Domestic Soccer 2013

[Nyk33]

http://www.nycfc.com/News/Latest-News/2013/August/Manchester-derby-comp

Describing them as idiots for doing this is too kind.

They should be doing everything in their power to not remind people that NYCFC is owned by City (who may I remind you has an owner who has recently been under negative criticism for a little human rights controversy involving a government that he is a part of). They should be aiming to form the same relationship with each other that the Rapids & Arsenal have with each other. You can have an MLS team & an EPL team owned by the same people but you must treat them as their own separate entities to the best of your ability.

[crashcarson15]

Why describe them as idiots? It's a way to build interest in NYCFC while entering a contest tons of New Yorkers would love to win to go to one of the world's biggest matches. Don't get your response to be honest.

[Gothamite]

Yeah, I think the whole point of NYCFC is to play up the connection. Americans don't know or care much about human rights, after all.

And I think you're forgetting the MLS track record.

There's a team named and styled after the Mexican club that owns it, Real Salt Lake has only the most tenuous connection to the side from Madrid, and the Rapids were nearly re-named "Arsenal" despite the fact that their agreement with the Londoners was barely that of a farm team.

[Nyk33]

Why describe them as idiots? It's a way to build interest in NYCFC while entering a contest tons of New Yorkers would love to win to go to one of the world's biggest matches. Don't get your response to be honest.

The reason why there was a big push for NY2 in the MLS was because people were pissed off at the whole Red Bull NY situation and how that team is nothing more than a branding tool for the energy drink. I am sure non-MLS fans in New York would love to go but I just don't see this resonating well with the people that are the most interested in rooting for a local New York team.

[Gothamite]

I have to respectfully disagree with regard to the Red Bull branding. The city had tuned out the franchise under its old name, too.

It's not about ownership, it's about attitude. The MetroStars/Red Bulls gave NYC the middle finger, not advertising in the city, refusing requests from youth soccer organizations and so on. That is, what I think drove the push for a second NY team: the Red Bulls have never been the marquee franchise in the biggest city that MLS needs to thrive.

[crashcarson15]

When I was in NYC in September, I saw one Red Bulls "ad" -- it was a card for a camp at a soccer store. That's it.

[Brian in Boston]

... the Rapids were nearly re-named "Arsenal" despite the fact that their agreement with the Londoners was barely that of a farm team.

Truth be told, had that rebranding gone down, I'd have cut the former Rapids some slack. After all, Commerce City - site of the team's stadium - was home to the U.S. Army's Rocky Mountain Arsenal.

[Kevin W.]

Yeah, I think the whole point of NYCFC is to play up the connection. Americans don't know or care much about human rights, after all.

And I think you're forgetting the MLS track record.

There's a team named and styled after the Mexican club that owns it, Real Salt Lake has only the most tenuous connection to the side from Madrid, and the Rapids were nearly re-named "Arsenal" despite the fact that their agreement with the Londoners was barely that of a farm team.

That happens to be incredibly racist and is trying to mold the American team in that image.

[Nyk33]

I have to respectfully disagree with regard to the Red Bull branding. The city had tuned out the franchise under its old name, too.

It's not about ownership, it's about attitude. The MetroStars/Red Bulls gave NYC the middle finger, not advertising in the city, refusing requests from youth soccer organizations and so on. That is, what I think drove the push for a second NY team: the Red Bulls have never been the marquee franchise in the biggest city that MLS needs to thrive.

Speaking with a few people in the Borough Boys I know for a fact there are people in the NY2 camp with my way of thinking. Then again there are other ways of thinking as well but I tend to notice mine (but that could be due to my bias towards my own opinion).

[Gothamite]

IIRC, the Borough Boys were formed after talk of NY2 had started. So while there may well be people in NYC who were turned off by the rebranding (as there were in Jersey), I don't know that it had anything to do with the organization.

I still maintain that there's been interest in a team of ours since the very earliest days of MLS.

[Gothamite]

... the Rapids were nearly re-named "Arsenal" despite the fact that their agreement with the Londoners was barely that of a farm team.

Truth be told, had that rebranding gone down, I'd have cut the former Rapids some slack. After all, Commerce City - site of the team's stadium - was home to the U.S. Army's Rocky Mountain Arsenal.

I would have as well - I have no problem with the Chivas name, except, as noted, that the whole organization is unbelievably scummy - so I didn't mind them naming themselves after the real Arsenal, no matter what other justification they came up with.

[NJTank]

The Red Bulls just piss me off. They lost to Chivas, they are the Jets of MLS.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

The Sounders/Timbers game was a lot of fun last night. Dempsey needs to score, but they're 2-1 with him, still in the playoff race, and have two games in hand against the rest of the conference.

Once/if he acclimates to playing on turd (and the rest of the league stops beating the holy hell out of him), good things will come.

[Foxxtrot44]

Once/if he acclimates to playing on turd (and the rest of the league stops beating the holy hell out of him), good things will come.

Now there's a Freudian slip I can get on board with. What an apt description of turf.

[-kj]

I still don't understand how that game finished with only one goal. It was wide, wide, wide open for the most part.

[raysox]

Say, 20 years down the road, US Soccer is booming, the USMNT has won 5 straight world cups, and the MLS has Prem/Reg. NYCFC, Cosmos, and Red Bulls are all competing for fans and such. Do the Red Bulls change their name to Red Bulls New Jersey? Like if they know the battle for the market is lost, should they start marketing themselves to the crowd west of the Hudson?

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I still don't understand how that game finished with only one goal. It was wide, wide, wide open for the most part.

So I'm new to soccer (which means MLS is working!), but this is where the talent gap shows between MLS and EPL, right? It seems like it's not so much that individual scorers aren't good, but seems more like the table-setting and follow through needs more work.

Seattle had some outstanding goal-tending on individual shots, while it seems like Portland benefitted from several missed opportunities by the Sounders. Are those misses just bad luck? Or more indicative of the overall level of play?

[Gothamite]

Say, 20 years down the road, ... Do the Red Bulls change their name to Red Bulls New Jersey? Like if they know the battle for the market is lost, should they start marketing themselves to the crowd west of the Hudson?

I think it's far more likely they go back to the absurd "New York/New Jersey". But I'd rather see them just embrace their Jersey roots than pretend anymore.

[Jer15]

Say, 20 years down the road, ... Do the Red Bulls change their name to Red Bulls New Jersey? Like if they know the battle for the market is lost, should they start marketing themselves to the crowd west of the Hudson?

I think it's far more likely they go back to the absurd "New York/New Jersey". But I'd rather see them just embrace their Jersey roots than pretend anymore.

While I do agree with what you say, wouldn't that kind of hinder their ability to sign big names for their D.P.s? I mean coming to the big city of New York is much more enticing that New Jersey (no offence to people from New Jersey). I mean isn't that why Henry is playing there because he could come and live in one of the biggest cities in the world?

[Gothamite]

Hence the compromise name, which would allow them to maintain that pretense.