bobbyake

Only 4 players in the starting lineup play in Europe. One of those left the MLS 2 years ago for Stoke City (EPL).Check out MLS attendance, not bad. http://mlsattendance.blogspot.com TV ratings are the new frontier for the MLS to conquer. Other than that, everything has been going very well. They just signed a TV deal for $90 million a year, more than what NBC payed for the EPL rights. There are cities scrambling to make a successful MLS expansion bid. Sacramento had a crowd in the 20,000's for a minor league game. I believe these teams are paying $100 million plus to enter the league. The Yankees seem to think the MLS is a good investment. Watching ESPN and saw a MLB pitcher that threw a no hitter being interviewed, he is wearing a USMNT soccer jersey in his interview. You know, i don't think all the positives around the sport will make a difference for you. You seem stubbornly against soccer and will dwell on any negative point you can find, and will make excuses for all the positives happening. I never cared about soccer for the first 20 years of my life. Watching the World Cup was the only time I watched the sport. Then i discovery Zips soccer. Once you start getting into soccer, there's no escaping it. No commercials, no constant timeouts, no weak foul calls for barely touching someone while they shoot like in basketball, no rule changes every year like football. I understand there are players that will flop to try and gain an advantage, even Dwayne Wade does it. Is taking a charge in basketball any different? I understand some players act like babies when fouled, but the league has done a lot to crack down on these occurrences. The MLS issues fines and suspensions for embellishing fouls.

It seems like there are soccer haters that do not want to see this sport succeed in the US. I am not sure how the Cleveland/Akron TV market did for the game. Dayton and Columbus put up impressive numbers.

The following are overnight ratings for the top 10 metered markets: Washington, DC (13.3), Columbus, Ohio (12.6), New York (12.5), Boston (11.5), Hartford & New Haven (11.3), Providence (11.2), Atlanta (11.1), Baltimore (11.0), Norfolk (10.5), and Orlando (10.5). To date, the highest-rated markets on the ESPN Networks are: Washington DC (5.0), New York (4.3), San Francisco (4.1), Orlando (3.8), and Los Angeles (3.7). Eighteen markets recorded their highest overnight rating for a World Cup match on ESPN or ESPN2, including seven that were among the top 10 largest for the telecast: Columbus, Boston, Hartford/New Haven, Providence, Atlanta, Baltimore and Sacramento. The additional 11, ordered by highest rating: Kansas City (10.1), Dayton (8.9), St. Louis (8.7), Jacksonville (8.4), Tampa/St. Petersburg (8.3), Nashville (7.8), Greenville (7.6), Greensboro (7.5), Memphis (7.5), Pittsburgh (6.9) and Birmingham (5.8).

I am just sharing the ratings. Needed a place to post this vs starting a new thread.Happy you watched the game.

This year's World Cup tv ratings have been huge. The USA vs Portugal game has 24 million viewers in the US. 18million on ESPN, and 6 million on Univision. This is higher than the NBA Finals and the World Series. http://www.mlssoccer.com/worldcup/2014/news/article/2014/06/23/world-cup-usa-portugal-was-highest-rated-world-cup-match-ever-espn

I would expect Akron to root for Columbus over Portland

The game wasn't marketed at that well. Mentioned once or twice by UAkron, and if you don't follow the Crew all that well, you would have only known through Facebook, if you follow UAkrons page. Rubber City Brigaid has less than 200 likes so there's only so much I can do with that.

The main grandstand looked to be around 97% full. It looked like a normal Zips game minus the students. 1,913 is just as good as Columbus would have done at Crew Stadium considering it is an Open Cup game. Indy Eleven fans are doing a great job supporting their team in their first year of the NASL. Makes you wish Akron had a summer team to watch. If we could average 1,000 per game, we could support a team. The Dayton Dutch Lion only average around 500. Akron is a bigger city and has a better resume, thanks to Zips soccer, for a USL team. Regarding the Cleveland media, the only time they report something from Akron is when it is negative about our city.

Official attendance was 1,913. http://www.ohio.com/sports/high-school/columbus-indianapolis-soccer-match-at-ua-provides-a-homecoming-for-four-area-players-crew-win-2-1-1.496936

my guess is between 2,500 and 3,000. The main grandstand was filled up.

I should be able to tailgate for this. I can bring a tent and some food.

Updated, finally.

I've noticed that today's Rowdies are not as rowdy as students (you didn't have to be a Rowdy to sit in the student sections) were in the 05-07 era. While a student, I never joined the Rowdies and tailgated for every football game with a group of 10-20 non-rowdies. We would drink and eat before each game and have a great time. We were that group that would send a random person up for crowd surfing pushups every time Akron scored. We used to make Zippy crowd surf as well. None of us were Rowdies but were very rowdy at games. If the Rowdies have rules against drinking, don't bother with being a member. Just get a group of friends and have your own fun. During our soccer tailgates the past few years, Rowdies were always no where to be seen (except for maybe 2 on rare occasions). The students need to drop the Monster/Redbulls and pick up a beer.

I've updated the Zips in the MLS stats through 2013 and will be adding in the 2014 stats after the games are played today. I need to update my list of active Akron players in the MLS. Let me know if I'm missing anyone: Darlington Nagbe Perry Kitchen Kofi Sarkodie DeAndre Yedlin Chris Korb Scott Caldwell Ben Zemanski Darren Mattocks Chad Barson Steve Zakuani Wil Trapp Teal Bunbury Michael Nanchoff Dillon Serna Evan Bush

There were 5 games with less than 2,000 during the regular season in the Post Caleb Porter era. I do not currently have the attendance numbers for Caleb Porter's first year to make a fair comparison, but those games were played in the old Lee Jackson Stadium with a smaller capacity. Here's some numbers to look at:

Dillan Serna mentioned in SI's best XI http://soccer.si.com/2014/05/19/mls-best-xi-federico-higuain-lee-nguyen-obafemi-martins/

can't wait. Let's get around 5,000 for this game and convince the Dayton USL owners to move their team to Akron

Are Cleveland Internationals part of the Crew academy system? Annoyed that we are getting all these Portland Timbers products but nothing from the Crew academy.

Bob, i have to zoom in on my device to read your posts, is there any way you could increase the font size? Yedlin and Sarkodie have a shot at making the WC roster. In 2-3 years, they will be battling each other for a starting spot at RB on the US squad.

I know this is very close to opening day, but I created a fantasy league for everyone. http://fantasy.mlssoccer.com/my-leagues/2591/join/?autojoin-code=15600-2591

The Porter influence is kicking in with 2 players from the Timbers academy. I don't see any players from the Crew academy. I would like to see more Akron players playing in Columbus. I hope the Crew are not encouraging players to avoid Akron because of the Timbers connection.

Derschang is the only Akron player expected to go to a team other than Portland in the mock drafts.

MLS mentioned Robbie Derschang in their Stock Up or Stock Down post, and it is not good. "Robbie Derschang (Akron) – In what is already a weak draft at left back, one of the top three rated players at the position had a nightmare: Subpar defensively and giveaways galore with the ball at his feet. Showed that he's only recently converted to the position. No. 1-ranked left back Ben Sweat (South Florida) just became that much more attractive to teams. (Range: late second round, early third round)" http://www.mlssoccer.com/superdraft/2014/n...rovides-highlig

Jurgen Klinsmann bringing all 26 USMNT January campers to Brazil after all http://www.mlssoccer.com/worldcup/2014/new...ers-brazil-afte