| | CHICAGO -- OK: this is the year of "no excuses" for Major League Soccer, right? So, let's look at some numbers:
First, 54,486. Not a bad number -- an almost full Soldier Field, right?
Well, this is the total attendance supplied by MLS for all four of its
playoff games this week. The average (for those of you who can't find the
calculator under the little Apple sign) is 13,622. That's 3,619 under the
league's all-time playoff average of 17,241 and -- even better, folks -- 660
people under the MLS regular-season average of this year (itself also down
1,093 people from the all-time average).
Second is 55,723. Another nice number; about a full Shea Stadium. And, in fact, that's what it nearly was: That was the figure Major League Baseball reported yesterday for the Sunday Mets-Braves playoff game. One game. Did I mention it also pulled a 13.3/22 overnight Nielsen?
Third, we have 9,188. Not a very big number, I'm afraid. That was the
crowd to see the Columbus Crew in their debut playoff game at their new
stadium this weekend. The Crew had averaged 13,521 in their old haunt for
playoff games, and I don't need to do any math to know a four-figure number
is worse than a five-figure number, except in golf. And before anyone calls
up and says, "But it was raining," let me remind y'all that it was also
raining in Queens yesterday through the better part of the final eight
innings.
This particular number baffles me: here we have a team in an area with no
real competition for sports fans: the NFL teams don't really intersect, the Reds' and Indians' seasons are over and Ohio State had played the day
before. So where were all the people who had made the opening of this same stadium such a success? Were they lured out by the event? If so, why didn't that carry over into the Crew's first playoff game, which is an event in of itself?
This number, right here, is the one that really troubles me, too: I expect
numbers to fall when MLS goes up against MLB, NFL, college ball, et. al., but this stadium was sold on the support from the community and the spirit of
Lamar Hunt. Why, all of a sudden, Crew fans wouldn't brave the elements to see a playoff game is beyond me.
Here's another grim number: This yearİs league-wide average attendance slipped again, down to 14,282 from 15,375 (all-time). My math isn't great, but that seems to me to be about a 6 percent slip.
One of the few pieces of good news for MLS is this number: 17,696. That was the average attendance of the Crew in their new stadium, up a good 2,274 from their all-time average. Still, that doesn't justify this number:
$25-30 million. Thatİs the number my colleague Steven Goff reports a New York investment banking firm is willing to pay to "operate" D.C. United. Looking at all of these numbers, I canİt see how anyone would be willing to pony up that kind of cake for an MLS team. Especially given my final number:
Zero. That's the amount of ad dollars MLS spent this year on those
high-rated NFL and MLB telecasts, in an effort to remind people they exist.
Portugal scores big; hooligans in Holland
This week's feel-good story: Portugal is one of those places that plays
great soccer, but you never really hear about it. That's all about to change,
thanks to Portugal's stunning upset in the Euro 2004 bidding process, and it's
about time. Spain, which was long considered a lock, lost out to a skillfully
constructed bid that emphasized the roots of soccer throughout the country.
Portugal -- more than neighboring Spain -- celebrates both its club and national sides; Spain is famed for its club soccer, as well as the overwhelming emphasis it places on the leading club teams.
It's nice to see UEFA expanding beyond the usual cadre of footballing
nations to bring Portugal the attention it richly deserves; 2004 should have
a wonderful atmosphere and a tone of rebirth.
On the other hand, Holland is managing to challenge England for "worst
fans" with this week's news that Dutch hooligans are advertising on the
Internet in the hopes of forming an "army" ahead of next year's Euro 2000
finals. Hooligan problems are on the increase in Holland, where gangs are
resorting to ever-more sophisticated methods (mobile phones, the Net) to
keep in contact and organize large-scale clashes. More worrisome is the news that arrests for hooligan activity were again on the rise in Holland, up 251 people (for a total of 1,546) from last year's total.
What is especially troubling is that the hooligan gangs are managing to
evade police radar despite ever-more sterile zones around grounds and
increased stewardship of matches -- and frankly, despite some very notable
success stories in England and elsewhere, it is time for football to stop
pretending that increased pressure around the grounds is enough to stop the
violence.
UEFA and FIFA could stop this in a minute if they had the intestinal
fortitude to do so: by fining each of the country's Football Associations heavily, or barring them from competition if it was found that hooligans from their country were involved in football-related violence.
Hard measures? Perhaps. Unfair? No. Football has for too long ignored the
reality that gangs are a product of the passions the game itself arouses,
and it must take responsibility for that. That leadership has to come from
the top, and it will mean ruffling a few, very important, feathers. But, if
gangs are to be curtailed, I fear it's the only way: as England has shown,
not even massive infringements on civil liberties have done the trick.
It's time to start making the F.A's themselves foot the bill. You'd see a
sea change in people's hearts almost overnight.
My picks: part three
I told (warned?) you at the beginning of the year that I'd offer "no
excuses," either, at least when it came to my MLS picks. So, here they are,
and here's how they finished:
TRECKER FINAL MLS STANDINGS
EAST EAST
D.C. D.C.
Columbus Columbus
Miami Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay Miami
New York/New Jersey New England
New England New York/New Jersey
WEST WEST
Chicago Los Angeles
Los Angeles Dallas
Kansas City Chicago
Colorado Colorado
Dallas San Jose
San Jose Kansas City
Overall, not too bad: I got seven of eight playoff teams (what was I
thinking on K.C.?) and except for really missing out on Dallas, I didn't
really pull any groaners. And, as it happened, the end of the season in the
West was such a scramble that the top four could have (and did) finish in
any sort of odd order.
As for senses: I missed the decline of the Fire, giving them too much
credit for last year's success while ignoring the maxim that change is good.
Also, I thought K.C. would be improved with Tony Meola ... and then he got
hurt, so there you go.
Jamie Trecker, editor of Kick! magazine, writes regularly for ESPN.com. You may e-mail him at jamie_trecker@go.com; while he guarantees he will read all letters, he regrets that he cannot guarantee a reply because of overwhelming volume. | |
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