MLS has gotten a warm reception from the fourth estate.
“Down on the corner, Americans don’t give a boot about soccer.” So read the headline of one of many sports columns, during the 1990 World Cup, citing the inferiority of soccer.
That particular column — in which Dave Kindred asked whether something couldn’t be done to prevent the World Cup from coming to the United States in 1994 — was in The National, the sports daily edited by Frank Deford. He often listed reasons way soccer would never make it as a spectator sport in the United States. The National , which proclaimed it would revolutionize U.S. sports journalism, lasted 16 months before dying amid $150 million losses.
The soccer-bashing sports columnists around the country were expected to launch a full assault during the 1994 World Cup. But even longtime enemies of the game began describing its attributes.
Now, almost a month into the inaugural Major Soccer League season, the sport has more friends than ever in the media.
“Each of the media outlets has somebody who likes soccer,” said Jim Henderson, the Tampa Bay Mutiny director of media relations. “I’ve been around for a long time and that wasn’t the case 20 years ago.”
David Harris writes for Tampa alternative weekly, the Weekly Planet. He’s 26 and started playing soccer when he was 6. Usually he writes music and news stories. In April, he wrote about Carlos Valderrama (“Carlito’s Way”). It was the first time in a year the Weekly Planet had a sports figure on its cover.
Harris’ managing editor went for it, Harris said, because of “The international aspect, his flamboyance and my passion.”
Henderson — the North American Soccer League’s last PR man — says coverage of the Mutiny is more than he could ever have imagined.
Between April 9-14, the five Tampa area TV stations had 24 segments on the Mutiny.
Impressed by Tampa’s opening day attendance of 26,473, The St. Petersburg Times sent its beat writer to Columbus.
More than half the league’s teams have seen writers from their area’s major dailies travel to away games. Large opening crowds are credited with swaying the editors in several cases.
Sitting amid a large soccer crowd in the United States probably makes it a lot more difficult for a columnist to take potshots. The Tampa Tribune’s David Whitely wrote, “It was more than not boring. It was excitement bordering on fun. The Dallas Morning News’ Kevin Blackstone wrote, “New soccer league gets off on right foot with Burn.” Blackstone’s words came after a 0-0 snoozer!
Elsewhere in the league:
In San Jose, the Mercury News has run stories three to four days per week on the Clash and it sent a writer to Dallas. The San Francisco Chronicle, on April 22 — the day after the Clash outdrew the Oakland A’s by 1,000 — ran a huge color photo on its sports’ front page. It is sending a writer to the Clash game in Pasadena, Calif.
After the MetroStars’ opening day attendance doubled the baseball Mets’ April 20 crowd, all the local TV news stations had MLS highlights.
(That every MLS game in April is nationally or regionally televised has made highlights easily accessible.)
The Denver Postran an eight-page spread before the Rapids’ home opener.
The Columbus Crew got 14 straight days of TV news coverage in early April.
Revolution media relations director Rafael Morffi says he gets 250 calls a day, many of which are interview requests.
Coverage in non-MLS cities is slowly increasing.
The Associated Press‘ membership demanded box scores and coverage, so AP is putting on its wire service 150- to 200-word stories — provided by MLS — on each game.
Chicagoans have complained about the coverage, but Miami papers have sent writers to Tampa. In general, the opener and the two big draws — the MetroStars (46,826) and Galaxy’s (69,255) home openers — got national coverage.
“Sports editors are impressed more by attendances than by anything else,” said Ray Jordan, soccer writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
by Soccer America Senior Editor Mike Woitalla