Even non-soccer fans must watch this ...

[SHOXAAC]

Who is Lutz? :)

Your brother from your unpopular mother!!!

[Kung Wu]

First, I'm far from a soccer hater. I coached youth soccer and even had the privilege of coaching teams in the AAU Junior Olympics. I love the sport for youth and I went to a good number of Wings games back in the day. It is a very inexpensive game for schools and families. It is not surprising that attendance and viewership is growing.

However, one should temper comparing the MLS to MLB. MLS teams play only 34 games. A very limited number of times to view and small number of games to commit to watching. That's not the case with baseball. At this time, if there were more teams and more games, I feel the averages would go down, but overall totals would be higher.

By my findings and calculations of game attendance for 2014:

MLS average game attendance is 19,151. Number of games is 323. That's total attendance of 12,371,546.

MLB average game attendance is 30,346. Number of games is 2,430. That's total attendance of 73,740,780.
Only 2 of 30 MLB teams averaged less attendance than the average for MLS.
From 2004 through 2014, MLB attendance has been very steady except for 2 years that were somewhat higher. In all those years, the annual attendance has been higher than in any year prior to 2004.

Game viewership for 2014:

MLS 665,000 x 323 games = 214,795,000 total viewership

MLB 690,000 x 2,430 games = 1,676,700,000 total viewership

The state of soccer is nowhere near the same as when we were attending Wings games. We are insulated from the huge growth somewhat in Wichita.

Average attendance figures for the MLS have exceeded average NBA attendance. Obviously no sport has near the volume of games that baseball has so total viewership won't compare with any sport most likely. Maybe football. How many games does the NBA put on in a regular season?

FWIW, I'm not claiming that soccer is more popular than any one of the big three American sports, but it is certainly popular enough that it has "caught on", and definitely has reached the critical mass level. It's only going to grow from this point on, like it or not.

Personally I would love to win a World Cup and piss off the rest of the world. But that's just the ornery side of me kicking in. And if we are going to win it all, please God let us meet and whip France in the championship game.

[Kung Wu]

Your brother from your unpopular mother!!!

My brother?? Tell that bastard he owes me money! :)

[1972Shocker]

Soccer would probably be more popular if there was more scoring. Get rid of the goalie and let the other players defend he goal. And then allow any player inside the goalie area to use their hands, but not to catch the ball.

I say keep the goalie but require him to stop everything with his face. Pretty entertaining if you ask me.

[ShockTalk]

The state of soccer is nowhere near the same as when we were attending Wings games. We are insulated from the huge growth somewhat in Wichita.

Average attendance figures for the MLS have exceeded average NBA attendance. Obviously no sport has near the volume of games that baseball has so total viewership won't compare with any sport most likely. Maybe football. How many games does the NBA put on in a regular season?

FWIW, I'm not claiming that soccer is more popular than any one of the big three American sports, but it is certainly popular enough that it has "caught on", and definitely has reached the critical mass level. It's only going to grow from this point on, like it or not.

Personally I would love to win a World Cup and piss off the rest of the world. But that's just the ornery side of me kicking in. And if we are going to win it all, please God let us meet and whip France in the championship game.

Oh Yes, to your last statement.....all of it.

Going in reverse order on your statements, I agree on it continuing to grow.

NBA and NHL actually have less average attendance per game, both in the upper 17,000, but both have more total games each playing 82. Capacity is also an issue being indoor sports, small playing surface. By the way, I did make an error on the MLS total attendance. It was half of what I posted at 6,185,773.

On the first statement, Wichita was a hot bed for youth soccer in the late 80s. A club team from Wichita toured Europe and had the first US team to tour China. I believe youth/young adult teams went to California and competed very well in Cup play. The 2 AAU Junior Olympics I was associated with took 1st and 3rd. There were teams from a number of states. We played several champion Florida teams, winning all of the games but one. At the time of my involvement, I always thought is was to bad that WSU didn't an NCAA team, just played club ball.

[WSUwatcher]

Still too many concussions, KW -- just watch the video again. I know I wouldn't want my son playing soccer. Get those guys helmets! ;0)

And believe or not, I actually used to go to several Wings games a year -- even on some cold snowy nights when I would rather have been trudging across the WSU parking lot to watch a mediocre Shocker basketball team if it had been playing.

[Kung Wu]

On the first statement, Wichita was a hot bed for youth soccer in the late 80s. A club team from Wichita toured Europe and had the first US team to tour China. I believe youth/young adult teams went to California and competed very well in Cup play. The 2 AAU Junior Olympics I was associated with took 1st and 3rd. There were teams from a number of states. We played several champion Florida teams, winning all of the games but one. At the time of my involvement, I always thought is was to bad that WSU didn't an NCAA team, just played club ball.

I was one of the last members of the Wings' 100% club that had never missed a single game well after 10 years.

Regarding AAU Junior Olympics, you must be talking about the Strykers?

[ShockTalk]

I was one of the last members of the Wings' 100% club that had never missed a single game well after 10 years.

Regarding AAU Junior Olympics, you must be talking about the Strykers?

This team join the Strykers after the first AAU. The touring teams were older Stryker teams.

[SHOXAAC]

My brother?? Tell that bastard he owes me money! :)

He told me to ask you the same thing. You guys need to just hug it out I guess.

[Kung Wu]

This team join the Strykers after the first AAU. The touring teams were older Stryker teams.

I get this strange feeling that you and I probably know each other. ;)

[SHOXAAC]

I get this strange feeling that you and I probably know each other. ;)

You're saying ShockTalk was in prison too?
:-)

[Kung Wu]

You're saying ShockTalk was in prison too?
:-)

HAHAHA

[Kung Wu]

Whoa! My mom just discovered why @JJClampdip hates soccer so much!

She was looking through all old tapes of me as a baby and discovered that Clamdip used to play as an amateur and finally got called up to the big time! We coincidentally caught his big moment on one of my baby tapes!! can you believe it!?

It's a sad story though .. he only got to play one game, where he took only one shot ... and then was let go from the squad, never to play soccer again, cursing it for the rest of eternity. Here's the footage: