there last year to see DC play (whom I used to support) and the damned place was packed with some 30,000+ making a handy racket. Mental.

There's high hopes for the rivalry. Portland got in an early shot a few months back...


It's worth mentioning that this is in Seattle a few blocks from their stadium :devil:
 

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IBleedRed said:
I would prefer a relegation/promotion system for MLS and I think it would be interesting to implement in other US sports as well.
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Would never happen. Most people in the US still see clubs as franchises and the allure of bandwagon hopping is such that if a city lost a team to the second division, you'd bet 50% drop in attendance. You're constantly hearing on the forums "team has another losing season for next year, not renewing tickets" or "we suck, not renewing tickets." MLS has done a crap job of creating an identity for the clubs as part of the city. Individual clubs have done it quite well (mostly north west and Toronto) but the league needs to get involved.
 

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brad-dyrak said:
It's amazing the effect the hopefully higher quality and more marketing has made. Back when Seattle was still in A League, we'd go up there for the Portland games and their stadium would be embarrasingly empty. There'd be about 300 of us they'd shoved off in a corner making all the noise.

I went back there last year to see DC play (whom I used to support) and the damned place was packed with some 30,000+ making a handy racket. Mental.

There's high hopes for the rivalry. Portland got in an early shot a few months back...


It's worth mentioning that this is in Seattle a few blocks from their stadium :devil:
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The drawing of the remodeled PGE Park looks fantastic as well (which I am sure the Portland State football appreciates). It looks like a proper soccer stadium.
 

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So how do transfer windows work in the MLS then as the windows in Europe don't coincide with your pre-season and mid-season?
 

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Team Brian GB said:
So how do transfer windows work in the MLS then as the windows in Europe don't coincide with your pre-season and mid-season?
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The league is operated as a single entity. The clubs are owned by the league but ran by financial partners. It's ridiculous. I can see the need in the initial decade but for the sport to really grow there needs to be individual ownership, increase in salary cap, etc.
 

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Aside from the Cosmos, where do you guys think would be a good place for another MLS side? I would like for there to be one in the Southeast somewhere, since there isn't one anywhere in my part of the country aside from DC. Atlanta has a solid reputation for soccer, but I don't know how many people would buy STs. Miami doesn't care enough about sports to deserve one. Despite having a pretty good soccer culture, I don't think Raleigh or Charlotte could support an MLS team consistently. They did surprise me with the Canes though.
 

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I find the southeast too "macho" and probably not a good place for a soccer club at the moment. Meaning most down here seem to think soccer is for girls or whatnot. There are lots of youth and adult leagues but just not sure if the south is willing to support the sport at the moment.

Failed in Tampa. Failed in Miami. Atlanta supposedly wants an MLS club but I think Atlanta fans are too fickle in support. Charlotte is NASCAR, football and applie pie territory - soccer don't belong. Nashville might support. Orlando perhaps.

Not sure why it failed in Miami with the diverse population. Perhaps if MLS does allow Barcelona in with Miami (is that still a possibility?) it could work. Dunno. Miami sports fan are more fickle than Atlanta sports fans.
 

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MrMarcello said:
I find the southeast too "macho" and probably not a good place for a soccer club at the moment. Meaning most down here seem to think soccer is for girls or whatnot. There are lots of youth and adult leagues but just not sure if the south is willing to support the sport at the moment.

Failed in Tampa. Failed in Miami. Atlanta supposedly wants an MLS club but I think Atlanta fans are too fickle in support. Charlotte is NASCAR, football and applie pie territory - soccer don't belong. Nashville might support. Orlando perhaps.

Not sure why it failed in Miami with the diverse population. Perhaps if MLS does allow Barcelona in with Miami (is that still a possibility?) it could work. Dunno. Miami sports fan are more fickle than Atlanta sports fans.
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They didn't give a damn about the Heat until they got Lebronze and Bosh to go with Wade(aside from their Championship year when they cared for a month).

Charlotte would have trouble getting support from people throughout the rest of North Carolina, which would probably make it impossible. No one outside of Charlotte really cares about the Panthers or the Bobcats. The Triangle might be better just because of the large number of yankees(Cary) and hispanic people in the area. Not that Charlotte doesn't have it's own share of those. It might take some time to get established, but the Hurricanes have done really well given the average person's interest in hockey here. Even so, the Canes are solidly behind UNC, Duke, and NC State in the area.

No point really debating it though since I'm almost positive that NY will get the Cosmos back.
 
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