MLS breaks all-time sellout games record in 2014

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MLS fans were greeted by an interesting and welcome piece of news this morning. The league had its record-breaking 113th sellout game this season after the Toronto-Portland game. This is significant progress for the league and one that has been coming for a while now.

In 2007 MLS acquired its first bona fide international supertar in their prime: David Beckham. The pop culture icon transcended the game and MLS got a boost in attendance figures given the many sellouts at the Galaxy's stadium and throughout the country. This very blog site came into being as a way to track attendance per team in percentage number and median figures.

So what changed for MLS this year? Two factors: the World Cup and recruitment of American internationals in their prime. Such is the case with repatriated Michael Bradley (Toronto) and Jermaine Jones (New England). The marketing has been superb and more focus has been placed on player development and quality skill on the pitch.

Will this trend continue? Likely. With the expansion to new markets with NYCFC in New York and its superstars in Frank Lampard and David Villa, as well as Orlando City with Kaka, the upswing in attendance should remain. True, expansion might thin the league up a bit in terms of talent due to expansion drafts but quality players in academies are waiting to take over the ranks.

So now the league is breaking attendance without David Beckham, which means it's no longer novelty. In short, this is a good time for MLS. It's a good time for the fans and it's further proof that the game is here to stay.

New York's second MLS team arrives

Photo credit: MLS

New York City FC will be MLS's 20th, and most expensive franchise. After 17 years of trying, the league finally achieved their goal: a second team in the New York metro area. Instead of dwelling on details better covered in other pages, I will instead devote this post to the significance of the club and what it may mean for the league and players in this country.

The New York area is home to around 19 million people. Just driving through there you get a sense of the enormity of the population, not to mention its worldly inhabitants. You can hear a dozen languages at every street corner. Thus, New York acquired multiple teams in every sport, including big names like the Giants and Jets in American football and the Yankees and Mets in Major League Baseball. So why should soccer be any different?

At one point it was thought that the New York Cosmos would come back to the big scene. What with the inclusion of Pele as a backer and managing by Giovanni Savarese and Carlos Llamosa. But Dom Garber and MLS directives were very good at keeping the secret about who would build the team, what it's brand would be and where they would play.

Enter Manchester City and the New York Yankees. Suddenly a big name in soccer and a major brand in world sport enter the scene and establish the team. Significant, because although other squads have "training" sessions with big teams (Real Madrid with Real Salt Lake), and Chivas Guadalajara might consider Goats USA to be their satellite team, adding a European squad and the Yankees is much more impressive. The cost alone, at $100 million, benefits the league and players and sets the stage for even more greatness in the American soccer scene.

So how do we take this latest step in MLS? The league has proven that it has what it takes to build new teams and followers. One must only look at the Pacific Northwest, the Canadian teams, the new stadiums being built and the crop of homegrown players and big name stars. A second New York team adds a subway derby, a cross-town rivalry better than Chivas-Galaxy ever was. In fact, Chivas might re-brand and/or move out of the city. In reality, capitalizing on the Mexican population and the biggest brand in Liga MX wasn't enough to maintain attention or build a bigger fan base. New York FC must learn from this. They should have their own stadium and bring big name players. And maybe, just maybe, Red Bull Arena and the NYCFC stadium might sell out every match the way the Sounders and Timbers do.