Old Firm in the USA

Photo credit: MLS

Yesterday we were treated to a rare event: The Old Firm match between the two Scottish superclubs Rangers and Celtic. What a game and what an atmosphere. And it's great to finally be able to see matches like these in the US, especially considering that Rangers has three American players in their squad. They are indeed the American Glasgow Rangers.

The match took place with all the flair that comes along with a true derby. Raw emotions, interesting undercurrents with Rangers' financial woes, a title on the line for Celtic, and plenty of goals, fouls and red cards. Aluko's opening goal was particularly impressive with his cutting move and quick finish. Wallace's game-winner was a vintage 2-man advantage type goal and one worth celebrating.

As far as our American legion playing for Rangers, Bocanegra was impressive until the point he was sent off for a foul in the penalty area. Captain America still has it, however, winning balls left and right and taking part in the attack when summoned by inspiration and reflex. Maurice Edu had a quiet yet constant game. He settled the midfield and provided some key passes. It's clear that both of these players should remain top options for Klinsmann's national team. Unfortunately, Alejandro Bedoya didn't make it onto the pitch, although he was on the bench for Rangers.

Perhaps the most important part of this game for the US fans was the very fact that it was on TV. Suddenly, a couple of days before the match there were advertisements for it and we were quick to set up the DVR. It's also a part of a very encouraging trend in soccer coverage in the United States. From MLS getting a contract with the newly formed NBC Sports to the expanded coverage of the UEFA Champions League on the various FOX networks, more and more futbol can be watched on television. Add to this the recent purchase by FOX of the World Cup rights for 2018 and 2022 and suddenly it's not just ESPN with soccer.

At any point during the week, anyone with expanded cable or satellite coverage is treated to soccer from around the world. Even basic cable and regular television in areas with Spanish network or Fox itself will showcase MLS, Mexican Primera and English Premier League matches.

So yes, thank you to the Old Firm for a great match. And thank you FOX for this treat. To all the TV soccer networks: please keep it coming.

MLS Media Circus(es)

The United States is the land of the Media. CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, NY Times, Washington Post, MTV, ESPN, Fox Sports, Time Magazine, Newsweek, Comedy Central, National Enquirer are just the surface. Digging up new, interesting stories are what makes this country tick day in and day out. MLS is not immune. Is Freddy Adu the next Pele? Is David Beckham really coming to the US? Is Chad Ochocinco switching sports from football to futbol?

What started with the overplayed (and unfortunate) premature crowning of Freddy Adu as America's soccer darling was forgotten once it became obvious that he was just another gifted, albeit average, player. David Beckham's revolution of MLS also earned front page news but was quickly forgotten due to injuries and a backlash against his loan to AC Milan when it became apparent to the England FA that he was only viable at a "competitive team." Who wouldn't want to switch if it mean playing at the World Cup?

The most recent media circus involving MLS is Chad (Johnson) Ochocinco's desire to play soccer for Sporting Kansas City (previously the Wiz and then the Wizards). Suddenly, ESPN was all over the relatively weak soccer market in Kansas City. He became the sizzling news in the NFL aside from the impending lockout due to salary disputes. Hoards of reporters from various media outlets were present at SKC practice and reserve games (practice matches? really?).

So is this really good for MLS? Remember one thing, and I'm not overreaching with this: MLS tends to be an afterthought for most Americans, a parenthesis in an otherwise crowded sports scene, a curiosity when your kid is at soccer practice and you realize there is an American league. Ochocinco's publicity stunt is likely to remain what it is: just a stunt. 85 had a reality show where he was choosing from 85 bachelorettes, his TD celebration of "bribing officials," a person that chose to change his name to the Spanish for eighty-five even though he has no real connection with the Spanish-speaking community. How much stock are we willing to put into this when a BBC report on Ochocinco using an American soccer journalist was shrugged off by the BBC radio host?

The truth is that MLS is a growing league with ardent fans. The true fans are merely intrigued by the publicity stunts. They go to the games and enjoy the action. They applaud recent signings like Rafa Marquez and Omar Bravo as players that can contribute. They cheer for the new American stars like Juan Agudelo, Tim Ream and Teal Bunbury. They get their soccer news from dedicated, serious soccer journalists. That's the MLS, not these circuses.

No soccer channel for MLS

That's Fox Soccer Channel, or FSC. Reportedly, MLS is asking for $20 million from FSC for broadcasting rights. It's a seven-fold increase of the current contract of $3 million. At the moment, ESPN pays $8.5 million, with Univision as the Spanish language outlet for the domestic league. Is this a realistic request by MLS?

I'm no economist, but let's face a few facts: MLS isn't topping many ratings. The average number of televisions tuned to FSC games is 53,000, usually on Saturdays. Compare that with the much more highly rated Barclay's Premier League and the UEFA Champions League. Meanwhile, ESPN has a 200,000+ average viewing of MLS prime time matches. Now, I'm not saying that FSC should drop the league altogether or switch to the Fox Sports World theme (Fox Soccer Plus already does this). All I'm saying is that MLS should stick with what it has with FSC and, maybe, just adjust for inflation.

The ultimate losers for the falling out between MLS and FSC are the fans. Even if the ratings are paltry in comparison to games in other networks or other leagues in FSC, having the games on national television is hugely important. What happens when the soccer-specific channel in the United States won't even show the domestic league? Doesn't it make the league and US soccer look silly? How is the MLS supposed to be a more competitive league when less games are on TV? Does the league lose respect? players? fans?

This is an important moment for the sport in this nation. US soccer is coming out of an impressive World Cup and American players are increasingly better regarded by top leagues. The soccer nation continues to build its fan base in this country. Switching to other leagues during the prime time hours during the weekend (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina) only signifies loss of respect for the domestic league. And it means less fans even as MLS expands into the Pacific Northwest, Canada, and possibly by adding a second team in New York.

This is a disappointing turn of events, yes. But there is still another month before the start of MLS 2011. Hopefully we will see Charlie Davies scoring on FSC this year when other networks are unable to carry the game. It's worth it, MLS.

Access to soccer in America

Admit it. If you like soccer in this country you are limited to what ESPN has to offer (1 semi-weekly MLS game and an EPL game on Saturday mornings). That's with basic cable. Otherwise it's airwaves, and you better hope your MLS team is local or you like the Mexican league. That is, as long as either Telemundo or Univision/Telefutura are available. Granted, select Concacaf Champions League games are also available on Telefutura, mostly when Mexican teams are involved. There are also sporadic Uefa Champions League games on the Fox Sports Network.

But what about the national team? USA usually plays on ESPN for the qualifiers and international friendlies. You can also catch the Mexican national team if it's a friendly on Telemundo (they hold the rights to games abroad). Univsion usually carries the Mexico-USA qualifier clash. The only other time is during the World Cup. Euro games are also shown on ESPN networks (and occasionally on ABC). Univision has rights to the Gold Cup and Copa America.

So if you want to view European soccer beyond the one Saturday morning Premier League match, then you have to spend some money to get digital cable or satellite TV. Usually, at least for cable, Fox Soccer Channel is included in the digital package. For Direct TV, depending on where you are, it may cost extra. Having FSC gives you at least 3 live EPL games and 1 or 2 Italian Serie A matches. More importantly, The UEFA Champions League is shown on this channel, along with MLS-participating Concacaf Champions League games. It also gives you their weekly MLS game along with select women's games (WPS) and NCAA (men's and women's). That's enough to keep some, if not most, satisfied.

If one wants to venture out past FSC, then you better hope your region includes ESPN Deportes as a standard channel (New York, LA possibly?). Otherwise it will cost you extra. For Time Warner it comes at $3 per month. It may be more with other cable companies (Comcast may be up to $15 per month). Included in this channel are German Bundesliga, Dutch Eridivisie and Spanish Primera. This usually means you are getting the "Latino" package. Fortunately for you, choosing this option also gives you access to two additional networks: GoalTV and Fox Sports en Espanol. With GolTV there is more Spanish Primera, as well as Brazilian and Colombian football. Select World Cup qualifiers will also play in this channel as well as on ESPN Deportes. FSE provides access to the Copa Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana, and complementary UCL games.

One additional network is the recent addition Fox Soccer Plus. Not in cable companies in most markets but it is included in the sports package with Direct TV.

We now arrive at the internet. Fortunately for some of us that dwell in academia, .edu domains give access to espn3.com. There you can catch pretty much all the action on the ESPN networks. It is also available for Comcast customers. Such is the case in Oregon. But what about Fox? Well, if you're like myself (and many others), then watching the Champions League (UEFA) requires an investment. But don't fret yet. There is always streaming (often unreliable peer-to-peer) video. Until Fox chooses to follow espn3, most internet-savvy soccer fans will access it through other means. It's silly, really. If they keep advertisements going within an online. portal it will only give Fox Soccer more attention throughout America.

Hopefully this summary will help some folks out. I will not give away streaming video addresses through here but you can always search for them or follow online threads. Enjoy soccer, America. Plenty of it if you know where to look.

MLS 2009 Attendance stats week 6

Figures have been updated through week 6. You will notice a dip in TFC attendance (below 20K?!). Not by much, but certainly bogs down on their differential from last season. RSL also had a poor showing and has lost its edge. DCU is understandable given their poor form... Too bad ESPN has to cover them (another weak attendance showing on national TV... when will they learn?!). If it weren't for Seattle and Philly's inflated opening match game we may have the same or even lower average attendance compared with last year's. Keep in mind that we average not the games, but each team's average of their own games. This filters out some of the noise. New York remains strong, despite their less-than-stellar numbers (about 15k+ at their last home game). Anything is better than last year's numbers... on and off the field.

MLS 2009 Attendance stats weeks 28 & 29

Back to the stats. Figures are on the right column. Not going too much in depth this week. Most markets are up, including Chicago, New England and Columbus. It's hard to watch the games with the football lines still on the pitch, though. I'm enjoying the new soccer-specific venues. Up next year are the Red Bull's Red Bull Arena which is opening in Harrison, NJ, and the new soccer stadium in Chester, PA for the Philadelphia Union.

I read an interesting tidbit the other day regarding TV ratings for MLS... at least from the ESPN perspective. Looks like some of us out there were being entirely too negative about MLS on TV. It seems that the audience has gone up for the world-wide leader in sports by 7-10%. This is after the execs decided to scrub the "MLS Primetime Thursdays" slot for the "MLS Game of the Week." Smart. Also, ESPN's loss of the UEFA Champions League may be a blessing in disguise since the Spanish La Liga and the English EPL are during the weekend. This has opened up quality soccer for everyone that was at work or school on weekdays. A side effect? More MLS viewers.

MLS 2009 Attendance stats week 24 & 25

Quick update. Becks not making much of a change thus far. With some saying that the problem now lies more with TV ratings for MLS matches, I almost feel like I should be getting my hands on that sort of data. In a forum on the matter, I suggested that nationally televised shows on ESPN be limited to good rivalries with decent turnouts in order to get people excited about watching the games. Places like Toronto, LA, Seattle, and sometimes DC are prime for this sort of TV coverage. It's not a bad idea to follow Beckham around since it attracts more people to games. It's sad to see empty stadiums for playoffs in places like New England. Keep in mind that these games happen at the cavernous Gillette stadium.

What's another television-friendly venue? Really small stadiums like Buck Shaw and Community America Ballpark. Back to attendance. I always like to do the relative attendance since it shows how full any given stadium is relative to their MLS capacity. Note that MLS capacity may be smaller than the actual stadium capacity (Invesco, Gillette, Giants, etc.). A good relationship between the mean and relative is shown below.

MLS 2009 Attendance stats week 11

Another quick one. It's nice to see Colorado (16528) and Dallas (9595) partly recover. Outside of the Champion's League hoopla we have our domestic league nearing the halfway point. As I watch a replay of yesterday's final ahead of today's collision between top Western team Chivas against Blanco and his Eastern leaders Chicago I suddenly realize that the reason they are showing these games back to back is possibly because ESPN lost out the television rights of next season's Champions League to Fox Soccer Channel. What will this do to the sport in the US? God only knows. ESPN has been dropping the ball when it comes to MLS coverage by somehow regarding it as less of a sport than poker (why is this on sports TV in the first place?). Still, I think ESPN should capitalize on this by targeting international soccer more. Maybe following the top teams in the world through qualifying, friendlies, etc.

Back to MLS attendance. Another look at how my relative attendance figures match up against raw numbers in the western conference. This allows us to see the capacity of each of the stadiums and how full they are from a cumulative standpoint. Notice that San Jose, for example, has very low attendance numbers but its capacity means a full stadium on most days. To me that's more important. I rather have a full small stadium than a mostly empty giant one (Giants Stadium, Gillette, etc.).