Major League Soccer unveils new logo

[Norva]

There are plenty of soccer leagues in small countries that call themselves a Premier League for their country that are far inferior to the BPL or any other major league, including the MLS, but no one makes a stink about that.

That being said, changing the name of the league would be a terrible idea when they are just building some brand equity. MLS is a fine name for the growing and exciting league.

[The_Admiral]

Sadly, yes. You'll see that sort of silly derision from time to time. But less so, as attitudes are changing.

What's silly is to pretend that a bunch of Seattle yuppies playing dress-up with scarves are watching anything close to the top European leagues.

[Gothamite]

Who's pretending that?

[Kevin W.]

I honestly don't mind sponsorship labels on the front of MLS jerseys, but I've always felt that there really needs to be at least SOME tie to the local area. X Box being on the front of the Sounders jerseys is fine because Microsoft is based in the Seattle area. But things like Best Buy sponsoring the Chicago Fire and Amway Global sponsoring the Quakes needs to die. Having, like, Unifed Airlines on the front of the Fire's jerseys and Chevron/Apple/Some other Bay Area based company on the Quakes jerseys would be just fine with me.

Quaker is headquartered in Chicago, so there's no problem there.

[pcgd]

It's not like the MLS is god awful. It's anywhere from 8th best league to 12th depending on who's list you look at. Attendance wise it's 9th.

Bur of course it's not the same as the big 5 (England, Germany, Spain, Italy, France) because look at the money invested in players. The transfer budgets in a single season for some of the top teams could buy 3 MLS teams.

You can't watch some mid table EPL games and tell me with a straight face it's light years ahead of the MLS. I'm not pretending it's the same but the MLS isn't as garbage as people say it is.

[The_Admiral]

WE'RE-NUMBER-EIGHT! WE'RE-NUMBER-EIGHT! WE'RE-NUMBER-EIGHT!

Oh no wait, that iambic trimeter chanting is so American. Let me try again.

Walk on, walk on

With hope in your heart thatyou'llbetheseventhbestsoccerleagueintheworld...

And you’ll never scarf alone

You’ll neeeeeeeeeeeeveeeeeer scaaaaarrrrrrrf.......aaaaaaalooooooone

[Norva]

Why does the fact that people enjoy the MLS bother you so much?

[-kj]

It bothers Admiral if anyone enjoys anything.

[CubsFanBudMan]

I honestly don't mind sponsorship labels on the front of MLS jerseys, but I've always felt that there really needs to be at least SOME tie to the local area. X Box being on the front of the Sounders jerseys is fine because Microsoft is based in the Seattle area. But things like Best Buy sponsoring the Chicago Fire and Amway Global sponsoring the Quakes needs to die. Having, like, Unifed Airlines on the front of the Fire's jerseys and Chevron/Apple/Some other Bay Area based company on the Quakes jerseys would be just fine with me.

Quaker is headquartered in Chicago, so there's no problem there.

I'd still call those Quaker-can inspired jerseys a problem.

[Anubis2051]

Feel it's a little different since it's called the British Premier League which encompasses both England and Wales, as well as Scotland no?

No.

Well someone should tell Merriam-Webster : http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/britain

Where do you see "British Premier League" in that definition?

Yes, "Great Britain" is the name of the island comprised by England, Scotland and Wales. But the Premier League is not named after the landmass.

This may help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu8XDBSn10

[wonderbread]

Feel it's a little different since it's called the British Premier League which encompasses both England and Wales, as well as Scotland no?

No.

Well someone should tell Merriam-Webster : http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/britain

Where do you see "British Premier League" in that definition?

Yes, "Great Britain" is the name of the island comprised by England, Scotland and Wales. But the Premier League is not named after the landmass.

This may help:

I think you are looking for the EPL which is the English premier league, BPL only stands for it now because it's now the Barclays premier league

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_League

[guest23]

It's not like the MLS is god awful. It's anywhere from 8th best league to 12th depending on who's list you look at. Attendance wise it's 9th.

Bur of course it's not the same as the big 5 (England, Germany, Spain, Italy, France) because look at the money invested in players. The transfer budgets in a single season for some of the top teams could buy 3 MLS teams.

You can't watch some mid table EPL games and tell me with a straight face it's light years ahead of the MLS. I'm not pretending it's the same but the MLS isn't as garbage as people say it is.

For now it is what it is. Europe reigns supreme. For an immediate comparison how does MLS compare to Liga MX in terms of quality of play? Would it ever make sense to grow the continential American game to merge MLS with LigaMX or at least form some sort of alliance? Just a random thought that may be complete nonsense but I think both leagues could bring something to each other and create a really strong continental brand of soccer/futbol. Obviously the financials are always a huge consideration.

[Gothamite]

Why on earth would they do that? MLS is large enough as it is, adding teams anywhere else would make it unwieldy.

The only thing MLS needs to do is attract younger and younger internationals, while developing American players. Easy to say, hard to accomplish but if they can in five or ten years they'll be the equal of something like League 1, and in fifteen or twenty they can challenge the world's dominant leagues.

[guest23]

Why on earth would they do that? MLS is large enough as it is, adding teams anywhere else would make it unwieldy.

The only thing MLS needs to do is attract younger and younger internationals, while developing American players. Easy to say, hard to accomplish but if they can in five or ten years they'll be the equal of something like League 1, and in fifteen or twenty they can challenge the world's dominant leagues.

Adding established clubs with solid financial backing is entirely different than straight internal expansion. You could lock in an integrated North American soccer TV footprint for one (mls competes for viewers and ad dollars with liga mx on American TV's). Expand the youth talent pool to draw from. Increase the quality of play at a faster rate by adding established clubs with talent.

[MJWalker45]

The main problem is those teams would either have to adapt to DP rules and a salary cap or MLS would have to drop those rules. For the New York, Seattle and LA teams it'd be a godsend. For the Midwest teams it'd be debilitating so I can't see MLS going that route. They tried Superliga and it failed due to being more about branding instead of rewarding teams that performed well in MLS. To be fair the Mexican teams would rather ditch relegation in a heartbeat and seek US markets for exposure, the main issue would be dealing with US Soccer, Canadian and Mexican FA's and FIFA.

[guest23]

The main problem is those teams would either have to adapt to DP rules and a salary cap or MLS would have to drop those rules. For the New York, Seattle and LA teams it'd be a godsend. For the Midwest teams it'd be debilitating so I can't see MLS going that route. They tried Superliga and it failed due to being more about branding instead of rewarding teams that performed well in MLS. To be fair the Mexican teams would rather ditch relegation in a heartbeat and seek US markets for exposure, the main issue would be dealing with US Soccer, Canadian and Mexican FA's and FIFA.

I think the ideal would be to merge all of the major markets from US/CA/MX in to a super league from a media/marketing perspective but there would be a ton of details to work out that would likely make the deal not pencil out. I'm all for mls expanding on its own but I think they are going to hit some serious challenges with this rapid expansion and getting into markets that are not really going to grow the league from a topline perspective, much like the nfl expanding to jacksonville didn't really do anything to grow the nfl brand.

[dbadefense1990]

It's not like the MLS is god awful. It's anywhere from 8th best league to 12th depending on who's list you look at. Attendance wise it's 9th.

Bur of course it's not the same as the big 5 (England, Germany, Spain, Italy, France) because look at the money invested in players. The transfer budgets in a single season for some of the top teams could buy 3 MLS teams.

You can't watch some mid table EPL games and tell me with a straight face it's light years ahead of the MLS. I'm not pretending it's the same but the MLS isn't as garbage as people say it is.

For now it is what it is. Europe reigns supreme. For an immediate comparison how does MLS compare to Liga MX in terms of quality of play? Would it ever make sense to grow the continential American game to merge MLS with LigaMX or at least form some sort of alliance Just a random thought that may be complete nonsense but I think both leagues could bring something to each other and create a really strong continental brand of soccer/futbol. Obviously the financials are always a huge consideration.

Not sure if this counted as an "alliance," but MLS and MX did have the SuperLiga in the late-2000s, which pitted the best-4 teams of each league in a USA vs. Mexico club championship. However, too much schedule flubbing with MLS teams was one of its contributors of the tournament folding after 2010.

[shaydre1019]

Sadly, yes. You'll see that sort of silly derision from time to time. But less so, as attitudes are changing.

What's silly is to pretend that a bunch of Seattle yuppies playing dress-up with scarves are watching anything close to the top European leagues.

Well they have players that have played on those leagues and also succeeded. And players that can go and play with the top players in the world. MLS is getting better at developing young talent. It's not a top flight league but it's not a joke either. Stop acting like it is. The logo on the other hand, I can't make a case for it.

[shaydre1019]

Sadly, yes. You'll see that sort of silly derision from time to time. But less so, as attitudes are changing.

What's silly is to pretend that a bunch of Seattle yuppies playing dress-up with scarves are watching anything close to the top European leagues.

Well they have players that have played on those leagues and also succeeded. And players that can go and play with the top players in the world. MLS is getting better at developing young talent. It's not a top flight league but it's not a joke either. Stop acting like it is. The logo on the other hand, I can't make a case for it.

[kewp80]

It's not like the MLS is god awful. It's anywhere from 8th best league to 12th depending on who's list you look at. Attendance wise it's 9th.

Bur of course it's not the same as the big 5 (England, Germany, Spain, Italy, France) because look at the money invested in players. The transfer budgets in a single season for some of the top teams could buy 3 MLS teams.

You can't watch some mid table EPL games and tell me with a straight face it's light years ahead of the MLS. I'm not pretending it's the same but the MLS isn't as garbage as people say it is.

For now it is what it is. Europe reigns supreme. For an immediate comparison how does MLS compare to Liga MX in terms of quality of play? Would it ever make sense to grow the continential American game to merge MLS with LigaMX or at least form some sort of alliance Just a random thought that may be complete nonsense but I think both leagues could bring something to each other and create a really strong continental brand of soccer/futbol. Obviously the financials are always a huge consideration.

Not sure if this counted as an "alliance," but MLS and MX did have the SuperLiga in the late-2000s, which pitted the best-4 teams of each league in a USA vs. Mexico club championship. However, too much schedule flubbing with MLS teams was one of its contributors of the tournament folding after 2010.

Plus aren't the MLS and MX pretty much the two leagues of any prominence when it comes to CONCACAF and it's Champions League? Thus already creating a continental brand of soccer? When it comes to thinking about the CONCACAF do you think about any other domestic leagues other than MLS or LigaMX?