For a long time MLS has chased the NFL dragon, just slipping deeper and deeper into lame corporate pablum. Losing a program that provided genuinely good content with an authentic voice is such a dumb own goal.
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So my assumption is that This is MLS is the only thing now?
My guess is (and this is pure speculation) they might want to let outside interests fill that hole. So letting Soccerwise and these other smaller podcasts have more of the limelight.
It's absolutely wild that they are moving the league to a situation that mirrors the way Fox Sports and ESPN handled MLS--basically nonexistent outside of game days.
ETR was ok, but it was also a company media podcast. There are many other well done podcasts to cover MLS much better. I wish all those guys well and you and hope they find their next place but it was definitely not high on my list to listen to
Further: I think everyone in a suit forgets that what saved MLS, what made it so interesting is not Beckham or any player. It was Portland (and Seattle). It was finding cities with avid, grassroots fanbases. National success comes from authenticity, which is often more localized and niche.
Seattle (and the wave of POR, VAN, MTL, ORL, MNU, CIN, etc lower division "promotions" that all followed) will be looked back on as a golden age for everyone. MLS got interesting teams with built-in history & fans. USL (and to a lesser extent, NASL) got the "you could be next!" selling point.
They’d been looking for another investor since the 90s/00s for that second NY team. Its just a shame the two folks who got it are the least ambitious. Miami is fine, just annoying. They have struggled to feel “real” as a club I’ll give you that
They lost any claim to "real" when they betrayed tenet #1 of their existence, and the rally cry of their supporters, which was "don't play in Fort Lauderdale this time" by *checks notes* moving to literally the same location in FTL before ever kicking a ball, and said supporters did nothing about it
Granted they do finally have their stadium plan but I agree, it was dumb then and remains dumb. The fact a team like Charlotte feels more tangible as a pillar of the soccer community than Miami speaks volumes
Well sure, I don't blame the date filling justification from the owners perspective. But even 30-40K in an NFL venue is still like half full most of the time. Shared owners negates the rent problem but you've still got all the scheduling/astroturf issues MLS complained about for years.
ETR provided an authentic voice and an insight into what made these markets interesting. Most of these teams are forgettable and mediocre, but ETR often utilized the local indie media and gave us interesting angles because they were plugged in to each of the markets.
And you could see the effects of that. When ETR came to MN and did a live show at Black Hart, the ETR guys were delighted to talk shit with the fans who were pumped to see them in our town. Those genuine interactions made fans into super fans.
I was already a superfan, but this move will make it harder for me to be informed about what is going on in MLS in markets other than Minnesota, because I care, but not enough to seek out such news. So I become less of a fan of the league by default. Way to go, guys.
What’s so frustrating is that not that long ago, other bigger leagues were trying to emulate what MLS had in its in house media. They were known as having the best website for analysis, great league content on both video and audio, and now it’s just a shell of itself
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Absolute ass
Brutal
My guess is (and this is pure speculation) they might want to let outside interests fill that hole. So letting Soccerwise and these other smaller podcasts have more of the limelight.
Or more cost cutting...which doesn't sound good.
Not getting the return they need