MLS

I’m not much of a soccer fan but I’ve been to a few MLS games in Minnesota now. Super fun. Cheap. Highly recommended. 

I've been saying for a decade that the city of Baltimore needs to convert Pimilico race track into an MLS stadium that retains the horse track to host racing one weekend a year. It's too late now. 

Real Estate:  Multiple Listing Service?

Head Gaskets:  Multi-Layer Steel?

I have season tickets in Atlanta. Love soccer. Don’t really watch any other sport. Games here are fun as well. 

New teams like Atlanta seem to be doing well at drawing fans but the league has a big problem with TV audience. There isn’t any. Each “new” team must buy in for $150M+ (with requisite extortion of taxpayers for a stadium) to be part of what looks like a huge Ponzi scheme. 

I hope for the best but MLS is owned by a bunch of NFL owners who mostly seem interested in protecting their investments by crushing any other lower level pro soccer organization. If the league doesn’t crumble before the huge cash windfall related to hosting the 2026 World Cup, it just might survive.  

Fueled by Caffeine said:

I’m not much of a soccer fan but I’ve been to a few MLS games in Minnesota now. Super fun. Cheap. Highly recommended. 

How's that new stadium?  I've driven by it a few times and it's sort of outer-spacey on the outside, but I understand it's pretty nice inside.

I used to go to Minnesota Kicks soccer games back in the late 1970s at the old Met Stadium in Bloomington and had a lot of fun...there were some nights we never made it in from the parties out in the parking lot to actually see the game.  

Once you figure out the offside rule, soccer is almost entertaining.  My younger daughter played all through school, and by the time she was playing 16 and under, it was pretty darn fun to watch.

6 and under is entertaining in another way, like "swarm of kids running after a ball unless there is a butterfly around" entertaining.

Discovered the game on PBS' old "Soccer Made in Germany" program when I was 14yrs old. Fell in love with it.

I've lived in Atlanta for 30yrs, actually thought we'd get one of the original MLS franchises. Kinda wandered away from the league after being passed over for so long, but came back after the job I found after being laid off from Turner owned the station in KC with the contract to show Wizards  (now "Sporting Kansas City") games.

I was really impressed with their business model. Soccer specific stadium, seats about 35K, they filled it every night. Thought we could do that here.

And then Uncle Arthur showed up.

My first game in person was the last regular season game in '17. Hosted Toronto. The roof was open, the weather was perfect, and the 300 level was open. 70K people chanting, singing, and cheering. I damn near cried. Never thought I'd see it in this country in my lifetime. And it happened in this city that I love so much.

And a year later, we hoisted the Cup. 

Yeah, we're having some trouble this season, but soccer's more like college football. You don't quit on your team, because it's where you went to school. Can't change that.

My town. My club. Win, lose, or draw.

Aside to Fueled by Caffeine: man, that new stadium looks great! And the Loons are a different club than last year. Given our current form, I'm actually a lil' worried about the game Wednesday.  ;)

In reply to stuart in mn :

The stadium is nice. Hard to find a bad seat. The beer hall is nice and food choices are better than average for a stadium. Food pricing is to be expected. 

Highly recommended to go to a game and find some cheap seats. 

Went to a bunch of Houston Dynamo games in '12 and '13. They were energetic games and lots of fun... 

Decently cheap but not as cheap as nosebleeds for the Astros were back then.... Then the astros has to go and win a series... I remember looking at standing room tickets for a early game for the world series in 2017 at $1000 each and going....nope don't love them that much! 

I have never been able to get into to Football. Now matter how much I've tried--I hated playing it, and to me it always feels like that Simpsons gag when watching it. Is it something you need to see live to "get"?

mtn said:

I have never been able to get into to Football. Now matter how much I've tried--I hated playing it, and to me it always feels like that Simpsons gag when watching it. Is it something you need to see live to "get"?

As a hockey player, perhaps try going to an indoor soccer game first.