Major League "Soccer"

[EDcrheatme]

Is anyone watching the US football championship? As a Timbers fan, I loved the start.
Folks here might like to know that the Timbers goalie is a Norwegian. But he gets to play for Ghana as his ******* is Ghanaian.

 

[EDcrheatme]

Timbers won! Kwarasey only allowed one goal.

 

[bm_from_southjersey]

I didn't watch, but I am a soccer fan and I do watch MLS matches. I'm a Philadelphia Union fan.

 

[Torpedo]

I didn't watch, but I am a soccer fan and I do watch MLS matches. I'm a Philadelphia Union fan.

The next few years should be interesting. American football is making inroads in the UK and Soccer is making inroads in the United States. For those of us that are more mature (older) will remember when baseball was king. Baseball games were what filled the stadiums. The first NFL Superbowl I think tickets were around 60 dollars and the stadium was half empty. If I am still around in 20 years it will be interesting to see who can fill the stadiums

 

[Whitesub40]

American football does have a following in the UK but only small compared to many other sports. 'Soccer' aka real football is the worlds number 1 sport and will undoubtedly become very popular in the states over the next generation. And the Americans have excelled in recent world cups, may be it will be another sporting achievement they can complete in the next 20 years.

 

[marinewifemom]

Both my ******* played soccer...loved going to the games.

I have gone to a few MLS games here in the states... not as big of a fan base

European soccer is almost personal to them...lol

 

[hotjen]

Love to get to know USA football

 

[BBC ONLY CPL]

Homer Simpson: I prepared by watching hours and hours of soccer.

Homer Simpson: I almost saw a goal once.

 

[Whitesub40]

Ah well some of the best games are when its 0-0 a bit like cricket when we play for five days and it's a draw

 

[bm_from_southjersey]

American football does have a following in the UK but only small compared to many other sports. 'Soccer' aka real football is the worlds number 1 sport and will undoubtedly become very popular in the states over the next generation. And the Americans have excelled in recent world cups, may be it will be another sporting achievement they can complete in the next 20 years.

In terms of audience/fans, football is driving the sports bus in this country right now. The NFL has drawn out its schedule so much that football is now a 12 month a year activity. Regular season from September to January, playoffs through January and Super Bowl in February, free agency starts in March and scouting combines in March, draft in April, mini-camps in May and June, training camp starts in July and the cycle begins again.

Soccer's rise in popularity in this country, IMHO, is directly related to the internet. It's one thing to be a soccer fan in the US and read about Lionel Messi and see him once every four years in a World Cup. Now a fan has the ability, if one so chooses, to see just about every Barcelona match. Every Premier League and FA Cup match is either televised or streamed in the US via NBC Sports, and with the right cable package one can watch Serie A, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1 matches, as well as Liga MX from Mexico. I don't think soccer will ever be as popular in the US as the other sports, but there certainly is no reason why it can't continue to carve out a niche.

 

[omen616]

In terms of audience/fans, football is driving the sports bus in this country right now. The NFL has drawn out its schedule so much that football is now a 12 month a year activity. Regular season from September to January, playoffs through January and Super Bowl in February, free agency starts in March and scouting combines in March, draft in April, mini-camps in May and June, training camp starts in July and the cycle begins again.

Soccer's rise in popularity in this country, IMHO, is directly related to the internet. It's one thing to be a soccer fan in the US and read about Lionel Messi and see him once every four years in a World Cup. Now a fan has the ability, if one so chooses, to see just about every Barcelona match. Every Premier League and FA Cup match is either televised or streamed in the US via NBC Sports, and with the right cable package one can watch Serie A, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1 matches, as well as Liga MX from Mexico. I don't think soccer will ever be as popular in the US as the other sports, but there certainly is no reason why it can't continue to carve out a niche.

Do you think issues like concussions impacting on parents allowing their ******* to play gridiron will eventually have a detrimental impact on nfl in the future?

I remember reading somewhere that the last usa world cup game had a bigger TV audience in America than the world series.

As far as gridiron goes in the UK there is definitely a growing audience and I think the internet is playing a big part in that. Also having the 3 games a year in London is giving it a lot more exposure. The next step would be a franchise in London although there are a number of problems with that happening including traveling issues, salary cap issues and just the fact that UK fans already have their own teams and might not rally round a London team.

I'd prefer to see the nfl invest in developing grass roots football here - it would take a long term investment and the returns would not be direct to nfl. But I think if you want to globalise gridiron you need to develop the infrastructures from the bottom up.

 

[Whitesub40]

There has been a lot of talk in the UK of a franchise being based in London for all the European fans over the last 12 months. I imagine that's been the point of the games here recently - building up to this happening at some point in the future. There's not huge support for the sport from the masses here but I suppose when you total up the number of fans across Western Europe it would be easy for a team to receive enough support for decent income etc. I played American football at university a bit in London but despite moving round the country and having lots of friends from all different countries and cultures , I've only ever known one other person personally who played. Fundamentally we are too hooked on English football , rugby and cricket in the UK as well as playing basketball, hockey, tennis at school too. I'm sure American football like other team sports will diminish in popularity over time though association football takes over

 

[omen616]

I pretty much share your views of the long term viability of gridiron football versus association football - think Americans are getting a greater taste for soccer and with issues like concussions plaguing gridiron I think the quality of players is gonna diminish as less parents allow their ******* to play gridiron.

not to mention that increased officiating of gridiron to protect players takes away one of the more entertaining aspects of the sport Ie big hits. more officiating means more stops and more yards being done by penalties which harms the overall spectacle.

so I do think established sporting bodies like ncaa nfl and cfl are gonna have to make concerted effort to secure the long term future of the sport. perhaps the cfl could be merged with nfl for a start? this could start the process of it being a more international sport. .

one unique selling point the nfl needs to make known visavis soccer leagues is the parity aspect of it through measures such as salary caps and drafts. this means that teams are successful on basis of how well managed the teams are rather than soccer where every league is dominated by teams that have biggest playing budget. (leister city being an outlier obviously) to me that is a big draw which is what took me away from soccer to football. I think this could appeal to a lot of soccer fans here

 

[bm_from_southjersey]

@omen616

Yes, I do think the concussion issue is having and will have a greater impact going forward. I've coached high school football since 1996, and in that time, with regard to the schools in my region, I have seen a decline in participation numbers at a number of schools. This isn't all the result of concussions, but I think as there are more high profile suicides by former players and as we learn more about CTE, there will be more defections.

Football has tries to address the issue at the grass roots level with a program called "Heads Up Tackling" which teaches tackling step by step, from unpadded drills to full contact, with an emphasis on proper form and preventing concussions, paralysis, and death. It's a great start, but it doesn't and can't account for coaches who don't teach tackling properly, or players on the field who get hurt because they aren't physically up to the task (even in 2016, there are some programs who don't take weightlifting seriously, and neck strength is a key component to proper tackling).

 

[omen616]

where do you stand on the no pads and no helmets question and making tackling more like rugby?

 

[bm_from_southjersey]

We did a little bit of both.

Just for some background: At the school that I coached at the past four seasons we were several shades below hideous defensively. In 2013 we allowed 38.9 points per game on defense. We got a new defensive coordinator in 2014 and one of the things that he insisted on was that we had to practice tackling every day to get better defensively. One thing we instituted was a "tackling circuit" of different drills that worked on the different mechanics of the tackling process, and we did them both unpadded (during summer workouts) and padded (once the season began), all within the framework of the Heads Up Tackling. One drill that we added to our repertoire this past season was what we called a "roll tackle" which our defensive coordinator picked up off the internet (it's something the Seattle Seahawks do) that for all intents and purposes is a rugby style tackle. We improved from 39.9 ppg in 2013 to 20.4 ppg in 2014 to 17 this past season (and only one concussion the past two seasons) Though we have moved on to a different school, we plan on doing the same thing with regard to tackling.

 

[omen616]

That's dead interesting thanks for giving that perspective from someone who works in football.

historically the codes that became rugby and American football went in two directions towards dealing with high levels of fatalities on the field. with rugby it was developing tighter rules about tackling and developing safer technique whereas for American football it was helmets and pads. some of these changes fundamentally diverged the games apart for example rugby outlawed contacting non ball carriers as obstruction whereas for American football that's a fundamental part of the game.

at the moment there is a lot of media attention on the role that helmets play in concussions but I think a lot of that has got to do with the sheer strength and speed of contemporary football players. ironically with rugby (union) they have had a lot of issues with the game becoming more dangerous following the professionalisation of the game in the 90s with players becoming bigger stronger and faster. ironic because one of the solutions that's been proposed has been about bringing more padding and even helmets to the game!

 

[bm_from_southjersey]

That's dead interesting thanks for giving that perspective from someone who works in football.

historically the codes that became rugby and American football went in two directions towards dealing with high levels of fatalities on the field. with rugby it was developing tighter rules about tackling and developing safer technique whereas for American football it was helmets and pads. some of these changes fundamentally diverged the games apart for example rugby outlawed contacting non ball carriers as obstruction whereas for American football that's a fundamental part of the game.

at the moment there is a lot of media attention on the role that helmets play in concussions but I think a lot of that has got to do with the sheer strength and speed of contemporary football players. ironically with rugby (union) they have had a lot of issues with the game becoming more dangerous following the professionalisation of the game in the 90s with players becoming bigger stronger and faster. ironic because one of the solutions that's been proposed has been about bringing more padding and even helmets to the game!

Here are some links regarding helmet ratings:

http://www.beam.vt.edu/helmet/helmets_football.php

http://archive.11alive.com/assetpool/documents/140223102637_Helmet_Ratings_Poster.pdf

http://abcnews.go.com/US/football-h...xclusive-flex-helmet-design/story?id=26400061