While I think MLS teams are doing a relatively good job in their own local markets, especially with attendance, I think they are missing big opportunities to grow their brands and potentially the leagues TV revenues. TV numbers for MLS on ESPN are not great and the notion of the World Cup tv bounce appears to have been a myth. To grow TV viewership, which is key to financial growth of the sport, teams need to think regionally and should play some games in other surrounding cities.
While this won’t work for all teams, there are certain teams that can definitely expand their reach. The nature of professional sports in the US is that most fans of a team are unable to regularly – if ever – attend their team’s games. Hence, the importance of tv ratings and viewership. Teams like the Redskins aren’t just DC’s team, they are Virginia’s team. The Patriots and Red Sox aren’t just Boston’s teams, they are New England’s as well. The Braves aren’t just Atlanta, they are the south’s team. In other sports, cities and regions surrounding professional teams have coverage of this team on local tv and in the local newspaper. MLS teams tend to get coverage almost exclusively from their direct locale, not from surrounding cities in their region. They need to try to broaden their reach.
MLS teams play a substantial amount of games in the league, US Open Cup, Superliga, Champions League, a few games a year can be played elsewhere. DC United for instance already does this with the US Open Cup playing some games in the Maryland Soccer Plex in Montgomery County. The Boston Breaker of the WPS recently played in Hartford to good effect.
One way to do this is for MLS clubs to play a few games a year in neighboring cities. MLS clubs play a good amount of games in a lot of different competitions from the league itself, US Open Cup, Superliga, and CONCACAF Champions League, if the NFL can spare a home game to play in London, MLS clubs can do the same.
Now in some places this won’t work – attendance will be low, logistics will be too complicated, facilities won’t be suitable or won’t be available. But for some of the lower profile games such as in the US Open Cup, I don’t really see how teams could do much worse in terms of attendance. Furthermore, the novelty aspect of an MLS team playing in a city that likely never gets professional soccer, should prove to be a decent draw and will draw some local media attention as well. For instance, if DC United were to play a game in Richmond or Virginia Beach local press would give that game considerable coverage. Additionally, some potential rivalry games could be played at neutral sights – ala the “World’s largest cocktail party” between Georgia and Florida is played in Jacksonville. One could imagine Columbus and Philadelphia playing in Pittsburgh for instance or Philadelphia and DC playing in Baltimore.
Now doing this would have some drawbacks. In some cases attendance would be pathetic, it would cost clubs money by sacrificing a home game, it could step on the toes of smaller clubs in those markets, and it could annoy overtaxed players. But really the downside in trying to do this is very low.
Here are some teams that would benefit from going regional:
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Filed under: Future of American soccer, MLS | 2 Comments »