Is anyone watching MLS?
A success at the ticket booth, the soccer league is struggling to fi nd followers on TV.
Major League Soccer kicks off its showcase championship final on Sunday with no shortage of intriguing storylines.
On the field, U. S. star midfielder Landon Donovan — the longtime face of American soccer — plays his last game before retiring as the Los Angeles Galaxy battle the New England Revolution for MLS supremacy.
Donovan, Juninho and league MVP Robbie Keane will try to create a mini dynasty as the Galaxy go for their third MLS Cup title in the past four seasons.
Off the field, commissioner Don Garber raised eyebrows this week by saying the league and its teams lose about $ 100 million annually.
The statement comes as the league tries to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with its players before the start of next season.
The smart money is still betting MLS has a solid financial future.
New York City FC — owned by sports icons Manchester City FC and the New York Yankees — paid a reported $ 100 million franchise fee to field a new team in MLS next year.
That’s more than three times the estimated $ 30- million franchise fee the Vancouver Whitecaps agreed to pay in 2009.
League attendance rose to a record average of 19,149 a game this season and a new U. S. television deal next year will pay the league $ 90 million a season — five times the annual revenue generated by the previous contract.
But when will more people watch MLS on TV?
The MLS Cup final attracted a record low average of 505,000 viewers in the U. S. last year and just 53,000 in Canada.
This summer, the B. C. Lions hosted the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at BC Place Stadium in a Canadian Football League game that attracted 857,000 Canadian viewers on TSN.
Two days later, the Vancouver Whitecaps hosted FC Dallas at the same venue in an MLS game that attracted just 99,000 viewers on the same network.
Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi knows all too well just how much the CFL kicks MLS ass when it comes to Canadian television ratings.
According to Bell Media, the Lions averaged 693,000 viewers on TSN during the 2014 regular season while the Whitecaps attracted an average of 134,000 viewers.
“Obviously we realize we need to generate greater numbers,” Lenarduzzi said. “But you have to remember we’re still a relatively new franchise in a league that’s just 18 years old.”
The Caps attracted their largest English- language broadcast ratings during the November 2012 playoff game against the Galaxy, which drew an average of 335,000 viewers.
The club’s season- opening game against the Montreal Impact in March 2012 attracted a team record 541,000 viewers across Canada — including 288,000 on TSN and 253,000 on French- language RDS.
MLS didn’t do itself any favours in the Canadian market last weekend when TSN, which was committed to broadcasting the Grey Cup on national television, was unable to televise a crucial Western Conference final match between the Galaxy and the Seattle Sounders.
Canadians had to go online to watch the game featuring two of the league’s marquee teams.
Lenarduzzi feels television ratings for MLS soccer will improve as people become more accustomed with the subtleties of the game.
“A game that I may find very entertaining may not appeal to a new fan because they don’t fully understand the sport,” Lenarduzzi said.
“That’s why I really believe we just need to keep doing what we’re doing in terms of growing the game.”
The Whitecaps’ average attendance at BC Place rose by about two per cent this year to 20,408 — fifth- best in the 19- team league.
Lenarduzzi feels the club has become much more relevant to the average sports fan in B. C., noting the outcry that occurred after the Caps lost a playoff game in Dallas in October because of a controversial penalty call. “I heard about it everywhere I went — people said we were robbed,” he said.
“It almost felt like being with the Canucks when something significant happens and everybody is aware of it.”
A recent Angus Reid Institute survey found that 13 per cent of B. C. residents closely follow the fortunes of MLS — the highest percentage in Canada and nearly double the national average of seven per cent.
B. C. interest in the league is still well behind the 44 per cent who like the NHL and the 21 per cent who follow the CFL.
But it’s tied with the B. C. fan interest in Major League Baseball and higher than the five per cent who follow the National Basketball Association.
Langara School of Management instructor Aziz Rajwani feels MLS is still in the growth stage of its development while the CFL is a much more mature league that has to reinvent itself to ensure it doesn’t fall into decline. He said the Vancouver Canucks clearly rule the B. C. professional sports market but feels the number two position has become a “tossup” between the Lions and the Whitecaps.
“A company’s share price is based largely on future expectations,” Rajwani said.
“Based on that, I’d say the share price of Whitecaps FC would be greater than the share price of the Lions.”
He said the Whitecaps have a younger fan base than the Lions, which bodes well for the club’s future, and feels the $ 30- million franchise fee paid by the Whitecaps in 2009 is probably worth more than the value of most CFL teams.
A Forbes magazine report last year estimated the Whitecaps were worth $ 86 million.
Rajwani also feels the popularity of MLS in Canada is very much tied to the success — or lack of success — of the Canadian men’s national soccer team, which has only ever qualified for one World Cup, in 1986.
MLS commissioner Garber echoed those thoughts this week when he promised the league has placed a high priority on helping the Canadian team qualify for a future World Cup as soon as possible, preferably before the next ice age.
Many soccer fans, especially casual ones, like to identify with “name” players and while MLS will lose stars such as Donovan and Thierry Henry next year, new high- profile players will join the league in 2015 — including Kaka, Frank Lampard and David Villa.
Lenarduzzi said it’s good for the league when it attracts name players but feels lesserknown players can often create the biggest buzz among fans.
“Few of our fans knew who ( Whitecaps midfielder) Pedro Morales was before he came here but look what happened,” he said.
“He became the MLS Newcomer of the Year and everyone knows who he is because he can obviously play.”