Yes. I think soccer is plenty popular in the US. The key difference though, MLS and NHL is that with the NHL, it’s the premier league of the world when it comes to hockey. The best hockey players and the most money are in the NHL. With the MLS, it’s more like a AA team equivalent (or League Two equivalent of the English league, maybe not even that). All the money and best players are in Europe. You only have to look at the USMNT not fielding a single starter from the MLS in our last game (rightfully so as MLS doesn’t have the talent) in the WC as a sign of quality. Sure, there are massive pay packages gave out to guys like Beckham to play, but that’s just marketing gimmicks. All the soccer fans know this, so I’d be interesting to see if MLS ever draws enough to justify the cost of most these teams (a few teams in large cities like LA and Miami being the exception).
I wonder if Major League Cricket also faces the same issue, with all the best players and money being in India.
Also expansion fees are incredibly expensive in MLS, Plus building a stadium which is $500-$700 Million the Las Vegas bidder just brought a Bournemouth FC because there more value, there’s already a field. So their bid is dead. Maybe Bill Foley is out but Wes Edens isn’t out.
The problem with MLS is it’s kind of a legal Ponzi scheme. Almost all teams lose money, a lot of money, save for a few. And those that do turn a profit turn a tiny profit (before Covid, Atlanta was the highest at only $7M in operating profit).
But the valuations keep going up, driven mostly by the money from franchise fees going up and the promise of how MLS will be a premium league on par with the Premier League or La Liga by the mid-future. The reality is far from that of course.
While the demographics for soccer interest keep moving in the right direction for sure, the MLS hasn’t shown any execution capabilities to actually capture that trend. To be honest, that demographic has been trending in the right direction for decades. The benefit in interest and viewership has been mostly captured by the premier and European leagues.
I don’t know how it’s not just a house of cards. At some point, even billionaires won’t be ok spending the massive franchise fees to lose money year after year. Then what happens. Maybe this 2023 TV deal will in the short term help some.
It’s Apple, no Univision which is the number #1 Spanish language network in the country, with local O&O WUVC channel 40. No ABC/ESPN as for Hispanic Fox Deportes isn’t available to everyone.
European soccer has several “quality” leagues that are capable of attracting top players beyond just EPL. La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, etc. Its not just “All the best players go to EPL”.
I do not think it unreasonable that MLS could some day (soon) become competitive with those European leagues. Attracting talent esp from Sout America to the US is probably not that difficult of a prospect.
If I’m reading this right, looks like Morrisville is going to be overlooked as a venue for the 2024 Cricket World Cup. USA and the Caribbean (‘West Indies’) are co-hosting and this article highlights the US venues that have been picked.
The 2024 World Cup will be co-hosted by the USA and West Indies. It is expected to take place in June 2024, with 55 matches taking place through the whole tournament.
According to reports, around one-third of matches will take place in the United States, with the rest held in West Indies.
Central Broward Regional Park Stadium in Florida, Moosa Stadium in Texas, the BPL Cricket Stadium in Illinois, Woodley Cricket Fields in California and the Indianapolis World Sports Park are expected to be the venues in the USA, while 13 cricket stadiums will share the matches in the West
Indies.
I bet bringing back the Raleigh IceCaps would be a huge success that would compliment the Canes. Just need a permanent home but unlike NHL the arena complex doesn’t need to be big or take up a lot of property. Probably a good path to get sports in downtown too if there’s a will for that.
Not sure if everyone has seen this yet but two days after the Canes Stadium game at Carter-Finley, there’ll be another outdoor game there too. NC State club ice hockey, known as the Icepack, are going to play UNC.
Not sure when the tickets are available but sounds like it might be free. This is from the Raleigh Magazine website. They have an asterisk advising to stay tuned to them for some updates.
