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Fear and Loathing (USMNT 2018)


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"2nd tier" leagues have never worked in the US, commercially anyway.  The NBA is and has tried, with lackluster results. Minor league baseball works - but due to a couple of major reasons. It's the PLAYERS being "promoted/relegated" not the team, and they are funded by their major league parent club like the EPL U-23's. They would not self-sustain on their own. And the leagues are geographic within a few hours bus ride apart. Not traveling 1500-2500 miles to play like the major sports do. The USFL and XFL failed for lots of reason, including owners outspending revenue.  I just cannot see relegation as we know it working with MLS for a very long time.  And again, geography doesn't help.

 I get why MLS operates the way it does - to ensure the health and solvency of the league. Not ideal, but effective. The key will be that when and if the league can fully stand on it's own, does MLS relinquish some control.  At a time when the NFL, NBA and MLB are stagnant or in declining ratings wise, MLS is increasing - and being very careful not to fuck it up. Ends/means and such. Understand Mark, I don't disagree with any of your points however.

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  • 2 months later...

Yep he’s new boss same as the old boss.  I don’t think he’s ever played soccer he’s a lawyer or something, only in America.  

 

Tried to sign my son up (he’s 4) and it’s 50 bucks  plus a late fee (just found out about the league) plus we gotta buy the kit and cleats.  The kid is 4.  I got to invest around 150 to watch him and his buds play?  At this age I wouldn’t even call it that, it’s a blob of kids that moves with the ball all kicking each other.

 

also it’s organized by some kids dad, there’s no structure to the youth system until maybe middle school when kids can join “travel” teams where they hit the road to play other teams that are staffed with better players.  

 

We needed  new leader to bring fresh ideas.

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“His biggest and hardest challenge lies ahead,” Lalas says. “I think he will need to be seen as bringing true change to how USSF deals with things like pay to play, player registration, youth development, pro league sanctioning standards. SUM/MLS relationship and governance structure. As Janet Jackson said, ‘What have you done for me lately?’”

As much as I can't stand Lalas, he is spot on right here. Pay-to-play is huge hurdle in youth soccer here, and as kids get older it only becomes more expensive which a lot of parents can't afford. 

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2 hours ago, markjazzbassist said:

Yep he’s new boss same as the old boss.  I don’t think he’s ever played soccer he’s a lawyer or something, only in America.  

 

Tried to sign my son up (he’s 4) and it’s 50 bucks  plus a late fee (just found out about the league) plus we gotta buy the kit and cleats.  The kid is 4.  I got to invest around 150 to watch him and his buds play?  At this age I wouldn’t even call it that, it’s a blob of kids that moves with the ball all kicking each other.

 

also it’s organized by some kids dad, there’s no structure to the youth system until maybe middle school when kids can join “travel” teams where they hit the road to play other teams that are staffed with better players.  

 

We needed  new leader to bring fresh ideas.

I think the MLS needs a big change, you need a proper football league, not a layout similar to NFL, why would a American football fan watch a sport with the same league layout when they could just watch their own sport?

Introduce a proper 20 team league, have a secondary league which you can be relegated to and promoted from, create a better competition. That will bring audiences in, which in turn will create a better love for the sport.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the way I understand the MLS is that its split into western and eastern divisions, the top teams go on to verse each other in knockout games and the winner wins the MLS cup? If so this is what needs binning off. Save stuff like that for a league cup competition.

Do they still do drafts? Bin that off. Save that for other American sports. Bring in what the rest of the world do with football, have leagues, have something to aim for instead of just finishing first. The top 4 teams qualify for the north American champions league, bottom 3 get relegated.

Just my thoughts on it anyway, its probably been mentioned before but if the MLS insist on doing it differently to everyone else then I can only see that as a problem.

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2 minutes ago, aaron said:

I think the MLS needs a big change, you need a proper football league, not a layout similar to NFL, why would a American football fan watch a sport with the same league layout when they could just watch their own sport?

Introduce a proper 20 team league, have a secondary league which you can be relegated to and promoted from, create a better competition. That will bring audiences in, which in turn will create a better love for the sport.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the way I understand the MLS is that its split into western and eastern divisions, the top teams go on to verse each other in knockout games and the winner wins the MLS cup? If so this is what needs binning off. Save stuff like that for a league cup competition.

Do they still do drafts? Bin that off. Save that for other American sports. Bring in what the rest of the world do with football, have leagues, have something to aim for instead of just finishing first. The top 4 teams qualify for the north American champions league, bottom 3 get relegated.

Just my thoughts on it anyway, its probably been mentioned before but if the MLS insist on doing it differently to everyone else then I can only see that as a problem.

i agree, but the owners love the american setup because they can never get relegated and their investment stays profitable.  they like the playoff system, more matches and revenue the greedy bastards.  the draft is stupid agreed.

 

they will never change that stuff, the MLS is making money and that's all they care about (just like other american sports, business first, sport second)

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Just now, markjazzbassist said:

i agree, but the owners love the american setup because they can never get relegated and their investment stays profitable.  they like the playoff system, more matches and revenue the greedy bastards.  the draft is stupid agreed.

 

they will never change that stuff, the MLS is making money and that's all they care about (just like other american sports, business first, sport second)

Shame that, it is usually the butt of jokes in footballing terms but the MLS is decent, I can only seeing it getting better and better if they would do a proper league system.

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7 minutes ago, aaron said:

Shame that, it is usually the butt of jokes in footballing terms but the MLS is decent, I can only seeing it getting better and better if they would do a proper league system.

agreed, sadly greed is prominent in US sports whereas at least in europe it's held at bay (ie the super league keeps getting turned down)

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Relegation/Promotion is great and it works in Europe, but that model wouldn't work in the USA... yet. The league is set-up in a way to where it can't fold like it did before.

It's the same way with the salary cap. MLS teams don't get a huge injection of TV money like PL clubs do. If the MLS didn't have a salary cap then the richer teams would just keep on getting better with no limits on spending. At least in the PL the less financially fortunate teams have TV money to fall back on. 

The real problem for the MLS (and American players in general) is a lack of a strong grassroots footballing culture, including a poor youth set-up that costs a ton of money if you really won't your child to progess. The better your kid then the more you have to pay it seems. It should be the other way around! 

As far as the draft goes... I'm not really sure what you would do for those players coming out of college. It's obviously not the same as in Europe because teams here don't generally have a youth academy and players are coming from all over the USA... it's not as localized like it is across the pond. You could allow them to sign for any team, but then again the teams with the most money are going to get the best players year in, year out. 

I just don't think it's as easy as saying "Okay, that works over there. Let's do the exact same thing then." The blueprints for one league aren't necessarily applicable for another league. 

There does need to be a lot of change though, and I believe it will come over time. The quality of players keep getting better and better and financial restrictions are getting looser as well. My main gripe at them moment is how much control that MLS, the entity, has on transfers. If a player gets an offer from somewhere else then it has to be negotiated with the team AND MLS. That really bothers me since it raises the price on young American players and keeps them from moving abroad. If Pulisic was in MLS instead of the Bundesliga he'd probably be priced out of a move. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
3 hours ago, Ghoat said:

2-0 loss to Brazil, including an utterly blown penalty call. Attacked Robinson all night, and Douglas Costa abused him a time or two, but he hung in there and had a good game all in all. Good learning experience.

Yeah that penalty was an abomination. In a friendly, too. You have to say something is wrong in the culture of Brazilian football for them to dive and act so much in even a trivial international friendly.

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8 minutes ago, nyblue23 said:

Yeah that penalty was an abomination. In a friendly, too. You have to say something is wrong in the culture of Brazilian football for them to dive and act so much in even a trivial international friendly.

Yeah, I agree but if it "works" why stop? But God I hate theatrical football with a passion.

Honestly, I think in a VAR situation, that would have been overturned and a yellow issues for simulation. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

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