Philly Union
Soccer Potpourri
Quick Note
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Take Me Out to the Ballgame, my weekly MLS attendance report, will not post on Monday after Week 8 as I will be otherwise occupied. I will post it along with Week 9 sometime around April 29 or 30.
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MLS
- Through 7 games Sporting KC have yet to yield a 2nd half goal
- Through 5 games New England have yet to yield a 1st half goal
- Through 7 games Dallas has conceded 7 goals, all in the 2nd half and 6 in the final 15 minutes
- MLSSoccer: MLS introduces intra-league loan system for first time in league history
- Graham Parker: Can MLS escape the violent side of soccer’s globalization?
- Kyle McCarthy: Recent revelations about the top Mexican earners obscure the financial differences between Liga MX and MLS
- Dave Zeitlin: Is the Philadelphia Union’s Amobi Okugo the future of the US national team defense?
- medium.com: Perception versus reality in Major League Soccer – Thanks to Drew Epperly for pointing me to this.
- Earl Reed: Quantifying early 2013 MLS season ugliness
Interesting Reads
Read the rest of this entry »
Soccer Potpourri
MLS
- US Soccer Players: MLS and the Play-In Round
- Will Parchman: The MLS Cup favorites
- Jason Davis: The 2013 approach
- J Hutcherson: What We Expect from Major League Soccer
- Steve Goff: D.C. United is succeeding on field, but struggling at box office. A look at attendance at RFK Stadium and around MLS this year and through history…..
- CBC Sports: TFC targeted by bumbling match fixers in 2009
Interesting Reads
- BBC News: Roshan Afghan Premier League a hit with fans
- ESPN FC: How video game is changing face of soccer
- SI.com: Santos beats U. de Chile 2-0 to win Recopa title
The Business of Soccer
- Yahoo Sports: Spanish economist says La Liga could ‘kill itself’ within five years, suggests Iberian league
- Louise Taylor: EPL clubs in talks about restricting players’ wages
- Graham Ruthven: Are Financial Fair Play Rules Destined to Be Broken?
Take Me Out to the Playoffs – Quarterfinals Leg 2
Welcome to the 3rd edition of ‘Take Me Out to the Playoffs’. If you are adventurous, try out my new player statistics pages, but remember it’s a work in progress. All feedback will be greatly appreciated. And for historical regular season attendance records, try MLS Attendance.
The playoff numbers look like this…
| 5 year comparison | ||||||
| Quarterfinals – 1st Leg | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | Home Teams | ||||
| 2007 | 14,245 | Chicago | Dallas | Kansas City | RBNY | |
| 2008 | 10,476 | -26.46% | Kansas City | New England | RBNY | RSL |
| 2009 | 19,985 | 90.77% | Chivas USA | New England | RSL | Seattle |
| 2010 | 17,230 | -13.78% | Colorado | Dallas | San Jose | Seattle |
| 2011 | 16,718 | -2.98% | Colorado | Philadelphia | RSL | RBNY |
| Quarterfinals – 2nd Leg | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | Home Teams | ||||
| 2007 | 19,838 | New England | Chivas USA | Houston | DC United | |
| 2008 | 19,444 | -1.99% | Chicago | Columbus | Houston | Chivas USA |
| 2009 | 21,526 | 10.71% | Chicago | Columbus | Houston | Los Angeles |
| 2010 | 19,871 | -7.69% | Salt Lake | Columbus | New York | Los Angeles |
| 2011 | 24,834 | 24.97% | Houston | Kansas City | Los Angeles | Seattle |
| Quarterfinals Totals(both legs) | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | Teams | ||||
| 2007 | 17,041 | CHI, CHV, DAL, DCU, HOU, KC, NE, RBNY | ||||
| 2008 | 14,960 | -12.22% | CHI, CHV, CLB, HOU, KC, NE, RBNY, RSL | |||
| 2009 | 20,755 | 38.74% | CHI, CHV, CLB, HOU, LA, NE, RSL, SEA | |||
| 2010 | 18,551 | -10.62% | CLB, COL, DAL, LA, RBNY, RSL, SJ, SEA | |||
| 2011 | 20,776 | 11.99% | COL, HOU, LA, PHL, RBNY, RSL, SEA, SKC | |||
| Home Playoff Games History | |||
| Teams with Home Games in 2011 | |||
| GP | Avg | < 10,000 | |
| Colorado | 16 | 10,162 | 10 |
| Dallas | 17 | 10,558 | 7 |
| Houston | 7 | 26,268 | 0 |
| Kansas City | 15 | 9,867 | 6 |
| Los Angeles | 25 | 19,895 | 1 |
| New York | 13 | 13,886 | 1 |
| Philadelphia | 1 | 18,539 | 0 |
| Real Salt Lake | 5 | 16,523 | 0 |
| Seattle | 3 | 35,783 | 0 |
Observations
Take Me Out to the Playoffs – Quarterfinals Leg 1
Welcome to the 3rd edition of ‘Take Me Out to the Playoffs’.
The playoff numbers look like this…
| 5 year comparison | ||||||
| Conference Semifinals – 1st Leg | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | Home Teams | ||||
| 2007 | 14,245 | Chicago | Dallas | Kansas City | RBNY | |
| 2008 | 10,476 | -26.46% | Kansas City | New England | RBNY | RSL |
| 2009 | 19,985 | 90.77% | Chivas USA | New England | RSL | Seattle |
| 2010 | 17,230 | -13.78% | Colorado | Dallas | San Jose | Seattle |
| 2011 | 16,718 | -2.98% | Colorado | Philadelphia | RSL | RBNY |
| Home Playoff Games History | |||
| Teams with Home Games in 2011 | |||
| Includes 2011 | |||
| GP | Avg | < 10,000 | |
| Colorado | 16 | 10,162 | 10 |
| Dallas | 17 | 10,558 | 7 |
| Houston | 6 | 26,521 | 0 |
| Kansas City | 14 | 9,245 | 6 |
| Los Angeles | 24 | 19,891 | 1 |
| New York | 13 | 13,886 | 1 |
| Philadelphia | 1 | 18,539 | 0 |
| Real Salt Lake | 4 | 16,388 | 0 |
| Seattle | 2 | 35,664 | 0 |
Observations
News and Views – A Late Wednesday Post
MLS
- Vancouver v New England: Draw in foul plagued match
- Climbing the Ladder: Domestic/Foreign Minutes Played by Team
- Fake Sigi: New York attendance problems: conspiracy or fact?
- MLS_UK: Diary of an MLS Convert(East) – Diary of an MLS Convert(West) – Week 4 of Glenn Williams’ brilliant series.
- J Hutcherson: What College Basketball Showed MLS
The Business of Soccer
- The Yanks are Coming: For Love of the Game… I Mean, The Money: Why Soccer Shares the NFL’s Labor and Financial Predicament
- Chris Savino: Supporter loyalty programs translate into additional revenue for MLS
- England: Football League Clubs take 26% Revenue Cut Under New Sky Deal
Interesting Reads
- David Hills: Said and Done
- The Guardian: Jay DeMerit’s Watford Dream and a Friend in Need Make Compelling Film
- The Independent: Warner in new World Cup ‘ticket scandal’
Tournaments
- UEFA Champions League: Real Madrid, Schalke, Man U and Barca win 1st legs in quarterfinals
- Copa Libertadores: Liga de Quito draw 1-1 at Independiente, Santos wins
- CONCACAF Champions League: RSL, Monterrey in Finals
- US Open Cup: SKC over Houston – DCU down Philly
- CONCACAF U-20 World Cup Qualifying US U-20′s Fail to Qualify for World Cup
Late Tuesday Post
MLS
- Philadelphia Union: What’s needed next season – Because I’m a Union fan
Soccer in the US
- L.H. US Open Cup: Seattle defends title, defeat Columbus for Open Cup
- L.H. US Open Cup: Making over the USOC
Around the World
- This week I posted a link on FIFA’s suspension of Nigeria: Fifa should ban corruption, not Nigeria
- La Liga: Sid Lowe in Spain
- BundesLiga: Rafael Honigstein in Germany
- Tim Vickery in South America
- Taking Beckham to the US and Other Sports Business
- David Conn: The Liverpool Mess
News and Views – Mon-Tues Aug 30-31
MLS
- Week 22 Attendance Report
- Footiebusiness: The updated Adidas deal
- Kansas City: Wizards sign home grown keeper
- Philadelphia: Union sign D-M Williams
Club Tournaments
Interesting Reads
- CONCACAF: CONCACAF To Change World Cup Qualifying - How the Change hurts the Azteca
- Luis Bueno: New CONCACAF Qualifying Proposal Levels Playing Field
- USSF D2: Week 21 Review
Player Moves
- A flurry of moves as the summer transfer window closed. Some ‘big name’ movers… Camoranesi, Gudjohnson, Van der Vaart, Robinho, Pennant,
- Goal.com’s Transfer page
The Business of Soccer
- Transfer fees in the UK
- Michel Platini Set To Level The European Playing Field With New Spending Rules
News and Views from Wed Aug 11
MLS
- Revs: Revs part ways with midfielder Niouky
- Business: MLS to Versus is close to a no-brainer
- Quakes: San Jose signs midfielder Khari Stephenson
- RBNY wins, RSL and Philly draw
US Pyramid
- Chatting With Some Development Academy Coaches by J.R. Eskilson.
- Brian Quarstad continues his reporting on the 2nd division in the US pyramid.
Well the plot gets thicker. USSF is sticking to the financial guidelines that Brian reported on Monday. They also say that they are adamant about not running D2 next year.
Austin, Carolina, Edmonton, Miami, Montreal, Rochester and Tampa Bay would appear to be OK. Non-profit owned Minnesota and Puerto Rico, owned by the Bureau of Tourism are in a nether world.
FIFA requires leagues to have 8 teams for formal sanctioning, with exceptions. There’s so much more, so read Brian’s post. It’s fair to say that for expansion hopefuls, most have probably resigned themselves to D3, while the D2 picture remains muddy. Stay tuned.
Around the World
- Copa Libertadores: Internacional takes 1st leg of final over Chivas
- CONMEBOL: Copa Sudamericana update
- Stoke sign Kenwyne Jones from Sunderland
- West Ham agree loan deal for Miralem Sulejmani of Ajax
- ESPN Reach Agreement with Fox Over EPL TV Rights in U.S.
- Manchester United sign Portuguese striker Bébé
- Marlon Harewood one of five Blackpool signings