on my european disinterest

So December is about to start, which means it's going to be a pretty boring month for me soccer-wise. Most soccer fans love December- sure, La Liga and the Bundesliga take breaks towards the end of the month, but the Premier League has a full schedule that would have any other fan mesmerized in front of the TV all day. And sure, I'll probably watch as much as I can, because I won't really have anything else to do and I love watching soccer. But I won't be nearly as into it as I would have been two years ago. For some reason, European soccer just doesn't interest me as much as it used to.

I have two schools of thought as to the reasoning behind my sudden disinterest. The first, which seems more logical, is that it's no longer convenient to watch games now that I'm at college. At home, we get Fox Soccer Channel and GolTV, and my weekends were always jam-packed with games from the Premier League, Bundesliga, and La Liga. I don't get GolTV at school, so I've almost completely fallen out with La Liga and the Bundesliga, simply because there's no way for me to watch matches besides streaming, and even with my newly acquired HDMI cable, it's a lot of work in comparison to the crappy picture quality I get from an internet stream. I still get FSC, but I always end up staying up late on Friday and Saturday nights and I can never bring myself to get up in time to watch a 10AM game. I'll occasionally put on the noon game while I'm eating lunch, but I'm always distracted by other stuff and I just can't get into it.

The other school of thought is that my newfound love (my parents call it obsession, but I beg to differ) for MLS has replaced my past love for European leagues. It is more convenient to watch- I don't really do much on Saturday nights other than maybe watch a movie with friends, so I'm not missing much if I stay in and watch a game, and midweek games are even easier. The 800k streaming on Match Center hasn't really given me problems with quality or freezing, so I don't mind taking the time to hook up my HDMI cable, although I mainly just use it for Columbus Crew games or the occasional "big game" that isn't on TV. As for games that are on TV, though, I'll generally watch whatever's on, unless I could honestly care less about both teams playing or I have an important prior engagement. I'm the rare soul who actually enjoys the commentary on FSC, with the "6 in 60" segment being a personal favorite of mine (the fact that they used my questions and sent me cool stuff has nothing to do with this, obviously). I've even started watching the Sunday Telefutura match, despite the fact that I have to put up with a crappy internet stream. They usually get a pretty good game, and the commentary gives me a chance to practice and improve on the six years of Spanish I took in middle and high school, so it's worth it.

But the fact of the matter is that I'll put up with a crappy, non-English stream to watch an MLS game, but I won't for a European game. I'll forgo hanging out with my friends to watch an MLS game, but I can't be bothered to get up early to watch a European game. It's a solid argument, and but it's not one that I want to believe. I'd like to think that I could potentially get back into watching the European leagues some day in the future when it becomes more convenient, because I really enjoyed watching them. But for now, I'll just spend my December disinterestedly watching European soccer, because why not?

Converting the Eurosnobs is the key for MLS success

Eurosnobs. Every American soccer fan has met them- they belittle you for calling it "soccer", laugh about what a joke MLS is (and obviously you're a joke as well for caring about it), and proudly support one of the "Big 4" in the EPL and one of the top European national teams such as Spain, Italy, or Germany...even though they're American as well. They wouldn't dare lower themselves to watch an MLS game, yet they would get up before 8AM on a weekend to watch their beloved Premier League team play. Their love for the game is evident- but only for the European game. If their love for "football" can be harnessed and directed towards MLS, the league will have the support it needs to succeed.

TV ratings for Premier League games are consistently much higher than those for MLS games. February's game between Liverpool and Chelsea on FSC averaged a 0.5 rating (294,000 viewers) while last weekend's game between the Kansas City Wizards and the LA Galaxy on widely-available ESPN2 (which included supposed ratings-booster David Beckham) only averaged a 0.3 rating (231,000 viewers), just a bit less the season-high rating set by the season opener between Seattle and New York (254,000 viewers). MLS is watched even less on FSC, averaging a 0.1 rating (44,000 viewers) through May of this season. Ratings for Euro 2008 averaged a 0.5 on ESPN2 and a 0.9 on ESPN, with the final on ABC earning a 3.1 rating. MLS Cup 2008, also on ABC, only earned a 0.7 rating.

And it's not just TV where European games attract higher crowds- July's World Football Challenge had attendances ranging from over 31,000 to over 81,000 across 6 venues (I was one of 53,000 in attendance in Atlanta). This is combined with sellouts of 67,000 and 27,000 in Seattle and LA, respectively, where the Sounders and Galaxy faced European opposition. Future friendlies this summer for Real Madrid and Barcelona have pretty much sold out. But so far this season, the MLS has only averaged over 15,000 a game, with average team attendances ranging from almost 9,500 in Dallas to over 30,000 in Seattle. People are coming out to watch these European teams (Chelsea's three games drew the three biggest crowds) as opposed to their own local teams, which is understandable, especially in Atlanta, where men's top-level soccer has been virtually non-existant (I'm not really a fan of AC Milan or Club America, but the chance to actually go to a live soccer game was too good not to take), but there shouldn't be this big of a difference between the two.

I've recently defended the MLS against a barrage of insults from two sports-crazy friends who said, among other things, that "people want excitement and entertainment and that's the EPL not MLS" and that there isn't "a big consistent enough fan base in America" for the sport to succeed. I'm not sure if he's ever watched an MLS game, but I certainly find them exciting- I didn't really care as much until I picked a team to support, but I still watched games whenever I could catch them and always enjoyed it. The past three MLS Cup finals have been very exciting, in my opinion. As for the big, consistent fan base, it's there for soccer, just not for the MLS. The Eurosnobs are holding the league back- if even half of them decided that it was okay to like the MLS and actually showed up to a game or watched it on TV, the league's popularity would skyrocket. But they're most likely not going to convert. They'll watch one MLS game on TV, and if it's not up to their standards, they're going to write the league off and not watch again. And unfortunately, there's not a whole lot the league can do to attract them. Setting up the friendlies against big clubs is a great move for the league as well as the clubs, though I'd like to see a wider range of MLS teams' international friendlies on TV. Designated Players for the most part haven't really worked out the way the league hoped they would- they've brought in fans, but the degree to which they've improved their team varies, with the most impressive being Guille at Columbus, and he didn't even start out as a DP!

Hopefully, the day will come when MLS fans outnumber the Eurosnobs. And that will be a glorious day for soccer.