Lessons from MLS

[Old Gregg]

So, Fink has written a couple of articles of late tonguing the LA Galaxy's balls and suggesting that the A-League (particularly Sydney) need to follow their lead:
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/a-league ... e-A-League
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/a-league ... e-A-League
For me though the success stories of the MLS are in the less fashionable teams that pack out small stadiums and really seem to engage the community.

Following some links from the MLS website (which the A-League really could do with emulating - some good articles, actual analysis etc), apparently the new Portland team has sold out of their 2011 season tickets: http://www.portlandtimbers.com/news/201 ... on-tickets
Not bad for a brand new club in a (relatively) small city. I guess the MLS is riding a wave of confidence after coming out of its slump period.. and confidence begets success..

I just hope that the A-League can start to turn the corner in the same sort of way before too long. I know it's a completely different landscape over there but there are definitely similarities in the sports market..

[Steelinho]

Actually, Portland Timbers aren't technically a "brand new club" like our expansion teams. They're the same team that has been playing in the USL for the last couple of years, but have been "replaced" by a MLS-franchise team with the same owners and everything else (just like the Vancouver Whitecaps).

It's somewhat similar to how the J. League established itself; expanding with already-established clubs that had to meet X-criteria in order to obtain membership.

[Old Gregg]

Seems to be a pretty successful model, Montreal Impact (who have been playing in the USSL leagues) will be the next expansion team off the blocks. Really dependent on a functional 2nd tier for clubs to establish themselves though, don't know if you could do it via our state leagues (have Tasmania FC play in the VPL for a few years? Canberra in the NSWPL?) unless we're talking clubs with long histories like South Melbourne / Adelaide City / etc.

[David Votoupal]

Some say that Portland, Seattle and Vancouver are vestigially linked (albeit tenuously) to the old NASL. So there's tradition and support to build on. Rochester are overdue- that's a real hotbed of football up in upstate NY and would give that part of the world a desperately needed boost. Getting Canada involved in the league is helpful too.

[Steelinho]

They would have to be there before the A-League grants them a franchise licence, not say something along the lines of, "Yeah, we'll give you a franchise, but before you start in the A-League you'll have to play a season or two in a regional league. Okay? Okay."

These clubs have all been formed with "hopes" of becoming a MLS/J. League side in the future and have done what they can to ensure it happens. We're pretty much doing the opposite and seeing about 60% success. (Then again, both MLS and J. League have also had some failures; they've just had longer to recover. There's too much doom and gloom from our media in retrospect.)


And DV, Rochester won't be in there for a long time if NYC have anything to say about it. There's no New York City side (Red Bull is in Jersey) and Cosmos have that card up their sleeve. Detroit is also trying to get the 20th franchise, but it looks unlikely, with the MLS having said they'd opt for a NY franchise as the 20th team if the business model is a strong one.

And what franchise would there be for Rochester, anyway?

EDIT: hay guyz letz talk about a-leeg ok

[Old Gregg]

No Raging Rhinos, no MLS



Having a look at Wiki there are a shitload of big cities without teams - Miami, Atlanta, Detroit, Phoenix, San Francisco, San Diego, Minneapolis, Tampa, Baltimore, St Louis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Riverside (whatever the fuck that is), Cincinatti, Sacramento, Virginia Beach, San Antonio, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Orlando and Providence are all bigger population centres than Adelaide and don't have MLS representation.

[ThatDickw/theGlasses]

NASL > daylight > MLS.

[David Votoupal]

The NASL had a virtual who's who of football in its ranks. But that proved its undoing, sadly.

Canada benefited far more from the NASL than the USA did, as evidenced by the fact the Canadian national team was a regional power in the 70s and 80s, and qualified for 1986, with players developed from the NASL. Some of them were still around in 1993 when Mark Schwarzer got his big international break facing Canada.

Between 1950 and 1990, there were really only two American players who were of any quality- Rick Davis and Hugo Perez.

[shinAUFC]

obiously there are many things the FFA need to learn from the MLS and Aleague.

But i think in australia we need to be realistic about crowds.

the MLS have something like 18 teams? yet they have a quarter of a million population, in australia we only have 20million.


When you have such a large population its very easy to attract a niche crowd and still have good numbers, its not really possible in australia.

The Aleague cant be a "Niche" league if we are ever going to get that kind of crowd , it needs to be mainstream

[Stuckey]

Did anyone catch Peter Wilt former General Operations manager of Chicago Fire on TWG. Very interesting. Especially how poorly the mainstream media treated soccer in the early days and they choose to ignore it and just focus on their fans who generally could be found on the net. In turn building their own fans base and not try and 'steal' fans from NFL NHL or NBA.

[double07]

yet they have a quarter of a million population, in australia we only have 20million.

Billion.

[shinAUFC]

haha oops

[sevengoals]

Did anyone catch Peter Wilt former General Operations manager of Chicago Fire on TWG. Very interesting. Especially how poorly the mainstream media treated soccer in the early days and they choose to ignore it and just focus on their fans who generally could be found on the net. In turn building their own fans base and not try and 'steal' fans from NFL NHL or NBA.

In other words they stopped worrying/competing against the other codes and concentrated on their communities, their fans, their league, their game.

It's the only way.

[General Ashnak]

There have been many scattered articles about the lessons we could learn from the MLS. Frankly I think one of the first things that the Members Committee needs to do is bring along a laptop with every article on how MLS clubs are succeeding and go over it with Matt Rossi. I have sent him emails about it and he is very receptive. That bodes well for the future success of this committee.

[Stuckey]

There have been many scattered articles about the lessons we could learn from the MLS. Frankly I think one of the first things that the Members Committee needs to do is bring along a laptop with every article on how MLS clubs are succeeding and go over it with Matt Rossi. I have sent him emails about it and he is very receptive. That bodes well for the future success of this committee.

You read my mind!