****Official Beckham Mania Thread****

[mmbt0ne]

MLS attendance is holding very steady this year even as they've phased out the stat-padding ploys like including tickets distributed not just sold or holding post-game concerts.

For an idea where they stand:

Average 2006-07 NHL attendance: 16957
Average 2007 MLS attendance (pre-Beckham): 15160

Meanwhile, the league is moving rapidly towards independent profitability for every club, has expanded from 3 ownership groups to 12, and has lead to 5 soccer specific stadiums in the United States (and another in Canada) in the last decade with 2 more underway (NY and Salt Lake) and the proposal for a third (DC) a virtual certainty. The teams with SSSs are making money or very close to it. It's the teams like NY that have to pay 200k per game to rent out Giants Stadium and get no parking or concessions money that are hurting. Once these teams get stadiums, the money will come in.

Also, MLS just made 4 international deals for broadcast rights for their games, marking the first time in the history they've ever sold games to independent channels.

You don't have to like that soccer is growing, or even care. Hell, plenty of people in the US don't care one bit about NASCAR, but it's doing just fine. The MLS is similarly allowing itself to focus on a small but dedicated niche market rather than go balls out like the NASL did, and I applaud them for that.

[ThaSaltCracka]

Sportnation poll from ESPN

1) What have you watched more of in the last year?


35.0% English Premier League

31.8% I don't watch soccer

21.2% MLS

12.0% Other


2) How much have you watched David Beckham play?


42.8% A few games here and there

24.6% Only highlights

20.8% A lot

11.9% I've never seen Beckham in action


3) How will Beckham's arrival to MLS affect your interest in the league?


70.5% More interested

28.2% I wasn't a fan and still won't be

1.3% Less interested


Total Votes: 77,976

[TheNoodleMan]

Hmm, the poll on the ESPN.com front page says 55% of of 140,000 votes dont care.

I'm going to guess that your poll comes from the soccer section of the site and suffers from selection bias.

[Karak567]

I'm sorry, but 35 % of people that view espn.com don't watch premier league soccer. That can't be right.

[TheNoodleMan]

Hmm, the poll on the ESPN.com front page says 55% of of 140,000 votes "don't care".

I'm going to guess that your poll comes from the soccer section of the site and suffers from selection bias.

edit: someone please screenshot the map, lol.

[ThaSaltCracka]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm sorry, but 35 % of people that view espn.com don't watch premier league soccer. That can't be right.

[/ QUOTE ]you can read right?

[ThaSaltCracka]

[ QUOTE ]
Hmm, the poll on the ESPN.com front page says 55% of of 140,000 votes dont care.

I'm going to guess that your poll comes from the soccer section of the site and suffers from selection bias.

[/ QUOTE ]well, no matter how you look at it, out of 77,000 people, 70% are more interested in MLS as a result of Beckham's arrival. These numbers could still change.

It has been mentioned before, there are a lot of soccer fans in the US, they generally follow the Euro leagues though and not so much MLS.

[TheNoodleMan]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Hmm, the poll on the ESPN.com front page says 55% of of 140,000 votes dont care.

I'm going to guess that your poll comes from the soccer section of the site and suffers from selection bias.

[/ QUOTE ]well, no matter how you look at it, out of 77,000 people, 70% are more interested in MLS as a result of Beckham's arrival. These numbers could still change.

It has been mentioned before, there are a lot of soccer fans in the US, they generally follow the Euro leagues though and not so much MLS.

[/ QUOTE ]

Uhh sorry, it does matter how you look at it.

if 70% of people that had already clicked on the soccer section of ESPN.com are excited about beckham then its obviously completely different than 70% of ESPN front page viewers.

[Fallen Hero]

[ QUOTE ]
9) What is England's best export?

15.7% Keira Knightley
15.7% David Beckham



[/ QUOTE ]

damn gay people screwing up the poll

[ThaSaltCracka]

That poll is linked from the main espn front page, top right corner with all the beckham nonsense. the poll you mentioned earlier is available halfway down the page.