It is happening slowly. The league is growing. Cincinnati will have a team next year, Miami and Nashville in 2020 and Detroit, Sacramento, San Diego, and St. Louis are in the hunt for 2022.
Attendance is actually pretty good across the board. Dallas has the worst attendance at about 75% of capacity on average, and more than half the league averages about 90% of capacity. It is actually the 3rd biggest league average attendance-wise behind NFL and MLB...yes bigger than the NBA and NHL (though I'm sure Atlanta and Seattle have a large impact on that due to stadium size).
But I agree with you, it needs to become more popular.
I wish you all could be there to share this with me. Not sure when I will get to report back. We are gonna party/tailgate before the game, and then march in the parade with the supporters groups and game at 8 and who knows when I get home.
Congrats! I know it means a lot to the city! People don't have to like the sport although played at high levels its a beautiful game! Regardless, it's a major league sport and enjoy your teams efforts! THEY ARE CHAMPS!
So, I went to the game with my gf Jean. She is a hardcore Browns fan, and we watched Browns games together for like 10 years. Then her job changed and I don't see her as often now. But still my girl.
So, seems fitting that we spent 10 years suffering together watching NFL that we should get together to see AU win.
That said, let me tell you. The weather was crap. It rained a cold rain all day. Upper 30s. Now, Jean has an AU tailgate group, and they were tailgating, but we didn't want to stand around in cold rain.
So we partied in the car for a bit before getting on the train. And then tried to find them.
Forgive me in these pics as I look like a drowned rat from being rained on (despite poncho)
Me and Jean. I'm on right.
So we get to the stadium and see the march mob is already forming. I have to explain something first here.
Soccer teams have Supporter Groups that are like clubs officially sanctioned by the team. If you can meet the requirements then you can start a club.
So, the job of the Supporter Groups is to sit behind the Goal and lead the cheers for the stadium. They are sort of like the Dog Pound, but way more organized and 1000x crazier.
Here is a video of them from the Conference Finals.
So, what happens is, about 90 minutes before the game starts, the Supporter Groups gather together to form a mob and march to the stadium doing all their cheers, and shooting off fireworks and playing drums and such.
We decided to march with them in the mob. It was hella fun times despite the rain. Nobody cared about the rain.
Then at some point in the march we randomly ran into Jean's tailgate group.
Group pic:
After all that we went into the stadium and found our seats.
They were decent seats, nosebleeds sidelines. Not a bad seat in the stadium.
And massive shoutout to Section 339 Row 26 (our row). The people on either side of us were the friendliest people in the entire universe, and were our new best friends.
We high fived and cheered and hugged on each other all game. And shared food and they bought us beers, and it was a giant party.
So, we had to take a picture with our Row Buddies.
And here is the obligatory camera light picture.
Also, I have to give a Shout Out to the Portland fans. They were very classy and repped Portland well. They had the corner section near us. They all wore uniforms, waved their flags and were super loud.
Good job Portland.
Anyways, that was my adventure at the MLS Cup. It was an awesome Game. I had a blast. Fingers crossed we get to go back next year.
Note: Permission from Jean for pics and facebook linkys.
Second Note: If you want to see more awesome pics and videos, go to the Reddit AU page. (I would link it, but profanity)
Good Game Portland, your fans represented you well.
Congrats on the win!
You didn't get our best game, but I don't think it'd have mattered, it was clear you were the better team. I'm glad Portland repped well. I just talked to some folks who went and they seemed a bit in awe of the experience despite the loss. One went to the Atlanta game earlier in the year as well. They said the fans were incredible before, during, and after the game and the place was electric. I think you guys are here next year, but I'll plan on going in 2020 for a game there. If you want to come out to Portland for a game here, just let me know and I'll arrange tickets.
Good Game Portland, your fans represented you well.
Congrats on the win!
You didn't get our best game, but I don't think it'd have mattered, it was clear you were the better team. I'm glad Portland repped well. I just talked to some folks who went and they seemed a bit in awe of the experience despite the loss. One went to the Atlanta game earlier in the year as well. They said the fans were incredible before, during, and after the game and the place was electric. I think you guys are here next year, but I'll plan on going in 2020 for a game there. If you want to come out to Portland for a game here, just let me know and I'll arrange tickets.
Regardless, congrats!!!
Thank you! If I can find a dude to join me in games I may take you up in that. I would love to see your crowd and try to give a good holler for AU.
Your fans were great! They were louder than the AU fans in the vicinity to the point where we were like Why Are They So Loud. Where's Ours Fans At?
MLS starts this weekend, I'm stoked. I don't like that we start with 12 games on the road, but living next to the stadium and seeing the progress made each day, I look forward to the 17 out of 22 at home to "end the season". Regardless, MLS tomorrow - woo hoo!
Eve (or anyone else) the offer is still there for a game (except the home opener on June 1 or Seattle games, those will be impossible), that includes Atlanta on August 18th.
Going to my friend's bar on Sunday to catch the game with a bunch of MLS fans. They are in a different Supporter Group than mine, but maybe I will join theirs also hehe.
Just my two cents. I think soccer is the work of the anti-Christ and designed to destroy American males. I think talking about soccer should not be allowed on this site.
Just my retribution for you effectively shutting down my music thread w/some weird emotional take.
Just my two cents. I think soccer is the work of the anti-Christ and designed to destroy American males. I think talking about soccer should not be allowed on this site.
Just my retribution for you effectively shutting down my music thread w/some weird emotional take.
You can't stop us, because we are coming. Hide your children.
I start each season with 3 or 4 scarves and end up with one at the end of the season - I inevitably give one or two to kids that attended their first game, and will give one to a friend that goes to a game with me that doesn't have one (and I don't expect it back). Speaking of, I'm going to head to the Timbers store in about a half hour to see what they have in stock...new gear for the game today
I love the game of soccer, but must admit that MLS is a poor version of it. Yes, it is getting better and it is exciting to see cities like Atlanta embrace it with such enthusiasm. But our MLS teams would be annihilated by most European teams and possibly even the 2nd tier teams. That said...it is changing and the more development we have and the more kids who decide to stick with it and not give up in school, the better our league and our National team will be.
But, I must admit, I go to Timbers games and sometimes get frustrated by how slow it seems, the sloppy passing you often see, its lack of fluidness and poor shots. But, I always have fun...so, I guess it achieves what it was meant to do.
MLS is like D-League. It doesn't help that our best players leave to go to Europe. AU's best player got sniped by a European team. Our coach went to Mexico.
In the same vein, Europe can't compare in basketball or American football. We snipe their players.
I don't know enough about soccer rules, etc, to be a soccer snob. I love AU for the fan experience, because it's really something special. That's what made me fall in love with them. And the way it made all the sub-cultures of ATL rally together for this team.
Agreed, it is like D league. All the money is in Europe and yes, our best players go there. All the money for basketball is in the US. So, their best players come here. I get it. We also get players from other countries who are not good enough to play in Europe or aging European/British players who can no longer play at that level so they come to America as shining stars and make tons of $$$.
The beauty of soccer is there are very few rules. The most difficult to determine is probably the offside rule, but the more you watch it the easier it is to spot it and understand the rule.
I'm glad you love ATL U. It's exciting to see them do so well and the city to embrace them. As clwb said, the Timbers first 12 games are away as they adding to the stadium to make it bigger and it's still under construction.
Agreed, it is like D league. All the money is in Europe and yes, our best players go there. All the money for basketball is in the US. So, their best players come here. I get it. We also get players from other countries who are not good enough to play in Europe or aging European/British players who can no longer play at that level so they come to America as shining stars and make tons of $$$.
The beauty of soccer is there are very few rules. The most difficult to determine is probably the offside rule, but the more you watch it the easier it is to spot it and understand the rule.
I'm glad you love ATL U. It's exciting to see them do so well and the city to embrace them. As clwb said, the Timbers first 12 games are away as they adding to the stadium to make it bigger and it's still under construction.
Hard to compare when you have teams in Europe spending more on one player than the whole MLS salary cap for a team. The top half of MLS is pretty much equivalent to the bottom of the Premier League and most of the Championship League.
Timbers blew a great opportunity today for 3 points, being a man up for 65 minutes, but in heavy snow. I'll take a point though. Game pic
Wow, that's an incredible picture! Hope you guys win tonight.
The other thing I like about MLS, and I didn't really contemplate this until recently, is that the offseason is very short. We are back in action already. It gives me a sport to have passion for while the Cavs suck and it feels like a million years before NFL starts back up.
We tied (that pic was from earlier today). Shouldn't have, but again that much snow makes it hard - especially when 4 or 5 starters are from Central/South America. Oh well, 33 more to go
Offseason will be a little longer next season with the change in playoffs, but you're right - Atlanta and Portland essentially had 6 or 8 weeks off before preseason started.
first time checking out MLS this year, and of course ATL is laying a dud.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
That's true. I havent really been following the CCL thing. I was vaguely aware they are doing good in that league. But dont they get tired? They never get any time off.
If you weren't such a good team, I'd disagree with going for the CCL - with the playoff changes this year, every point might matter. This being said, I'm sure he was looking at your next league opponent as well. They looked terrible last night against Seattle.
The Poland tournament is the Under 20 World Cup. They don't have the club world cup on there yet.
Quick search on the location didn't come up with anything, though I did see Morocco did bid for it. It looks like Japan, UAE and Morocco have had the last 14. Regardless of the location, it is held early to mid December.
So let's see if we get anywhere with this. And not wreck our chances at this years MLS Cup. Cant date 2 women successfully at one time. I have to wonder which one is more important.
