Garber is a bum, after all these years as head of MLS he is still out there trying to blow smoke up people's butts and make MLS look better than it is. That is his job I guess.
I just can't believe I fell for MLS' crap all those years ago, and Garber is still up to his shenanigans.
Take for example his "state of the League" address or whatever it is now.
Oh, first off, I hadn't thought of MLS for quite awhile until last week when I started to watch the Hope Solo vs US Soccer thing on Netflix and then all of a sudden it dawned on me that it was that time of year again that MLS should be having their championship game. I had to actually look it up because of course if you don't go look it up for yourself you would never even know MLS existed, it is that irrelevant.
So anyway, I went to MLS' website and there was a news article about Garber and the state of the League. I read it and started to almost vomit immediately.
But here is what really caught my eye.
"MLS recently became the second-highest-attended soccer league worldwide, with over 12.1 million fans filling stadiums this year. There are new benchmarks in sponsorship, consumer products and digital engagement as well – powering increased investment in soccer across the U.S. and Canada."
"Wow", I thought. "Second-highest-attnded soccer league worldwide"?
That seems sketchy to me. You can't tell me MLS gets more fans than the Bundesliga or La Liga or any of the other European leagues. C'mon Garber, don't give me that sh*t.
But then they provide a link to the stats.
League - Country - Total Attendance
English Premier League
England
14.6M+
MLS
United States
12.1M+
Bundesliga
Germany
12M+
Serie A
Italy
11.6M+
La Liga
Spain
10.7M+
Brazilian Série A
Brazil
10.2M+
Ligue 1
France
8.4M+
LIGA MX
Mexico
6.9M+
------
Wow, there is the proof.
But wait a minute, this is total number of fans, not an average of how many fans show up each week. And doesn't MLS have way more teams than all those other leagues? Something stinks in Smallville.
So lets's see if we compare apples to apples.
MLS had 12.1 million fans over 29 teams playing 34 games a year. That breaks down to 12,272 fans a game.
The Bundesliga had 12 million fans over 18 teams playing 34 games a year. That breaks down to 19,608 fans a game.
La Ligue 1 had 8.4 million fans over 20 teams playing 38 games a year. That breaks down to 11,053 fans a game.
Etc. etc. You get the idea. MLS is right around the same amount of fans as the French league. Which we've always kind of known that.
But, MLS is cooking the books with statements like these. They always have.
This is just more bs from Garber and his crew. (Not the Columbus Crew which he wanted to see go away.)
Anyway, you get the idea. Keep buying their crap if you want.
I'll watch bullfights in the meanwhile.
