In ten years, which league will be more successful, NFLE or MLS?

[Zeno]

MLS all the way. Unlike football in europe, soccer, even here in the US, is guaranteed a core of loyal fans, which are enough to to keep a pro league afloat.

World Cup soccer is the best. Did you guys know we just kicked the crap out of Grenada twice?

Seriously, I watch every US match I can. I get fired up about our national teams.

Still, professional soccer in the US has a long, long way to go. I venture to say that it will never be bigger than football. But, its got a shot at passing hockey and basketball. Baseball? eh. I dunno.

I am a big international soccer fan myself, not big in to league play so much...I will be glued to the tube on Sunday watching Portugal Vs Greece(go Portugal) in the Euro 2004 championship game. International matches just seem to draw the best out of players, who unlike NBAers get excited about playing for their country(with the exception of whiners like Roy Keane). I am pretty proud of the US team and their play recently they haven't allowed our biggest rival Mexico to score in the US in over 5 matches and their last loss to them was 1-0 in Mexico City during qualifying for the last World Cup...3 years ago.

My wife and I also have already made our plans to travel to Germany in 2006 for the World Cup---assuming of course the US qualifies.

 

[Chaz]

I watch soccer (futbol ) in the olympics (and the World Cup)but I have no desire to watch MLS or NFLE. I would rather watch the NBADL.


I agree with Section however, we should just switch to the metric system and get it over with already.

 

[Renz]

I'm a huge soccer fan. I watch every match I can, English Premier League, Ligue 1, Eredivisie, Bundesliga etc. and I follow FC Barcelona and Sunderland religiously. It is definitely "the beautiful game" IMO and not boring to watch at all.

That being said, I don't it will be as successful here as it is everywhere else. I don't know why. I think it's great!

One thing I do know is that the indoor game isn't the answer. It's been around for over 20 years and hasn't caught on. That is the game of gimmicks.

MLS has to keep increasing it's level of play and marketing it's stars. That is the only way it will gain in popularity. Not to mention that MLS is regulated by FIFA, just like other pro leagues around the world, so introducing gimmicks is out of the question even if they wanted to.

 

[Shane]

Soccer has got to be the most boring sport to watch EVER! Moreso than golf!

 

[Zeno]

Soccer has got to be the most boring sport to watch EVER! Moreso than golf!

Yeah and the NBA is just SOOO interesting. To each his own but give me a good international match over NBA, NHL, Golf, Horse Racing, bowling, strongman competition etc etc that get TV time.

I love the NFL the most but soccer and MLB are neck and neck in my book.

 

[wembley88]

i reckon the nfle experiment will end in a couple of years. it's dying a death over here. so my vote goes to mls.

 

[Stout]

The debate of MLS being a training ground for Europe is a legitimate one, and I think MLS is on the brink right now...if they can manage even a small breakthrough into major world legitimacy, the American players will naturally want to stay (if it becomes a major world league, why not play at home, given the chance?). If they can't, the MLS will continue to lose good American players to Europe. Still, we'll always keep a good number of talented Americans, at least for now, as they realize that while they star in MLS, they often don't even start in Europe.

As to the US and the World Cup...man, you know, IF everything can fall into place, we have a real shot at winning the damn thing. Now, that's a HUUUUUGE friggin' IF, but it's possible. IMO, our strikers need to continue along their developmental paths, the midfield has to hold to form, and our defense needs to step it up more than in the past...finally, we need to avoid major injuries. These, IMO, are all attainable goals, though the defensive strength is probably going to be the hardest. WC 2002 provided the first element on our road to the next step...the experience and confidence. The rest, IMO, is in the very capable hands of Bruce Arenas.

 

[EnglishCardinal]

ihave p[ostedmy views about the US football (round) team in the past and as to NFLE i hope thati stays around as even though most of the US thinks it awful and to be honest compared to NFL it is!! but its the closest most of us get to the real thing on a regular basis so its got to be a good thing as far as i can see - the thought of NFL Germany which look all the more likely is however a worrying point- we will ahve to wait and see with that one

by the way all of you who do love footie (soccer) try this link, as the Mighty Sunderland start there tour (of sorts) of the US - for a couple of pre English season friendlies

Sunderland in the US