Q&A with the SA Editors: April 4, 1997

Paul Carbonaro

Dayton, Ohio

Are you concerned about the low attendances for the opening day MLS 1997 games at Columbus, Dallas and Kansas City? I think Columbus was about 10,000 (40%) down from last year. Plus, the Dallas stat of 11,000, and the Kansas City stat of 10,000 were surely appalling. Why do you think the attendances were so low?

Pete Bailey: Certainly, Year 2 will not be as easy for the league as 1996 was. The novelty aspect of MLS is gone, and the product itself will now have to take center stage. MLS commissioner Doug Logan has talked about how he expects some low turnouts early in the season, but he also believes that attendances will grow as the season progresses, especially during the summer (when school is out and families can take advantage of the large number of weekend games scheduled this season) and the playoffs. One weekend does not make a whole season, so we’ll just have to see what happens. And remember, over 53,000 were at the Rose Bowl for the Galaxy-D.C. United match!

San Antonio

There seems to be a concerted reluctance on the part of major network sports (to include ESPN) to broadcast soccer to the television audience. This reluctance includes not transmitting any international games, few MLS games, no college games, etc. In my humble opinion, soccer will continue to viewed as a second-class sport in America until such time as the network media sports coverage is convinced of the viability of soccer as a marketable item. My question is: What are the MLS, FIFA, U.S. Soccer, AYSO, NCAA, etc. doing to improve marketing the sport of soccer in the U.S. so that fans like myself can enjoy the game on network TV with as much frequency as basketball, baseball, and football?

Paul Kennedy: Except for when it courts an English-language carrier for World Cup rights every four years, FIFA is going to do little to work with the networks. The NCAA has no interest in promoting soccer. It already makes all the money it needs from its hoops contract.

Let’s look at the other three groups you mention. MLS has embarked on an advertising campaign, modest as it is in the scope of things. U.S. Soccer and its affiliates have done little to effectively promote the sport in the way you’d like. Probably the one thing these soccer organizations can do more than anything else is encourage the habit of watching soccer on TV, whatever its form. Right now, interest in each level — whether it’s MLS, the A-League, colleges, Champions League, English League, Italian League — is so splintered that the audiences are insignificant for the networks to care.

City n/a

Now that we’ve seen (or heard) about how good Jamaica’s players can be. Many of them are playing in America, but not in MLS. Are we going to see them in the First Division soon? Do they count as foreigners?. What about Andrew Williams, who went to college here? On the note of young players, when are we going to hear about what Project-40 has done? The only U-20s I’ve heard about are the ones who’ve decided to go to college (Jason Moore is one). It seems like they’d help MLS more than I thought, with coaches saying that they looked the best at the February player combine.

Mike Woitalla: Yes, Jamaicans count as foreigners. Any non-citizen who is ineligible to play for the U.S. national team is an “international.” That would include Andrew Williams and even Colorado striker Wolde Harris, who went to high school in the U.S.

It is not likely that an MLS team would use an international spot on a player without substantial, top level, previous professional experience.

Fortunately for the Jamaicans, World Cup qualifying will give them ample opportunities to prove themselves.

In its first year, Project-40 is likely to include only a handful of players. The MLS said it may make some announcements by the end of April. Anyhow, the U-20s will be busy preparing for the U-20 World Cup (June 18-July 5).

I’d be cautious about the praise the U-20s received from coaches at the combine. The U-20s did look good against the guys trying out. However, they should have, because they had played together before, and because the guys trying out weren’t that great.

Dallas

My fiancee plays for the Dallas Lightning of the USWSL and is very excited about the upcoming pro women’s league. Do you know what cities are likely to be selected for the league and what the average salaries for the non-national team players would be? Any guesses to where certain national team players would be allocated?

Dean Caparaz: National Soccer Alliance (NSA) officials are still determining cities and salaries. However, Dallas is rumored to be in the running. Another rumor has non-national team players earning $10,000 per year in the NSA and national team players earning $30,000 per year.

I would guess that national team players would be allocated to teams closest to where they are currently living or to teams near where they went to college (i.e., if Chapel Hill, N.C., gets a team, a bevy of players could play there). You may see, perhaps, Brandi Chastain (Santa Clara alum and current assistant coach) and Julie Foudy (Stanford alum) on a San Francisco Bay Area team, though Foudy lives in Southern California.

S. Glens Falls, N.Y.

1) What is the “regulation” size of an indoor soccer “field”?

2) Are there any sanctioned college or high school indoor soccer programs?

Paul Kennedy:

1) There is no such thing since indoor soccer does not have the umbrella organizations controlling it like outdoor soccer. The NPSL field size is “approximately 200 feet long and 85 feet wide.”

2) No varsity college programs exist and we don’t know of any at the high school level. The number of offseason indoor college tournaments has shrunk as the NCAA rules on out-of-season competition have become more restrictive.

Harvey, La.

Where can I obtain a copy of the 1996 Olympic finals?

Pete Bailey: I called our friends at Soccer Learning Systems (phone:
1-800-762-2376; web site address: http://www.soccerlearningsystems.com) and the sad news is that this game will likely never be available on videocassette.

NBC owns the rights to all the action that occurred at the 1996 Olympics, and soccer hasn’t been high on the network’s list of priorities (remember how much air time it gave the sport?). It did not release the soccer rights to anyone else, and it doesn’t feel that it will earn any kind of a profit by selling the highlights of the soccer tournament on video. SLS told me that while the Olympic TV ratings are generally very high, Olympic videos don’t sell particularly well. To date, NBC has released one highlight package video from the 1996 games.

It’s a shame — the Brazil-Nigeria semifinal and the Nigeria-Argentina final were two of the best games I’ve seen, and the U.S. women were phenomenal.

Durham, N.C.

I wholeheartedly disagree with your rousing defense of Project 40 (February 28 Q&A session). One only has to look at the natural marketing potential of college athletics through the current NCAA basketball tournaments to realize the enormous possibilities. The university system offers explosive natural rivalries that transcend the sport being played. For example, Duke wants to beat UNC in everything from table tennis to soccer. Army and Navy compete in everything like they are at the World Championships. More importantly, fans go to see these games and to experience the thrill. Just think of the opportunity to bring attention to soccer and improve not only the caliber of play but the awareness of the game by the average fan. By taking away the most talented prospects from the college game to pursue an uncertain future, college soccer will become what college baseball is — a mere playground for students who didn’t make it in the minor leagues. And to say that these college teams don’t or will not produce national or international stars is preposterous. You can take virtually any sport and cite examples of world-class athletes who honed their talents in the college realm. Just look at Eddie Pope. From UNC to DC to an exemplary role on the national team.

Mike Woitalla: Name a World Cup-winning team comprised of college products? Can you even name a World Cup quarterfinalist that used college products? Can you name any professional soccer team in the world that won any kind of serious championship using college products? In analyzing soccer, I suggest you use examples from soccer, not other sports.

Would you buy all the ingredients for Chinese cuisine and then open a Japanese restaurant?