Zososoxfan said:I really enjoy this broad-level type of discussion, and both of your contributions are terrific. Perhaps we can swing this into a new thread? A few comments:
1. As an American-Argentine, I have to say that the split seasons is also hokey to me. It completely devalues each championship to me. It also underscored to me just how bad the league (and really the country's) health were doing. Once it switched systems, it was clear to me that Argentines in power felt that their ceiling was a feeder system for the Euro clubs and nothing more.
I'm not sure how I feel about the Apertura/Clausura season, but out of curiosity why do you view it as a sign that Argentina is resigned to being a feeder league? (Note: pretty much every league in the world is a feeder league to some extent. And within leagues, there are essentially feeder teams.) An acknowledgement of the wave of transfers every six months?
Zososoxfan said:2. TB, I appreciate your understanding about the TV and attendance nuances of MLS, but how can you not see the problem with not televising the most important games? I think the league needs to look at that as a necessary cost. If you want to black out or regionalize (or some other term I'm not familiar with) some regular season games, go ahead. But, if you're going to utlizie a playoff format, you HAVE to televise all of the games.
FWIW, the KC-Revs game was one of the few games in the entire playoffs that wasn't on national TV. To make matters worse, CSNNE had the Celtics conflict, but in the 2013 playoffs that game was very much the exception and not the rule.
I just don't see the televised (or not) status of one early-round playoff game as having an appreciable effect on TV ratings down the road. A lot of US soccer fans like to blame the TV stations, ESPN, etc for US soccer's middling popularity, but in my view ESPN's historical treatment of soccer has been the symptom of MLS's lack of popularity, not the cause.
That being said, I feel as though in the last year we've really turned a corner in terms of excitement/interest/coverage in the USMNT. Every qualifier seems to break new ratings records and stadium atmospheres are better than I can ever remember. My hope for MLS is that the process of general soccer --> USMNT --> MLS trickle-down fandom slowly continues.
3. I agree that the CCL is not an enticing enough carrot, but Libertadores certainly would. Cost would be an issue, but I think with the economy in the US (even in its current weakened state) significantly bigger than any south American country (especially outside of Brazil), this isn't an impossible obstacle.
For Libertadores, cost isn't the issue -- it's travel. England is slightly smaller than Louisiana. European teams like to bitch when they have to travel to Romania, a short hop by American standards. MLS teams are traveling a ton just for league play and traveling all the way to places like Montevideo and Sao Paulo would be a serious drain. I would like more involvement with South American NTs and clubs, but I'm just not sure how realistic this is at this time. I view it as a long-term goal, but MLS needs more depth and more success in the CCL first.
CONMEBOL has been willing to invite Mexican clubs, so maybe one day MLS will get a shot. But I don't think this happens soon.
4. What do you mean by this: "Plus, although the standard of play would be higher, South American clubs don't resonate with most US soccer fans.)?" Mexican soccer fans are passionate, but after living in Florida for 4 years, I can tell you that Peruvians, Colombians, Uruguayans, and Chileans, in addition to the obvious Argentines and Brazilians, are completely nuts about their teams. I also think that generally teams from those countries are better supported in the US than from smaller central American countries, but I have no idea how to look that up.
What I mean is that outside of specific ethnic enclaves, people in the US have never heard of Botafogo or Peñarol or América de Cali. Most soccer fans know all the big European clubs and many of the smaller ones as well. They don't know South American clubs, they don't see them on TV, they don't play with them on FIFA, etc.
So if the Philadelphia Union played Universidad Catolica or LDU Quito, it just wouldn't generate the buzz that you would get if MLS teams could somehow play meaningful games against Schalke or Fiorentina.