Comments on: Soccer anyone? It’s snowing out, you know

By: akiaki007

akiaki007 — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 16:08:06 +0000

I went to Red Bull Arena for the 2nd leg of the playoff game this season. Me and all of perhaps another 1,000 people. It was positively miserable!

Playing soccer in the winter is a much worse idea than playing in August. Just hope that next year MLS doesn’t schedule 1pm games in July and August again, which is just as bad as trying to play with 4 inches of snow on the ground, while still snowing.

By: bellerophon30

bellerophon30 — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 02:01:43 +0000

Anyone trying to talk sense into Sepp Blatter…………well I’d like a pony, as long as we’re talking wishful thinking.

By: dfstell

dfstell — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 01:39:08 +0000

I guess my point is that some of our weather problems come from the fact that the US is basically the same size as Europe, yet we’re trying to impose a singular calendar on the entire country. Most of Europe is on the same calendar, but the Scandinavian leagues all take a break for the winter and a few other leagues take off for at least a few weeks in the dead of winter.

I’d love to see it be regional in the US and let them schedule for when it’s nice outside and screw this idea of making everyone play at the same time. What is soccer gaining from having Houston and New England be on the same calendar? Or Dallas and Chicago?

It’s a complete pipe dream – of course – because MLS would never do this, but it’s a fun thing to speculate about.

By: jfr11

jfr11 — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 22:41:02 +0000

8-10 dates a year, I am sure refers to only home dates

By: joeyt360

joeyt360 — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 19:48:40 +0000

The problem is there isn’t a real balance. There are many more cities where February is untenable than there are ones where August is.

By: bobinkc

bobinkc — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 19:17:02 +0000

Any time Blatter opens his mouth about the MLS, it is just blather. The first regular season game that my son and I attended together several years ago was mid-March at Community America Ball Park. Our seats were on the south side of the stadium facing NNW. The temperature was 25F when the game started with a 20-30mph wind blowing sleet into our faces and causing any kick that was more than two feet off the ground to hook or shank horribly. Every kick slid on the ice at least part of the way and the players essentially walked through most of the game to keep from falling. We finally had to go to Arthur Bryant’s for a late supper and sit by one of the fireplaces to warm up before driving home.

Blatter needs to come and live with me from late November through late March one year and then make stupid comments about the MLS season.

By: Steve Davis

Steve Davis — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 19:05:05 +0000

I don’t really agree, but that’s not the point. How many people will drive out to pay their money and WATCH in the snow? That’s the main point.

By: Steve Davis

Steve Davis — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 19:04:00 +0000

Yes, exactly … but also disregarding the fact that this IS NOT the EPL. It’s not EPL in so very many ways … and this is but another of them.

By: valiantdraws

valiantdraws — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 17:38:19 +0000

The fact, soccer’s popularity is rising, but its nowhere near the point of being able to support a winter calendar anyway. I think MLS should simply schedule as few games as possible in the cold cities when its still cold. And why oh WHY can’t Houston only play at night? They have lights, don’t they?

By: charliej11

charliej11 — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 16:48:33 +0000

Every time some blogger…or another idiot like the president of FIFA……suggests we should have.soccer in the worst viewing months we should post the weather in your area…35 degrees and raining in Seattle, where we would have drawn 43k for the game 6 months from now.

The hypothetical mid week game, 3 hours after the sunsets, will be almost identical weather this week, with about 10k scheduled to attend. Smart move Sepp.

By: tylerbetts

tylerbetts — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 16:25:57 +0000

8-10 would refer to the number of home games for an NFL team. 8 regular season games, and a maximum of 2 home playoff games.

By: greej1938l

greej1938l — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 16:22:17 +0000

this isnt baseball……playing in the snow really isnt a big deal for futbol

By: jerichowhiskey

jerichowhiskey — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 16:08:27 +0000

The problem is, people watch EPL and the other fair weather leagues and think we should be the same. Disregarding the fact that last year or so the EPL had a bad snowstorm which canceled a crapload of games.

There’s plenty of other leagues that follow their own schedule for their own needs.

By: kappy32

kappy32 — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 16:03:53 +0000

8-10 dates per year? You do realize that football starts the first Sunday in September & ends the last week in December. Then there are 5 weeks of playoffs, ending the first Sunday of February. That’s a total of 22 weeks, more than half of which is played in bad weather.

By: dfstell

dfstell — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 15:12:27 +0000

I really wonder if it might make some kinda sense to just divide the US up into regions and play when the weather makes sense. Summer soccer in Houston doesn’t make much sense either. How would MLS ever expand to Phoenix? So let the southeast have a winter season, let the northeast play in the summer, etc. And then have an American Champion’s League or something like that.