Comments on: MLS and American soccer journalism http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2008/01/24/mls-and-american-soccer-journalism/ Exploring football culture around the world. Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:45:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 By: Mirsad http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2008/01/24/mls-and-american-soccer-journalism/#comment-4564 Mirsad Thu, 08 May 2008 18:49:38 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2008/01/24/mls-and-american-soccer-journalism/#comment-4564 I am living in Sweden and here the soccer is the only thing that counts. I think that the more greater players MLS manage to bring (like Beckham) the more coverage in media . However, the problem is that many great players only choose the MLS for making some extra bucks and in Europe we dont see actually MLS like a serious soccer league. We see it like a last stations for old players to finish their carriers. However, I hope that MLS will survive becuase I really like the atmosphere and the passion of the crowd. I am living in Sweden and here the soccer is the only thing that counts. I think that the more greater players MLS manage to bring (like Beckham) the more coverage in media . However, the problem is that many great players only choose the MLS for making some extra bucks and in Europe we dont see actually MLS like a serious soccer league. We see it like a last stations for old players to finish their carriers. However, I hope that MLS will survive becuase I really like the atmosphere and the passion of the crowd.

]]> By: Bubba http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2008/01/24/mls-and-american-soccer-journalism/#comment-2499 Bubba Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:54:01 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2008/01/24/mls-and-american-soccer-journalism/#comment-2499 Great post Sean. This is a good article and clearly identifies a major problem with the MLS. In my mind, they see media coverage as a profit opportunity for them. So from their perspective, why allow independent media to report on MLS when they can do it internally and try to drive hits to their own website? In the early days of MLS and US Soccer, the media coverage and the match announcers were 100% controlled and 100% boosterism for the league and the players. It still has not changed and it is one of the significant reasons why I cannot watch MLS on TV. I love going to the games, but I just cannot cope with the idiotic comments on the match commentary which try to tell me that black is white and up is down. And more precisely and at every opportunity, how MLS is so great. Let the viewers and fans decide for themselves. And to help us do that we need indpendent media. Great post Sean. This is a good article and clearly identifies a major problem with the MLS. In my mind, they see media coverage as a profit opportunity for them. So from their perspective, why allow independent media to report on MLS when they can do it internally and try to drive hits to their own website?

In the early days of MLS and US Soccer, the media coverage and the match announcers were 100% controlled and 100% boosterism for the league and the players. It still has not changed and it is one of the significant reasons why I cannot watch MLS on TV. I love going to the games, but I just cannot cope with the idiotic comments on the match commentary which try to tell me that black is white and up is down. And more precisely and at every opportunity, how MLS is so great. Let the viewers and fans decide for themselves. And to help us do that we need indpendent media.

]]> By: Sean http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2008/01/24/mls-and-american-soccer-journalism/#comment-2421 Sean Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:38:19 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2008/01/24/mls-and-american-soccer-journalism/#comment-2421 For me, it's hard not to see this paranoid, control-freak behavior as an outgrowth of MLS' single-entity corporate structure. Most large corporations behave precisely in the fashion MLS is currently behaving toward a free press, at least until they're large enough to be riven by rivalries and turf battles. Most of the oddities and ills of MLS I lay at the feet of corporatism. Your mileage may vary, of course, especially if you're not one of the vast majority getting their face stamped (forever!) by Orwell's prophesied boot. For me, it’s hard not to see this paranoid, control-freak behavior as an outgrowth of MLS’ single-entity corporate structure. Most large corporations behave precisely in the fashion MLS is currently behaving toward a free press, at least until they’re large enough to be riven by rivalries and turf battles.

Most of the oddities and ills of MLS I lay at the feet of corporatism. Your mileage may vary, of course, especially if you’re not one of the vast majority getting their face stamped (forever!) by Orwell’s prophesied boot.

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