Monday, February 18, 2013

City FC: Why the MLS Needs OKC More Than NYC Right Now


Stadium lightsPhoto by Leon Brooks



Before the internet becomes engulfed with talk about the current MLS season, I’d like to take a quick look forward to the ones that will follow. Specifically, the addition of expansion teams within the next few years. Many have heard that the MLS filed for trademarks on the terms “Empire FC” and “City FC” on August 27. When I heard this, I was ecstatic. The more I thought about it, the more I believed that these were meant to be two separate teams: One for New York (which I didn’t really care about) and one for Oklahoma City.



As time has gone by, however, it’s become clear that these are both meant to be used for one single team in New York. This represents a missed opportunity, and possible failure, for a league which has been recently hitting all of its marks in terms of growth and improvement. In terms of growing the sport in the United States and maximizing profit for the league, a team in Oklahoma City would be much more practical and effective.



New York is clearly struggling with one team. They were fourth last year in terms of growth percentage based on attendance with a -7% growth percentage, even though they were third in the East with the MLS’s second biggest star in Thierry Henri. They’ve had trouble filling the stadium, even though it was among the first soccer specific stadiums for the MLS.

New York is an already saturated market, with both the Red Bulls and the Cosmos drawing in fans (the Cosmos who are on their way to having a new soccer specific stadium themselves, and who hope to join the MLS within a few years). And land there is expensive and hard to come by. If the Red Bulls can correct their negative attendance trend, or if the Cosmos prove to have the base of supporters they claim they’ll be able to draw in (their supporters group already has 1,000 members) then maybe a second New York team will be possible. However, as it stands, there are a ton of other markets ripe for picking with ready support and easy money.

There are many such markets in the Southeast and Midwest. Orlando, for example, wish to have their new NASL team make it to the MLS by 2015. But one of the easiest markets with proven potential (not to mention a place I happen to live near for most of the year) is Oklahoma City.

Most would simply dismiss OKC as being squarely in “football country” and therefore not interested in other sports. These people are missing out on a wonderful opportunity for growth and expansion of the league.

Firstly, this would be the MLS’s chance to strike the iron while it’s hot in the middle of the country. The three biggest growth percentages over the last year came from teams in the middle of the country, the Houston Dynamo, Columbus Crew, and the Chicago Fire. The other two teams in the region, FC Dallas and Sporting Kansas City each saw growth of about nine percent as well. Oklahoma has two chapters of the US National Team supporters’ organization The American Outlaws, and both the University of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma State University soccer teams have reported rising attendance numbers over the last several years.

Oklahoma City has proven its ability to get behind a team with the success of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder have drawn in an average crowd of 18,000 fans per game since they came to the city in 2008, and even through a dismal first two years. And this is a sport whose schedule competes directly with the giant that is American football. The MLS season has very minimal conflict with football’s schedule, and those games where it does are part of the playoff push and the MLS Cup Tournament, games which traditionally draw larger crowds.

The potential for gathering large crowds quickly and the availability of cheap, uncontested land makes OKC a great place for an MLS expansion. And there are other such markets throughout the South and Midwest. I’d hate to see the MLS take its first false-step of the past few years by attempting to oversaturate an already straining New York market and failing to recognize the potential elsewhere, so I hope they take the time to think through their options before rushing in to things. And I hope to own some Oklahoma City FC gear by the end of next year.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

2013: Do or Die for Soccer in America


It’s undeniable that soccer in America has made great progress over the last few years. It’s recently moved up to the second most popular sport among 12-24 year olds, outpacing basketball, baseball, and college football. Its top teams boast attendances better than any NBA team. The Seattle Sounders, for example, would rank 6th in the Premier League in average attendance, above Chelsea and just below Liverpool. People are beginning to perk up and watch SportsCenter when there’s a soccer highlight on the screen. A shirt supporting your local MLS club is netting you more and more random high fives from strangers. The sport is growing, and this year may be one of its most important years for soccer in since the arrival of Pele to the New York Cosmos.

It’s an empty summer and we’re on TV

This year there’s no mass competition to distract Americans when they turn on their televisions. There’s no Summer Olympics or election to cover. It’s a wide open schedule, but that doesn’t mean Americans will stop watching TV, they just need something new to watch. The deal to show the MLS on NBC, which started last year, was a big step in allowing mainstream American audiences the opportunity to watch domestic soccer without having to search around the specialty channels. And with the NBC pickup of the Premier League starting this fall can really give American audiences an opportunity to see experience mainstream soccer broadcasting in a way they have never been able to experience before. Good TV ratings will encourage the trend of soccer on American TV, which is a huge step for furthering the sport without having to make the trek out to your local stadium a couple of times a month.

To continue growth of the league post-Beckham

David Beckham is about the closest thing we had in America to a soccer superstar, who was known as a celebrity first and soccer player second. He was the only link between the MLS and many Americans. Galaxy away games would sell out because people wanted to see the one player in the league they know.  Now that Beckham has left, the MLS has to survive on its own soccer merits. Our supporters culture is growing, soccer-specific stadiums are being built, and even our main TV providers are showing games, all in order to generate interest in the league. Being the year before a World Cup, the league and those involved with it will be doing everything they can to combat the trend of declining attendance in the years before World Cups (like we saw in 2005 and in 2009). If we can keep the positive momentum of league growth going through this year which history says should be a poor year for the MLS, even after losing a star like Beckham, it’s a very good sign for the opportunity provided by next year.

To set up next year

If there’s anything America loves, it’s rooting for ourselves. If there’s another thing we love, it’s cheering for an underdog. Fortunately, World Cups afford us the rare chance to do both. First of all, we still have to qualify for Rio 2014, but if we do qualify (knock on wood right now as you’re reading this, just as I’m knocking while writing) then we really could be on the brink of a new, brighter day for soccer in America. The MLS saw attendance numbers rise in the years of the last three World Cups. Even the years after the last two, 2007 and 2011, brought two of the three largest percentages of growth in the history of the league. If all goes well (please, all of you, pray to something that we qualify) the league could grow in a way we’ve never before imagined in these next couple of years. Or it could completely fall apart and soccer never recovers in America and all of its fans go to see what lacrosse is all about (and immediately discover that it’s odd and not entertaining and give up on it almost before we’ve begun). But it all depends on this year. 

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Why I'm Afraid of the Hex (And You Should Be Too)


Photo by Martin Poole

The all-important CONCACAF Hexagonal Qualifying Round for the 2014 World Cup will see each of the six teams play a home match and an away match against each of the other five countries. The top three in points at the end of the fixtures advance automatically to the World Cup next year in Brazil, with the fourth place finisher forced to fight for a spot with a country from Oceania. Scared yet? What if I told you that the other teams in the Hex are Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, and Panama? Now are you scared? No? Well then here’s a few more reasons for you to consider.

I Don’t Trust Klinsmann

Jurgen Klinsmann has some impressive results under his belt. Wins in Mexico and Italy highlight a pretty impressive record that includes the best calendar year for the USMNT in history. But the big wins are mitigated by the poor performances. A late long-ball helped us salvage a tie against Russia, which we were lucky to even get. We’ve played down to teams during away matches, like against Jamaica last year and against Honduras last week. We’ve had some truly beautiful performances under Klinsmann, but many make the point that as the ceiling rises, the floor should come with it. We’ve undoubtedly played better at some times than we ever did under Bradley, I’ll admit. But other times we’ve put out performances as rough as I’ve ever seen on a soccer field (and as someone who watched FC Dallas last season, that’s saying something). I don’t know which team is going to show up each match, and in a competition where we can’t afford to make too many mistakes we could find ourselves at the bottom of the table before this summer.

What is this team? And where is Donovan??

Landon Donovan is one of a few soccer names most Americans can name. He’s off doing some soul searching or whatever right now, and he couldn’t have picked a worse time for his sabbatical. We need him bad right now. Klinsmann’s long ball and lob pass strategy calls for a tactically skilled midfield corps. We have one of the best attacking midfielders in the game, and he’s taking a walkabout! The rest of the team looks lost without him. They spent most of their time in Honduras dragging their feet, refusing to pressure the ball, and letting themselves get beat. Graham Zusi is one of the most consistent recent performers for the team, and there was only so much he could do to right the ship coming off the bench. And when’s the last time Jozy Altidore scored a goal for the USMNT? Any guesses? It was back in 2011. He’s scored 5 goals in the last four years and who knows how many matches. He can only hit it if it’s served up on a platter, and then it’s sporadic. Put in Wondolowski. He’s hot, regardless of how he played in the trial matches earlier this year.

The MLS isn’t making things any easier

The matches you go to every weekend to drink and cheer and revel in the success of your hometown team. You know those? Well, they aren’t doing anything to help our country in the long run. Klinsmann is urging every American who can to go overseas. You know what the other CONCACAF squads are doing? Urging their players to fill the empty spots. The MLS is developing our own competition. The fans from Dallas will know it when we tune in on June 11 and see our beloved Blas Perez gunning for the netting behind Tim Howard (that is if Tim can stay in front of the net. Seriously Tim. Positioning is nine tenths of the battle.) Every team in the Hex except for Mexico started at least one player who currently plays in the MLS.  Honduras started four current MLS players against us, and look how that worked out for us. The MLS is a fantastic league and wonderful for spreading soccer culture within the United States, but when it comes to international qualifying it seems less like a blessing and more like a curse (notice I didn’t say it looked like a “hex” because this blog is classier than that. And when I tried it out it didn’t read well.)

Scared now?