Why doesn't MLS align their schedule with Europe?

Heard of snow?

While MLS does compete with football at the end of its season, the majority of the season is played during the summer, thus only pitting its clubs against baseball for attendance. A larger than normal share of MLS's profit still comes from attendance, rather than TV contracts, unlike NFL, NBA etc.

Take Sporting Kansas City for example. Would SKC rather compete against the Chiefs or the Royals for an average KC sports fans' weekend money? It's far easier to sway people away from one of 81 home baseball games, than one of 8 home NFL games. Why sacrifice half of your gate receipts for a more European schedule?

I do think MLS stupidly schedules MLS Cup on the weekend rather than in the middle of the week when there's less competition for sports viewing.

There's more in this argument, but that's the basic idea.

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While MLS does compete with football at the end of its season, the majority of the season is played during the summer, thus only pitting its clubs against baseball for attendance. A larger than normal share of MLS's profit still comes from attendance, rather than TV contracts, unlike NFL, NBA etc.

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Truuuuuuuuuuuuuuue...

I think the way the schedule is right now is actually better than Europe's. Like someone else said, I'd hate to see Vancouver playing in January at home.

So they can enjoy their yachts.

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I think the way the schedule is right now is actually better than Europe's. Like someone else said, I'd hate to see Vancouver playing in January at home.

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I would like the schedule more if it weren't competing with football in the latter half of the season. Good points about the weather, as well as the money coming from attendance rather than TV... I guess I'm just thinking more along the lines of GROWING the sport rather than what is most profitable at this time.

As far as attendance goes, if schedule is aligned with Europe, I think it would be fine. Those clubs that consistently turn out high attendance numbers are at the point now that people are gonna go to the games regardless. I mean, you're still competing with football for three months the way it is now, and you would still only compete with football for three to four months if aligned with Europe. Except that with the latter case, the portion of the season competing with football would be the first half of the season instead of the second half when playoff races are heating up, playoffs, etc. It seems people would be more inclined to watch a more meaningful regular season game that has playoff implications if there's only NBA or baseball in season. I think it would actually INCREASE attendance in those cities that have football to compete with.

All I know is this. It CANNOT be good for the growth of the sport in this country when a casual sports fan is flipping through the channels and sees an MLS playoff game in Chicago that has 10,000 people scattered throughout the stadium. Even as a soccer fan, I see this and the first thing I think is "Bush League"

Yeah, one Chicago play-in playoff game was poorly attended. That's more on the crappy front office in Chicago that doesn't do well to draw attendance most of the season. The same scenario would play out in other MLS black holes like Dallas, Chivas USA, and Columbus. Almost every other playoff game this year was a sellout.

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On the other hand, competing with football from August to late January/early February would be tough.

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That's true, I guess it is more than just 3 or 4 months. I guess it just seems to me like it would be better to attract new fans to the MLS if they're watching late season and playoff games instead of early season games (assuming that they would watch football over the MLS game). The games they would be watching would be more exciting and hence more attractive to new viewers. Late season/playoff games just have such a different feel to them, a different level of competition that you don't really see in the early part of the season, kinda like NBA

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Those clubs that consistently turn out high attendance numbers are at the point now that people are gonna go to the games regardless.

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That is quite the assumption. Many people, not in the Pacific NW, will opt for their local NFL or college football team over their adopted MLS club when selecting a game to attend in the fall.

I highly doubt that a Houstonian will opt to buy tickets for the Dynamo over the Texans.

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they play in a dome

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notsureifserious.jpg

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BC Place should be considered an ‘open-air’ stadium whether the roof is open or closed, and guests are encouraged to dress accordingly, based on the temperature outdoors.

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