OT: More competition for eyes, MLS switches schedule to Fall-Spring

[UcanUwill]

MLS is an amateur league.

How can you say that when possibly the greatest player in the history of the game (Lionel Messi) is playing for Inter Miami ?

It's like the Saudi league. Guys will go there to dick around before they retire.

So Saudi league is also amateur although it has world class superstars whom make hundreds of millions? Yes, MLS is not a top 5 league, but there are hundreds of Football leagues worse than MLS still, in overall picture, MLS is still one of the strongest leagues, it was ranked 9th in world rankings this year I believe, above EFL Championship, Scottish Premiership, Liga MX and even Süper Lig. Go to Turkey and tell them their league is amateur...

[wco81]

Humongous leap of faith right here. Hopefully it makes them and doesn't break them. Those other countries don't have to compete with mulit-billion dollar entities like the NFL, NBA, College Football, College Basketball, NHL, etc. They have the country all to themselves.

Yeah it's unlikely to help ratings for their games, so how else would they hope to increase revenues?

People are going to prioritize other US sports during the same months.

The people who are soccer fans can watch PL and UCL matches along with the other sports.

After watching PL matches, are they going to be interested in watching the MLS matches? A lot of European expats probably watch the PL and other European games shown in the US. They probably would have little interest in the MLS, regardless of when the MLS games are on.

[Shock Defeat]

Good. Baseball is a dying sport, now mostly only watched by old dudes. Maybe this will be the final nail in that dumb sport's coffin.

Baseball WS ratings dwarfed NBA Finals ratings. It's not dying it's actually turning around

[liquidswords]

How would that grow the game in North America? MLS now runs alongside NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB lol

[pace31]

Yep this is DUMB. There are probably 10 ish clubs where weather in December and February could be a blizzard and around 20 degrees. Then instead of competing with just the MLB over the Summer for sports interest now you're going against the NFL, NBA, and NHL.......

[ImSlower]

I genuinely dont understand this. Who wants to see a Chicago game in February when it's 12° out?

[og15]

Must be planning to build lots of indoor soccer fields

[Dominator83]

Read on Twitter

Well the dumbest is still probably when Trump pushed his fellow owners into switching the USFL from a spring league, to competing directly with the NFL... then trying to sue the NFL

But yea this might take the cake. Unless theres some sorta plan for every cold weather team to build indoor stadiums in the near future... this is gonna be a disaster.

[DavidSterned]

Good. Baseball is a dying sport, now mostly only watched by old dudes. Maybe this will be the final nail in that dumb sport's coffin.

The MLB is clearly in a better place right now than the NBA is.

NBA's advantage and business model is focused on 10-25 year olds with no disposable income and the attention span of a gnat. Invariably that group mostly grows out of it as they age, and increasingly the younger generation cares more about Twitch streamers and E-Game crap nowadays anyways.

[Dacost]

This is the right call in my opinion because now they are on the same calendar as the rest of the world.

You had to do it.

[Old_Blue]

Good. Baseball is a dying sport, now mostly only watched by old dudes. Maybe this will be the final nail in that dumb sport's coffin.

The MLB is clearly in a better place right now than the NBA is.

NBA's advantage and business model is focused on 10-25 year olds with no disposable income and the attention span of a gnat. Invariably that group mostly grows out of it as they age, and increasingly the younger generation cares more about Twitch streamers and E-Game crap nowadays anyways.

And MLB's "business model" (if you can even call it that) is focused on old men whose disposable income mostly goes towards Depends undergarments and erectile dysfunction meds. And, of course you don't have to worry about MLB fans growing out of the sport - since most of them are currently trying to decide between burial or cremation. Seriously, it's been 27 years since MLB added an expansion team. All four MLB expansion teams added since 1993 reside in the bottom third of MLB team valuations. You've got another dozen or so moribund franchises who routinely enter a season with little to no hope of reaching the playoffs. And, it's not simply because these teams suck. It's because MLB has neither a salary cap or floor, such that the highest payroll in MLB in 2024-2025 was $323 million and the lowest payroll was $63.5 million. The whole thing is a fiasco.

[Dominator83]

Good. Baseball is a dying sport, now mostly only watched by old dudes. Maybe this will be the final nail in that dumb sport's coffin.

The MLB is clearly in a better place right now than the NBA is.

NBA's advantage and business model is focused on 10-25 year olds with no disposable income and the attention span of a gnat. Invariably that group mostly grows out of it as they age, and increasingly the younger generation cares more about Twitch streamers and E-Game crap nowadays anyways.

The NBA is also the least relatable to the common fan as well. The players are the most overpaid in professional sports, while also missing the most games. Fans pay good money to see their favorite players play, not sit on the bench in street clothes.

[Marvin Martian]

MLS is an amateur league.

How can you say that when possibly the greatest player in the history of the game (Lionel Messi) is playing for Inter Miami ?

Funny. Messi killed MLS. Soon as he signed, MLS got greedy and thought they could lock their games behind the apple pay wall. Wanted to get interested in MLS but that's never going to happen now.

[Old_Blue]

MLS is an amateur league.

How can you say that when possibly the greatest player in the history of the game (Lionel Messi) is playing for Inter Miami ?

Funny. Messi killed MLS. Soon as he signed, MLS got greedy and thought they could lock their games behind the apple pay wall. Wanted to get interested in MLS but that's never going to happen now.

Apple TV is great. You should try it.

[DavidSterned]

Good. Baseball is a dying sport, now mostly only watched by old dudes. Maybe this will be the final nail in that dumb sport's coffin.

The MLB is clearly in a better place right now than the NBA is.

NBA's advantage and business model is focused on 10-25 year olds with no disposable income and the attention span of a gnat. Invariably that group mostly grows out of it as they age, and increasingly the younger generation cares more about Twitch streamers and E-Game crap nowadays anyways.

And MLB's "business model" (if you can even call it that) is focused on old men whose disposable income mostly goes towards Depends undergarments and erectile dysfunction meds. And, of course you don't have to worry about MLB fans growing out of the sport - since most of them are currently trying to decide between burial or cremation. Seriously, it's been 27 years since MLB added an expansion team. All four MLB expansion teams added since 1993 reside in the bottom third of MLB team valuations. You've got another dozen or so moribund franchises who routinely enter a season with little to no hope of reaching the playoffs. And, it's not simply because these teams suck. It's because MLB has neither a salary cap or floor, such that the highest payroll in MLB in 2024-2025 was $323 million and the lowest payroll was $63.5 million. The whole thing is a fiasco.

And yet the MLB still carries far better TV ratings and its teams are wildly more popular in their respective markets. Seriously, outside of maybe Miami, can you name me a single market where the NBA team is more popular than the MLB team? Even Los Angeles is more of a Dodgers town at the moment. The product in the NBA is secondary to the fluff highlights and male soap opera style ESPN coverage- something most of us age out of by the team we're in our late 20s and have actually developed our prefrontal cortexes.

Also, the MLB is much closer to expanding again than the NBA is. It's all but confirmed that it will before 2030. Aside from Nosferatu's delusional ramblings about a European league whenever he's been out of his coffin for too long, there's zero evidence that the NBA is even within a decade of seeing any sort of expansion. It's struggling to sustain itself in markets like Memphis and New Orleans as it is. But hey at least scoring and triple doubles are up.

[LockoutSeason]

The MLB is clearly in a better place right now than the NBA is.

NBA's advantage and business model is focused on 10-25 year olds with no disposable income and the attention span of a gnat. Invariably that group mostly grows out of it as they age, and increasingly the younger generation cares more about Twitch streamers and E-Game crap nowadays anyways.

And MLB's "business model" (if you can even call it that) is focused on old men whose disposable income mostly goes towards Depends undergarments and erectile dysfunction meds. And, of course you don't have to worry about MLB fans growing out of the sport - since most of them are currently trying to decide between burial or cremation. Seriously, it's been 27 years since MLB added an expansion team. All four MLB expansion teams added since 1993 reside in the bottom third of MLB team valuations. You've got another dozen or so moribund franchises who routinely enter a season with little to no hope of reaching the playoffs. And, it's not simply because these teams suck. It's because MLB has neither a salary cap or floor, such that the highest payroll in MLB in 2024-2025 was $323 million and the lowest payroll was $63.5 million. The whole thing is a fiasco.

And yet the MLB still carries far better TV ratings and its teams are wildly more popular in their respective markets. Seriously, outside of maybe Miami, can you name me a single market where the NBA team is more popular than the MLB team? Even Los Angeles is more of a Dodgers town at the moment. The product in the NBA is secondary to the fluff highlights and male soap opera style ESPN coverage- something most of us age out of by the team we're in our late 20s and have actually developed our prefrontal cortexes.

Also, the MLB is much closer to expanding again than the NBA is. It's all but confirmed that it will before 2030. Aside from Nosferatu's delusional ramblings about a European league whenever he's been out of his coffin for too long, there's zero evidence that the NBA is even within a decade of seeing any sort of expansion. It's struggling to sustain itself in markets like Memphis and New Orleans as it is. But hey at least scoring and triple doubles are up.

MLB does not have better ratings than the NBA with the exception for the World Series. NBA has better regular season and pre-championship playoff ratings, not to mention crushing every league on social media.

And even then MLB is completely reliant getting big market teams in the World Series, even moreso than the Finals. Did you see the ratings for the Texas vs. Arizona World Series? Oof.

Baseball never successfully expanded to the West Coast or the South. Outside of LA and San Francisco, every West Coast team has failed to launch. Still irrelevant south of the Mason-Dixon Line. The sport has been stagnant for 40 years.

[Old_Blue]

And yet the MLB still carries far better TV ratings and its teams are wildly more popular in their respective markets. Seriously, outside of maybe Miami, can you name me a single market where the NBA team is more popular than the MLB team? Even Los Angeles is more of a Dodgers town at the moment. The product in the NBA is secondary to the fluff highlights and male soap opera style ESPN coverage- something most of us age out of by the team we're in our late 20s and have actually developed our prefrontal cortexes.

Also, the MLB is much closer to expanding again than the NBA is. It's all but confirmed that it will before 2030. Aside from Nosferatu's delusional ramblings about a European league whenever he's been out of his coffin for too long, there's zero evidence that the NBA is even within a decade of seeing any sort of expansion. It's struggling to sustain itself in markets like Memphis and New Orleans as it is. But hey at least scoring and triple doubles are up.

Now you just sound certifiable. Let's deal first with your cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs argument regarding expansion. Everyone this side of the moon knows the NBA is expanding into both Seattle and Vegas within the next few years. Meanwhile, baseball can barely sustain the teams it currently has. As for expansion into Europe, basketball is played on that continent. Baseball is not.

As for your whacky comments regarding the relative popularity of MLB and NBA teams, I would hope that fans in towns like Kansas City, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Baltimore dig their MLB team more - since none of these dying former industrial cities even have an NBA team. But, even that isn't enough to rescue such moribund franchises. These pictures are from the St. Louis Cardinals' third home game this last season. We're talking about a once proud baseball franchise reduced to this...






https://sports.yahoo.com/article/historic-mlb-team-draws-embarrassing-003357029.html

[Optimus_Steel]

MLS is an amateur league.

How can you say that when possibly the greatest player in the history of the game (Lionel Messi) is playing for Inter Miami ?

Funny. Messi killed MLS. Soon as he signed, MLS got greedy and thought they could lock their games behind the apple pay wall. Wanted to get interested in MLS but that's never going to happen now.

This was an incredibly dumb thing to do. Putting themselves on Apple TV made it harder to watch as they were trying to grow the sport. They took the local team broadcast away which was a spit on the face of those local fans. They also made it into a long term contract so will not be changing anytime soon. They took the money but will it matter after the contract ends when you alienated your core fan?


To answer the original question, no the MLS wont be taking away from NBA because they are in Apple TV. I think however this is the right move for them to get closer to European schedule. I would always get frustrated when top players for my MLS team would have to leave in the middle of the season for international duty.

[Exp0sed]

Dumb idea. So is getting rid of conferences. They're always trying way too hard to be a European league instead of just being themselves.

We don't have European weather. Even with a pause in the middle of the season that no one would want, snow games are still inevitable. Good luck with that.

I'm a Euro myself and i think this move will be great for the MLS

Yes, it clashes more with other US sports but in terms of drawing talent from European and even African and Asian leagues - it's a game changer

also for the teams themselves, if u have a top tier MLS team which has say..7 or 8 key int'l players, u basically play some games mid season without half ur squad, that hurts the integrity of the sport, which should always come before things like ratings, commercial considerations or entertainment

Sent from my SM-A055F using RealGM mobile app

[DavidSterned]

And yet the MLB still carries far better TV ratings and its teams are wildly more popular in their respective markets. Seriously, outside of maybe Miami, can you name me a single market where the NBA team is more popular than the MLB team? Even Los Angeles is more of a Dodgers town at the moment. The product in the NBA is secondary to the fluff highlights and male soap opera style ESPN coverage- something most of us age out of by the team we're in our late 20s and have actually developed our prefrontal cortexes.

Also, the MLB is much closer to expanding again than the NBA is. It's all but confirmed that it will before 2030. Aside from Nosferatu's delusional ramblings about a European league whenever he's been out of his coffin for too long, there's zero evidence that the NBA is even within a decade of seeing any sort of expansion. It's struggling to sustain itself in markets like Memphis and New Orleans as it is. But hey at least scoring and triple doubles are up.

Now you just sound certifiable. Let's deal first with your cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs argument regarding expansion. Everyone this side of the moon knows the NBA is expanding into both Seattle and Vegas within the next few years. Meanwhile, baseball can barely sustain the teams it currently has. As for expansion into Europe, basketball is played on that continent. Baseball is not.

As for your whacky comments regarding the relative popularity of MLB and NBA teams, I would hope that fans in towns like Kansas City, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Baltimore dig their MLB team more - since none of these dying former industrial cities even have an NBA team. But, even that isn't enough to rescue such moribund franchises. These pictures are from the St. Louis Cardinals' third home game this last season. We're talking about a once proud baseball franchise reduced to this...






https://sports.yahoo.com/article/historic-mlb-team-draws-embarrassing-003357029.html

There's literally zero chance that the NBA expands in the next few years. "No timeline" in corporate speak = many many years away.

https://www.king5.com/article/sports/nba-silent-potential-expansion-timeline/281-d97bb35a-a201-4333-993b-8a5af44ff06d

Meanwhile you have ex-players literally calling for relocations, from two recently relocated franchises at that, as the league struggles to promote its dying product and the branding caves in under its own weight. The over 25s simply don't care anymore about this TikTok highlight league, to use The Count's own words.

https://www.profootballnetwork.com/nba/demarcus-cousins-calls-for-grizzlies-pelicans-relocate/