As much as it pains me to admit, the main question to be asked about the MLS & Soccer in America remains: "If a goal is scored in the sports wilderness, does it make a sound?" Last Sunday's MLS Cup is a case in point. It was a great game between two perennial MLS powers in the New England Revolution & the Houston Dynamo. It was a rematch of last year's championship game. There was Placido Domingo singing the national anthem. There was a military jet flyover. It was even televised live on ABC.
Yet the most remarkable feature of the game was the half empty RFK Stadium where MLS Cup 2007 was held. Casual observers note that perhaps the league front office was planning for an LA Galaxy presence in that game with a certain David Beckham selling out the 57,000 seats. Don't worry, the decision for where next year's MLS Cup has already been made. And, yes, it's going to be held in a more modest facility: the Home Depot Center - a 27,000 seat capacity Soccer Specific Stadium that is home to two MLS teams: David Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy & Preki's Chivas USA.
Beckham's arrival on these shores has caused dissent in both Europe & America. "Beckham's washed up. Now that he's playing in America, he's not good enough for Europe." And, "Who's the pretty boy on the bench? What's he trying to do anyway? We don't watch soccer!" Seems as if to believe that Beckham in America matters at all you have to either be LA Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas or believe in the Tooth Fairy.
But before the Soccer Muggles start again with the put-downs & the insults about The Beautiful Game, let's recap what ended up being a landmark year for the game in this country. 2007 has been the most important year in Major League Soccer history since its inception in 1996.
- The signing & arrival of David Beckham, arguably one of the most recognized faces on the planet, brought unprecedented attention and fanfare in a non-World Cup-year. The media elite have been slagging off the arrival of Beckham because of the injuries & lack of game time. But they're missing the ball. In one fell swoop, the league acquired a media presence it never before had. This goes beyond raising the level of play. It is raising the profile of the league in ways that marketers will no longer ignore.
The Beckham factor has helped boost the MLS's bottom line in virtually every area, even though ankle and knee injuries restricted the former England skipper to just five appearances after he joined Los Angeles in July. Crowd averages (16,770) were the highest since the inaugural season. Television ratings were up 25 per cent. Shirt sales were up 800 per cent, largely on the back of Galaxy's [Beckham's] No.23. Even the MLS website's traffic jumped 80 per cent.
- Soccer Specific Stadiums in Colorado, Toronto & Los Angeles debuted to much acclaim. And this Lamar Hunt-proposed MLS "SSS" initiative continues with the Real Salt Lake stadium to open next year and proposals underway in D.C., K.C., San Jose, New England, Philadelphia & St. Louis. Houston has become MLS "Title Town". So it would be hard to believe that they wouldn't get their act together for a downtown "SSS" stadium.
- Club Tournaments: SuperLiga 2007 launched an important international initiative for the MLS & U.S. Soccer. Thanks to David Beckham's inclusion in the festivities, the SuperLiga tournament was a terrific success. Beckham scored his first Galaxy goal during the semifinal match against DC United and Home Depot Center went wild on national television. More importantly, MLS clubs & US players will have regular exposure to Mexican league teams. Congratulations go to Pachuca for winning the $1,000,000 final.
- Big Games: Aside from the fun SuperLiga games, LA Galaxy at Giants Stadium vs. the New York Red Bulls will be regarded as a watershed moment for soccer in this country. 66,ooo fans witnessed this regular season game at Giants Stadium. I regret not having subscribed to the ten year old Fox Soccer Channel that night. I did subscribe the following week though. That gave me the chance to see Germany trounce England at Wembley Stadium - in a part of the world where an international friendly brings together their two countries' leaders. It also brought the Fox Football Fone-In into our home on Tuesday nights. On Bastille Day, Juan Toja & FC Dallas came back from 3 goals down in DC to tie Juan Moreno, Emilio & the rest of the 2007 Supporters' Shield winners D.C. United. In the last game of the Western Conference Semifinals, FC Dallas lost to the mighty Houston Dynamo in a come from behind win in front of 30,000 rabid Heat Mizers in Houston. The Hoops can soothe their defeat somewhat knowing that they lost to the 2007 MLS Cup winners.
- Ticket Sales in Toronto & Announcement of new franchises: San José Earthquakes & Seattle. Toronto FC is an MLS ticket-selling phenomenon. The Seattle franchise will be a huge hit in a town that is about to lose its first professional franchise in the Seattle Supersonics. Seattle's MLS team will play in one of the best stadiums in the country: Qwest Field. Given that they've already sold 5,000 season ticket packages and that they won't start until 2009, I think it's a safe bet that they'll be strongly embraced by the Seattle crowds. OK Supersonics? Please.
Major League Soccer: Embrace the Social Web! Twellman's spectacular playoff bicycle kick was nowhere to be found on YouTube after the Eastern Conference Finals. (Two weeks later I was able to find one) The MLS should encourage this kind of interaction. The MLS website looks like crap on Firefox. Soccer fans are tech savvy. Get with it.
FC Dallas: Play the SuperLiga Mexican team games at the Cotton Bowl. You're guaranteed a stadium full of Pachuca or Chivas fans. That looks great on TV. As much as I enjoy the games at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, I sure miss the Dallas Burn games at the Cotton Bowl. The Toronto FC games at BMO Field look great on TV for a couple of reasons: they're packed full of young, urban, rabid fans with lots of disposable income. And they're buying lots of Molson Goldens and Toronto FC scarves. Also, the beautiful Toronto skyline looks great on TV. It gives that event a much more momentous feel than a game played out closer to the Oklahoma border than to downtown Dallas.
As Dwayne De Rosario said on Tuesday night's Fox Football Fone-In in regards to a potential SSS in Houston: "If you want to compete with the major sports in America, Football, Basketball & Baseball, you have to compete wherever they're at. And that's downtown. That's the prime location." So, while I know we have a terrific soccer facility up in Frisco, I daydream about a day when pro soccer returns to downtown Dallas...perhaps off the banks of the Trinity, maybe someday in a resurgent Cotton Bowl. What? A guy's gotta dream.
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