Professional soccer fans are finally starting to show their support for American teams. In a week where we almost saw a work stoppage, that would have surely killed the league for a season, if not longer, Major League Soccer came to labor agreements and kicked off the 2010 campaign.
The opening match saw the expansion Union from Philadelphia travel to the Pacific Northwest to take on last year's newcomers, Seattle Sounders F.C. I tuned into this game during some of the downtime and commercials in the basketball games. I must say, I have never seen a stadium that electric for a professional soccer game in the United States. The crowd, even in a constant downpour of rain, was roaring with chants of "SEATTLE!...SOUNDERS!," singing team songs, and even chanting "FREDDIE!...LJUNGBERG!" for their beloved Swedish star. Seattle beat Philadelphia 2-0, and the crowd cheered like they would after a touchdown in the NFL.
Seattle seems to have a great fan-base already, after just one year in MLS, which bodes well for forthcoming franchises in the Pacific Northwest. This year also marks the opening of a new soccer-exclusive stadium in New Jersey, Red Bull Arena. It officially opens for the season on Saturday when the New York Red Bulls take on the Chicago Fire. The place will be jumping with excitement, especially if last Saturday's sold-out exhibition match with Santos was any indication.
As the MLS continues to add teams in big markets and in turn, markets itself better, we're starting to see a major growth in the sport in America. As I reviewed in an earlier post, both Portland and Vancouver will most likely be granted expansion into the league in 2011. In a sport that many said would never find its place in the States, it is slowly but surely snowballing into a major professional sport.
The only real problem I have with MLS (as a player of soccer and a fan of the soccer) is that the league is very very western USA heavy. There are a handful of Eastern teams and they are all holed up in the major cities aside from the "south-east" U.S. There are teams in Florida, New York, Chicago, D.C., but between DC and Florida, and span that out past the Mississippi River there are no teams. It's hard to follow a sport (A.) That's never shown for US teams (as a huge hockey fan I'll say if its not football or baseball or Nascar no one really cares. (B.) If you have no one to root for it makes it hard as well. All of my favorite sports teams are spread out across the United States, but I can still visit Charlotte, Raleigh, or Atlanta for basically all of the teams I'd want to watch. But for soccer D.C. is the closest place, and It's hard to make a 6-hour drive into a "day-trip".
ReplyDeleteThough I am very pleased with the progression of the sport in the United States, I just feel that it's very difficult to become interested in a sport that's only marketed in very tight demographics. The major point I'd say proves that is how many people watched the Olympics of USA versus Canada, which is probably the biggest sporting event of the year (thus far) with the exception of the Super Bowl which nothing beats, ever.