tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538424.post6903798669691180935..comments2024-02-29T23:31:03.341-05:00Comments on Out Of Left Field: Vancouver to MLS!sagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08757652892056684490noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538424.post-20322855286600983442009-03-18T02:02:00.000-04:002009-03-18T02:02:00.000-04:00This is where Brunt nails it where others miss the...This is where Brunt nails it where others miss the point.<BR/><BR/>"And the truth is, the MLS didn't require mass conversions to survive. Its growth strategy (unlike, say, the NHL's) is based on a tight, realistic player salary structure, and in taking the game to people who already like it, who understand it, who have become literate in the sport through television exposure to European leagues and World Cups.<BR/><BR/>"Those fans understand what the league is and what it isn't, understand that the very best players will move on to greener pastures (as they do from any league in the world other than the top levels in England, Spain and Italy), and that international stars will pass through mostly on the way down.<BR/><BR/>"What they want is a local rooting interest (not unlike cheering for a second- or third-division hometown club in England or Scotland or on the continent, while also following Man U or Juventus or Celtic), and the experience of seeing the sport live, in appropriate surroundings, in the company of others who share their passion.<BR/><BR/>That's enough – enough, if you do it properly, to put 15,000 or 20,000 fans into the right stadium, to sell plenty of beer and merchandise, to justify the cost of entry and perhaps to become a nice little equity play for owners if that $40-million franchise value is even close to real. There's every reason to believe that, if Vancouver is indeed confirmed for 2011, the formula will work there, as well."<BR/><BR/>He is one of the few journos of his vintage who gets it with MMA, and he gets it with MLS while the rest<BR/><BR/>That is the big misunderstanding (fear), that all these people have to be converted to soccer people to soccer fans ... not necessarily.sagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08757652892056684490noreply@blogger.com