Crew SC, MLS and Fluff n Stuff

1. I still try and put "SC" in my posts. The team requested it when they changed the name and after years of trying to find different ways to say Columbus / Crew / MLS Columbus it was a welcome way to mix it up. While I'm thinking of it, however... what does "Crew" mean now, anyway? Wiki has the answer: ah, go look it up. Basically, means a group of soccer fans with a bunch of branding verbiage. Not sure how I missed that definition back in 2014.

2. MLS put out their "red line report" last week. Columbus has an average strength of schedule left. I thought it was kinda funny, the report. In leagues where you have good teams putting forth 90-100% effort each week, this stuff matters greatly. But in MLS, where the fire of competition are more like those hot rocks people walk across, it matters little. It was also funny that everybody in the east, were you to look at it as one team alone, had an easy-looking path remaining. Something like 1.30 PPG avg left. Sigh. It's because MLS regular season is such mush. They've got to fix it. That's not just me, the league critic / cynic talking.

2a. TV ratings. Speaking of. FS1 registered 50k last weekend for their evening RSL x SEA match. That's the lowest (by ~20k) that I have on record. Bad summer ratings are not what MLS needs. It's the Olympics that drove this figure, but the excuses are beyond tired at this point. There's always something fans of the league pin it one. At some point you have to say it's not working. Sportings viewership has become a little hobby for me. Not just MLS, but ALL OF IT. A lot of the MLS guys live in a little MLS bubble. These ratings are bad. Worse - they don't come anywhere near matching the hype and fluff of the league. Eventually, people will catch up. When they do, the league will be too fat and no longer nimble enough to change (like they did in the early 00s).

"sell-out"

3. Speaking of hype and fluff. There was a sincere hour by hour account in the SBJ about a lead up to a "NY Derby" in MLS. Humorous for me. First off, the guys they were following found tickets on the ground outside the stadium before the game. It's funny because MLS either hands them out or they were given as a group for next to nothing. Those tickets - worth nothing. In the very next hour in the account they talked about getting ready for "sellout crowd of more than 25,000 fans." Sure. There's very few that understand or find that funny, but it goes back to the fluff n stuff of the league. People (the larger business world) will figure it out. Right now it's "SOCCER IS HUGE, WAIT... THERE'S A LEAGUE IN THE US? I'LL PUT SOME MONEY THERE. SAYS HERE THEIR ATTENDANCE FIGURES ARE GREAT!" Massive generalization, but that's it in a nutshell for US biz folks. Heck, listen to Anthony Precourt talk. That's what he sounds like.

Good morning.