I root for Red Bulls becuase I am from New Jersey. I would never change my stance because of what players they bring in or any other managerial circumstances.

Crazy thing is, I never played much soccer until now (24 yrs old). I played American Football my whole life, even in college. But the passion necessary to be a soccer fan is incredible and I love that. That is what draws me to this game. (to be fair, I must mention that my whole family is soccer players, father even played with the NY Cosmos in the late 70’s).

ANyway, I think an interesting thing for the MLS to do would be to have a two tier league with the USL. Have a relegation and promotion system. Maybe even a 3tier league with the MLS, USL1, and USL 2

Go Red Bulls!
Go US National team!!

Mexicans are among the most jingoistic of fans- most of them come to see a match, not because they are futbol fans but because it reminds them of home. If you don’t have a player that instills those memories, you might as well be presenting a croquet match. At no time was this more evident for me than the Chivas/Fire sellout (there twice as many yellow jerseys in the crowd as there were colors that were actually on the field, and they were cheering for 1 out of the 22 guys on the field.)

Unfortunately, Chivas dies by the same sword by which it attempts to live- for every fan you attract with the Chivas brand, you repel nine others, who are fans of another Mexican team (not to mention the Chivas d.G. fans who reject the American subsidiary.)

Everybody talks about what MLS needs to succeed, when the solution is obvious. It needs selfless fans who are willing to come and see a game and participate, regardless of who’s playing, how much money is running around on the field, or what country they’re from. Those who stay away, claiming “MLS sucks”, are actually the ones doing the sucking.

Those of us who know this game, who grew up playing this game, know that it’s spectacular plays and events that make this game interesting (not scorelines or sky-high salaries.) I used to make it my goal that I’d see just one of those events- something I couldn’t do or a play I’d never seen before, when I’d come to an MLS game. And I would. Now I see at least 4 or 5 of those events, if not 10-20! I still see bad passes and balls kicked in the stands, but since I’ve started looking for those in games in Europe, I notice how many I’ve overlooked just because it’s “European Football”. A player I love, van Nistelroij, missed a penalty today by a mile (living up to his Dutch heritage), but would I or any other fan in their right mind skip a chance to see a CL match because of it? No, because we cut them more slack. I grew up without a league, so I’ll jump at any opportunity that exists to support the one that I have now.

The only thing I would love to see is more effort being made to acknowledge the fans who have been loyal to this effort. The fact that we had to participate in the same pool of fans for US WC tickets with the new-comers and scalpers is a bit annoying. We’re the reason the Nats are even competing in that tournament, it’s a program that wouldn’t be nearly as competitive with out the development entity that is MLS.

US soccer fans have to appreciate that the MLS is developing American soccer players. Having a league that tries to achieve parity is good for developing players. If more soccer fans go see the games, the league would have more money, and could bring in better foreign players to improve the competition for the American players. This will enable the US to be more competitive in the World Cup, which is the big payoff for American soccer fans and American TV.

That said, I think they also need to pay American players at comparable levels. There is a glut of great foreign players, so they don’t need to spend a fortune on Prema Donna’s. Although if you get the right Prema Donna they can sell a lot of Jersey’s and make the league money.

Attendance could be improved if the American Sports media gave the league more air time. The league is not well covered in sports news. The media needs to understand that the big pay off in soccer will be the World Cup and not MLS, but that you need MLS to get that big pay off. I predict that if the US ever gets to the finals of the World Cup, the TV ratings for that game will be the highest for any sporting event in US history. Now that is a big pay off!!!

That’s not to say that the US doesn’t have potential and I’ll be the first in line to buy season tickets whenever there’s a team worth supporting. I love the fact that Chivas USA fans are so nuts and, in fact, Chicago Fire fans are quite nuts too, but I won’t pay to see the Red Bulls play unless it’s against Barcelona (which I did go see) or another top club.”

Isaiah that is exactly one of the major problems. too many soccer/football fans in the United States “waiting” for the right time to show their support for the MLS. everyone can wait forever and the MLS will never, ever be on par with the top leagues in the world. but if we actually support the league that plays in out backyard instead of the one’s across the pond then we will definetly start seeing improvement.

before i end this i would like to ask each and every MLS naysayer to point out for me in the history of football or even sports in general where a league has started out as the very best in the world after the sport was founded?

no league or sport gets “better” without the support of it’s fans.

The decrease in England had the simple reason that tickets cost way too much.

And yes, in February it has minus degrees most of the time, so I guess my nuts are bigger than yours. But don’t worry. It becomes warmer by March.

I don’t know what it’s like in Germany in February or March, so I can’t say if it’s better or worse than the Boston area and if the Germans just have bigger nuts than I.

1) allow each team to operate independently ie make their own player decisions with the view toward winning and drawing crowds – and making back investments.

2) get on the right schedule. Play the German schedule of early August to May with a break in the winter. Plus, move to one table. East and West is ridiculous at this point.

3) get in some kind of major tournaments. heck try and get teams in canada and mexico to play if nothing else, but my eye is firmly on the copa libertadores.

I say all we need to think about is the red bull new york team. Here we have a team in very much a soccer friendly part of the country (look at all the europeans and latinos in nyc and also the grass roots in NJ) that just happens to be the biggest market in the country and the team has stunk since day one. come on. If market forces could take hold new york could and would have a competitive franchise and you would see a bunch more people watching on tv and in the stadium.

Further while prem attendance may not be overwelming, on the big nights when champs league comes to town tickets are VERY hard to come by. Why couldn’t it be so. I saw a packed stadium once to see River Plate play at the meadowlands against rangers for abosolutely nothing. think about if it was a Copa Lib game. Even if MLS wasn’t competiitve at first we could get there.

The carryover effects for the national team are self evident as well. The US is never going to interest Europe but i think that Latin America has enough to gain from being here that the federations could be interested. shoot a sold out giants stadium would just have to interest those clubs which are notoriously short of money (even the good and well supported ones).

Could be wishful thinking but i think the numbers could support my case.