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Teams losing fans.

TheOriginalCane said:
Look, it's just a dopey argument to claim that soccer has popularity "on the coasts" but not in other parts of the country.

MLS just put a team in Cincinnati, and the next franchise will probably be St. Louis. Chicago. Columbus. Minneapolis. Salt Lake City. Dallas. Houston. Denver. Kansas City.

And look at the reception that soccer has received in Atlanta, a southern city that should "hate" soccer and love football.

Nobody is saying that soccer will overtake football in popularity, like, tomorrow. But you have to look at youth participation. More and more parents are prohibiting their kids from playing tackle football and allowing them to play soccer. Over time, with kids growing up playing soccer and parents going to soccer games (and let's not ignore the impact of gender, since there are no real opportunities for women to play tackle football), there is going to be a shift within the overall fanbases of each sport. Soccer is a sport the requires minimal equipment and can be played almost anywhere. Tackle football is a more expensive proposition for young kids and parents to get involved with.

At one time, baseball was a dominant sport among kids in the US, and MLB rosters reflected that. Now there are other sports that compete for kids' attention, and many of the MLB players come from Latin America. Things change over time. NASCAR is losing fanbase, as the people who loved the sport 20 and 30 years ago are aging out, and are not replaced by young fans. It happens.
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mike ryan talks abotu the draw with soccer to younger fans on the radio a lot. basically, even if you dont like the sport, you get into it due to the pregame tomfoolery and pub crawls (Orl City does this and i think becks wanted to at one point)
 
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TheOriginalCane said:
Look, it's just a dopey argument to claim that soccer has popularity "on the coasts" but not in other parts of the country.

MLS just put a team in Cincinnati, and the next franchise will probably be St. Louis. Chicago. Columbus. Minneapolis. Salt Lake City. Dallas. Houston. Denver. Kansas City.

And look at the reception that soccer has received in Atlanta, a southern city that should "hate" soccer and love football.

Nobody is saying that soccer will overtake football in popularity, like, tomorrow. But you have to look at youth participation. More and more parents are prohibiting their kids from playing tackle football and allowing them to play soccer. Over time, with kids growing up playing soccer and parents going to soccer games (and let's not ignore the impact of gender, since there are no real opportunities for women to play tackle football), there is going to be a shift within the overall fanbases of each sport. Soccer is a sport the requires minimal equipment and can be played almost anywhere. Tackle football is a more expensive proposition for young kids and parents to get involved with.

At one time, baseball was a dominant sport among kids in the US, and MLB rosters reflected that. Now there are other sports that compete for kids' attention, and many of the MLB players come from Latin America. Things change over time. NASCAR is losing fanbase, as the people who loved the sport 20 and 30 years ago are aging out, and are not replaced by young fans. It happens.
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I'm not bashing soccer, my question was where are the numbers to back this up, just a question, doesn't make a difference to me either way, I just found the insertion of a proclamation about soccer's growth weird in a thread about football attendance coupled with a complete lack of evidence to back it up and, well...a quick search shows that 7 teams in the MLS had an attendance increase in '18 over '17, overall the league was down 1%.
 
gruntking said:
When I was younger I wouldn't miss a game at the OB (23 season tickets) and at JRS attended numerous Canes games. But the spouse has health issues and JRS being so far away has changed it for us. But there's nothing like being there... however, all those factors you bring up are valid. Now with 65" high definition TVs and the comforts of home it's another thing. My first large screen TV (50") was in 2000, a projection and it was not high def and the viewing angle was an issue. Also I remember going to the games drinking beer like a fish and being in the **** line forever, then hearing a roar and saying fvck I missed what happened. Plus parking headaches, the prices, the azzholes looking for a fight, drunks, farting fans, puking fans, the heat, the rain, the long drive to JRS, etc, etc. well it's something to consider.
Do whatever works for you but for Gods sake don't miss a Canes game... ever!
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Goodness I miss wading in **** at the rocking OB. Was worth through the 58 game home win streak.
 
QuatroCane said:
I'm not bashing soccer, my question was where are the numbers to back this up, just a question, doesn't make a difference to me either way, I just found the insertion of a proclamation about soccer's growth weird in a thread about football attendance coupled with a complete lack of evidence to back it up and, well...a quick search shows that 7 teams in the MLS had an attendance increase in '18 over '17, overall the league was down 1%.
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OK, it's a fair point that he didn't give a lot of statistical evidence.

But I can tell you that, overall, soccer is growing very fast in the US. I can't speak to the 2018 MLS attendance issues, though I do know that in 2018, DC United moved into a smaller soccer-only stadium (same thing that Orlando City did a few years ago, we used to have a couple of MLS attendance records playing in a football stadium, and then we moved into a smaller venue).

The main point is that in 2004, MLS had 10 teams. With just the already-announced expansion teams (Austin FC begins play last in 2021), the league will be at 27 teams in 2021, and there are probably going to be 2 or 3 more expansion teams named shortly. In under 20 years, the MLS will nearly triple in franchise size while not losing any franchises (with only short-term hiccups in San Jose for 2 years and Los Angeles for 3 years).

Oh, and for the record, NFL attendance was down a half-percent from 17 to 18.
 
Austin got 120% of capacity in season ticket deposits for MLS in less that a week, two years before they will ever play a game.
 
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fraggle said:
Goodness I miss wading in **** at the rocking OB. Was worth through the 58 game home win streak.
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God it was heaven... the OB was hallowed ground... even the Dolphins benefited.
Blessed to have lived it... and blessed to have survived the meat on a stick bought from the street vendors.
 
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