From: DeBarger@slacvm.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Pro Soccer League in North America
Organization: SLAC
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 00:30:07 GMT

OK, I've been reading all this, and I'd like to muddy the waters further with
some thoughts of my own.

Brian Cook writes:
>here on this side of the pond, we have many professional
>sports already. <stuff deleted>
>the american fan is , IMHO, saturated with sports.

I must disagree. We're talking about a nation of 200 million people here. 
Sure, there's lot's to choose from, but the sheer numbers can make up for a low
"per capita level of interest" (a term I am making up now ... and I don't
believe that it reflects reality). Imagine that in Argentina (home of a
professional league) 50% of the population follows soccer by watching matches
in person or on television, buys team paraphernalia, etc. In a nation of 24
million, that's 12 million people.  To reach the same number of people in the
USA, you'd only need to turn 6% of them into soccer fans. Figure in the
disposable incomes of the residents of the two countries and the USA surely
looks like it could support a pro league.

This argument holds true for many sports. Witness the success of several new
professional volleyball formats. They don't draw the fans or TV ratings like
baseball or basketball, but they have contracts with ESPN and sponsorship by
many corporations. This has developed in the past few years in a nation already
"saturated with sports".
The point is that the money is there for success on a moderate level. One can't
realistically expect a new professional league to start up and immediately
equal the success of the NFL and the NBA. The fan base and corporate
sponsorship must develop from more modest beginnings.

Chris Allen writes:
>OK, why not think of a US pro soccer season as going after other seasons?
>Why not do it as the Europeans do, namely start in the late summer, go
>through the fall, take a "winter pause" and then finish in the late
>spring?
>
> <stuff deleted>
>
>The next obstacle to this would be the weather, especially in the north.
>A way around that would be construct a schedule where the bulk of the
>early fall and late spring matches would be played in the northern cities,
>while the matches on either side of the "winter pause" would be played
>in the south and west.

Oooh. High marks for originality, but low marks for execution.
It is important for a team to have an even spacing of home and away matches to
keep the local fans  involved. Remember the strike split baseball and football
seasons? If the team is not an everyday fixture during the season, it loses fan
interest. Fact.

Let's assume that we want Our Pro League to play on grass. Prior discussion on
R.S.S. shows that most readers prefer that. Thus no indoor games, and no
Astroturf (potential players smile as their playing careers are extended by
five years 8-) ). Now we can rule out games in the Northeast and Midwest from
December through March due to snow, sleet, frozen pitches, and general
nastiness. So we're playing in Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, and San Francisco.
It's cold, wet, and miserable, but playable. Come April we can move on to St.
Louis, Philadelphia, and Baltimore where it's just warming up to cold, wet, and
miserable, but playable. In May the Boston team plays an extended (but still
cold, wet, and miserable) homestand to get in all their matches prior to the
end of the season. Now looking back over the season, the majority of fans have
had to sit through games in marginal weather across the country. Not a formula
for success. 

My opinion is that the season should be run primarily in the summer and fall
when weather is reasonable for the fans. I live near San Francisco, I know what
poor weather can do to fan support (for non-US readers: this is a reference to
the SF Giants baseball team).

IMHO a good TV contract and some combination of corporate sponsorship can
catalyze an existing pool of potential fans into a viable league. The players
will develop with the fans and the league. As usual, it just takes time and
money. 8-)

Cheers,

Scott DeBarger        "And all the science,
SLAC                   I don't understand.
                       It's just my job five days a week"
Stanford, CA                - Elton John

Newsgroups: rec.sport.soccer