Why the MLS Sucks

Well, bad attendances aren't the reason it sucks. That reflects poor support of the game, rather than the actual quality of play. As for Landon Donovan's error... It happens, it happens over here on a weekly basis, by players that are, frankly, much better than him. The recent IFAF World Cup (American Football - see And finally... (July 21, 2007), saw attendances of about 10,000 in Japan. Which is almost what MLS attendances are in the United States. Just to throw into the mix as a comparison.

to point number there i agree completely and so does the MLS. that's why new stadiums are popping up in Dallas, NJ, Chicago, and Colorado, while Columbus, Chivas, and LA all play in soccer specific stadiums. to point 2 perhaps they focus too much on Donovan, but lets not forget he was key to the shocking 2002 world cup run, and your clip right there while embarrassing happened while they were already up 2-0 in a game they won. And as for point number one, lets give a league that's been in existence for barely 10 years some slack if it doesn't immediately take the country by storm. It's still putting out a pretty good level of soccer, not amazing but pretty good and is growing.

that clip is hilarious. but its a blooper. you can't judge a guy based on a 15 second clip.

i dont understand why so many Americans feel such a hatred toward soccer. I mean I'm American, I love the NFL, don't care much for soccer. But I don't feel the need to attack it. I hate NASCAR too, but a lot of people like these sports, good for them, let them do their thing.

Although I'm with you on point number 3.

Don't use NFL stadiums...you think an MLS team can support its own...i doubt it...

Honestly, I think the MLS's lack of success has little to do with the way the organization is run. I think it has a lot more to do with this country's reaction to the game. We just can't get excited about soccer, and quite frankly, even a character of David Beckham's stature won't change that. I think soccer is a terrific sport, but Americans love quick-hitting, high scoring action. Neither soccer nor hockey falls into those categories, and both are struggling mightily here.

Soccer won't catch on in the US because the best athletes don't play there. The best leagues and players are in Europe and Americans aren't going to follow them in masses. If the best players were in America, it could have a chance, but that isn't going to happen.

Regardless of the athletes here or there the sport is slow...too slow! And we get bored especially in a society where we expect instant satisfaction.

I concur with Taytay 24 basically the MLS sucks b/c it is in North America. Besides the fact it is "kicky ball".

Like someone said in here, God created hands, why can't we use em? ;)

Four reasons soccer has not, and may not (i'm going to definitely say "won't) catch on the States are 1) great athletes can make so much more money and achieve much greater noteriety in other sports, 2) the sports media (i.e., ESPN) doesn't pay enough attention to it, and when they do, they screw up every telecast by trying to "ESPN-ify" rather than just covering the game 3) sports fans here don't have the patience and attention span to watch anything for 45 minutes with no commercial breaks or timeouts and 4) the scores are too low. if soccer were to mimic the NFL adopt a new scoring policy and abritrarily award, lets say 13 points per goal and some way of getting the equivalent of a field goal for 4 points, suddenly the scoring in soccer would dwarf that in the NFL. Becasue, seriously, how is a 3-1 soccer match any different from a 21-7 NFL game?

I just mean that the NFL's scoring system is more conducive to higher scores than soccer's is. I'm not an NFL hater, I really enjoy the NFL and look forward to the season kicking off, but 1) why is a TD worth 6? why not 1 or 5 or 7 or 18? 2) why is the extra point even there (i've wondered this since i was about 10)? 3) a field goal, as valuable as it is in deciding games and to folks like Tim Donaghy seems like a big reward for (half a TD!) for NOT scoring a touchdown. All I meant is that the NFL is set up for higher scores.

also, a 1 goal deficit in soccer is not insurmountable. teams come back from down a goal to win all the time. 2 goals down (think 2 TDs down) is when you really start to get into trouble (that's not a death sentence either, but it's damn close!).

It won't take more coverage because united stateans are soooo stupid! they need all that frenzy footbal (american) can provide. Of course, the rest of the world (normal people) enjoy soccer...