WORLD CUP 2014 - BRAZIL

Quineloe

Quineloe

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Abefroman_sl said:
One does 40k the rest are pretty much under 20k. We pay attention to the World Cup because it's a great event where you can see the best in the sport compete and because Murica! Same way Europeans watch the Super Bowl then give two shits about it for the rest of the year, that is how we are with Soccer.

Major League Soccer attendance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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We don't watch the Super Bowl. It's at 1am on a sunday to monday night.

The wikipedia article is interesting. Every 4 years we're having this debate, and then nothing happens? Tripling attendance since the USA WC '94 speaks a different language, and your games already have the same attendance as France's La Ligue.
 
Sutekh

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I'm not seeing your tripling of attendance metric on that sheet. In fact if you look at the historical averages, it's all pretty much the same from 1996 to now.
 
Jovec

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Sutekh_sl said:
I'm not seeing your tripling of attendance metric on that sheet. In fact if you look at the historical averages, it's all pretty much the same from 1996 to now.
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Number of games was 160 in 1996 and is now 323 in 2013, so total attendance is doubled not tripled.

I don't think cost can be ignored. MLS would charge more if they could, just like all of the other leagues charge what they can. Average MLS ticket is ~$26, and a package deal with parking, tickets, and food for 4 can probably be had for $100-$150. That same money won't get a single person into many NFL games and some NBA ones, let alone a typical family. Sure, people go to MLS games because they like soccer, but they also go because it's not too expensive.

Money is also a big reason why youth soccer participation has been so much higher than it's popularity at the Pro level over the years would suggest, since it is probably the cheapest organized sport for kids to participate in.

How much does the average Premier League or Bundesliga ticket run?
 
Quineloe

Quineloe

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Jovec_sl said:
How much does the average Premier League or Bundesliga ticket run?
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for regular league.

Prices for watching the game against CR7 where they got smashed out of the Champions league:

Kategorie 1 150 ?
Kategorie 2 120 ?
Kategorie 3 90 ?
Kategorie 4 65 ?
Kategorie 5 40 ?

funny they still have these prices on their website
smile.png
 
Vandyn

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I actually think the relatively short matches (about 2 hours) is a good thing for US viewing. The problem with viewing has and always will be the action on the pitch. This country is conditioned to want to see high scores, whether that be touchdowns, homeruns, etc. Soccer is the direct opposite of that. Even baseball has become more regional in terms of popularity, most wont sit and watch a 3.5 hour baseball playoff game if their team isn't in it.
 
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Tea_sl

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I'm kind of the opinion that it's not the lack of scoring, but the lack of action all around. Soccer is just kind of boring. This of course sounds absurd coming from a gridiron fan, but that's another thing. People say that shit is happening all the time in soccer, but not much of it. Good teams control the ball and try to orchestrate an attack. Fine.

So much is shit is going on in a football game though. People look at it and they say most of the game is just people standing around, but most of that standing around is where the interesting stuff actually happens, so much shit is happening mentally and tactically from snap to snap. Soccer just isn't that tactically deep.
 
Jx3

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The more I watch soccer the more I like it. It helps I have a couple of friends who are huge soccer fans and they explain things at times. I think a lot of why the U.S. doesn't care for soccer is the the fact it's not promoted much. If it was pushed like football and basketball I think people wold care more about it.
 
BrutulTM

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American football is a series of sprints, where soccer is a marathon. As Tea says, every play in American football is a small battle with a strategy where each player has a role and it plays out in a few seconds of violent action. It's also the perfect TV sport because of all of the breaks. Soccer is like watching basketball played in slow motion. I can see why people say it is a "beautiful" game, but the exciting moments are few and far between and the end of the game is usually a let down because it kind of coasts to a stop instead of the buzzer being the climax of the game.
 
Brando

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There's actually is quite a bit of strategy and nuance involved in Soccer at the highest level, I think most Americans don't realize that as even with our national team it looks at times not that far removed from your kids on the weekend kick and rush about tactics. Living in Los Angeles I've taken my kids now to a handful of LA Galaxy games, not because it's cheaper but because my girls actively play the sport and understand what is going on. For me though it's an eye opener in the difference between the English Premier League and MLS as far as quality of play and player, if MLS is your only exposure to Soccer then I could see why you would need to like the sport in general to even want to watch the game. Most of my friends are more fans of Euro club teams than MLS team and with NBC and other networks new coverage of these leagues, not to mention Champs League, the amount of American soccer fans is steadily growing.

MLS is improving and their attendance figures prove that. The teams in the Northwest, Sporting KC and the Galaxy all do very well with the rest of the teams somewhere below that.
 
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Jx3_sl said:
The more I watch soccer the more I like it. It helps I have a couple of friends who are huge soccer fans and they explain things at times. I think a lot of why the U.S. doesn't care for soccer is the the fact it's not promoted much. If it was pushed like football and basketball I think people wold care more about it.
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It was hard to watch good soccer during the year until recently, all the games were either stashed on Fox Soccer channel or GolTV. Now NBC has the Premier League and they really went all out this year - good production values and the big games were playing on Saturday/Sunday mornings on their main station.

It's too bad BeIN Sport got control of La Liga and Serie A, which isn't available to everyone or it's buried deep in a Sports+ Cable package.
 
Brando

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Or GolTV with the Bundesliga which for my provider isn't even available at all. If you like watching the World Cup pick a Premier League team and start following them on NBC when the season starts, it's great and the fans are crazy with their chants and shit.
 
Vandyn

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For a sport where seemingly not a whole lot seems to happen, I sure wish the other major sports had announcers that were into it as much as Univision calling soccer games, no matter who's playing. They make kicking the ball in the midfield sound like the most exciting thing ever.
 
Brando

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Supporters play a big part in the atmosphere as well, LFC players went to a Red Sox game 2 years ago and didn't understand why the team was playing music on their own. That doesn't happen in Europe as the clubs fans sing and chant throughout the whole game, helps that their drunk as shit while doing so but hey whatever...

Some pics:

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dortmund-fans.jpg

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Szlia

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BrutulTM_sl said:
[...]and the end of the game is usually a let down because it kind of coasts to a stop instead of the buzzer being the climax of the game.
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I disagree with that statement. It's very rare that the ending of a basketball match is even mildly dramatic, because the gap is often just too big, so players go through the motions for the last few possessions or big but enough to try and do something, so it becomes a boring game of intentional faults, free throws and time-outs that pays 1 out of 20 times. The matches were it's down to the wire and both team have a real shot are the minority.

In soccer, scores are so low, goals can be scored so fast and the final whistle coming at an uncertain time all conspire for most matches to have a tense finish even if in most cases that last minute goal does not happen.

Anyway, for me the strength of soccer is that it is a cruel and unfair sport where the best and righteous does not always win in the end. Tragedy always looms over soccer matches. In a game of soccer both David and Goliath can win and so are both Caesar or Brutus.
 
Sutekh

Sutekh

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Tea_sl said:
I'm kind of the opinion that it's not the lack of scoring, but the lack of action all around. Soccer is just kind of boring. This of course sounds absurd coming from a gridiron fan, but that's another thing. People say that shit is happening all the time in soccer, but not much of it. Good teams control the ball and try to orchestrate an attack. Fine.

So much is shit is going on in a football game though. People look at it and they say most of the game is just people standing around, but most of that standing around is where the interesting stuff actually happens, so much shit is happening mentally and tactically from snap to snap. Soccer just isn't that tactically deep.
Click to expand...
The biggest problem with both of these arguments (Soccer is boring because all they do is kick the ball around, Football is boring because all they do is stand around) is that they're perpetuated by people who don't actually understand the sports in general. If you're not a soccer fan you don't notice the strategy going into the plays, passes, etc. Ditto for Football, you don't realize what's actually happening in between snaps or what's happening when a play is being ran. Therefore it looks boring to the uneducated spectator.

Except for Baseball, that shit is just fucking boring.
Szlia_sl said:
Anyway, for me the strength of soccer is that it is a cruel and unfair sport where the best and righteous does not always win in the end. Tragedy always looms over soccer matches. In a game of soccer both David and Goliath can win and so are both Caesar or Brutus.
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This is also a very large aspect in American football, that's where the term "Any given sunday" originates from. On any given sunday any team can win regardless of circumstances.
 
Foggy

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Watching high level soccer is fun. All other soccer is boring drivel. And the MLB is even worse.
 
lurkingdirk

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Sutekh_sl said:
The biggest problem with both of these arguments (Soccer is boring because all they do is kick the ball around, Football is boring because all they do is stand around) is that they're perpetuated by people who don't actually understand the sports in general.
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This is exactly right. Watching any sport with someone who really knows the rules, sees the "hidden" strategy that's being played out, and so forth makes the sport more exciting. I hate basketball, but in March I watched a bunch with a close friend, who gave me a blow by blow as we watched, pointing out the things I didn't see because I don't understand how it all works. It was thoroughly entertaining to watch. But, I went to watch a game by myself later, and I still don't know enough about it, and I found it boring.

It's all about understanding what you're watching, and if you're going to make a blanket statement like "soccer is boring," you're showing your ignorance and your lack of interest in changing how ignorant you are. People have different tastes for what they find entertaining, of course, but soccer, baseball, or whatever has a hundred things happening at any given moment if you understand what you're watching. It's not boring. You've just not invested yourself. Which is fine, but don't be a douche canoe and categorically say a sport is boring.
 
Himeo

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This has me interested in MLS. I've lived a few blocks from Rio Tinto stadium for a couple years now and never bothered checking out the games.

I might pick up a subscription to MLS live.
 
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