Being a MLS fan

In 1996 the American sports world was introduced to Major League Soccer (MLS). After being very successful at hosting the 1994 FIFA Men's World Cup, MLS was formed to bring a professional soccer league to the United States. The last major outdoor soccer league in the United States was the NASL, which folded in 1984, which it meant it had been 12 years since there was pro soccer played in the US, and yes I'm calling it soccer for this article, because this article is all about being a Major League SOCCER fan. For those of us who are fans of any MLS club, I'd say we are the misfits of sports fans in America. Why do I say we are misfits? Soccer is defiantly not the most popular sport in the US, usually when people find out you love soccer they laugh at you, especially those big jock football fans. Now when you do meet a fellow soccer fan, they are usually in European football, and will only watch; EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A. Or if you grew in area like myself in Los Angeles, they are huge fans of LIGA Mx. Now I'm not saying that MLS is better, than any of these leagues, because they are not. But I love supporting sports teams in my local market (i.e. Kings, Dodgers, Lakers). If you're a supporter of any clubs in England, Germany, Spain, Mexico, Argentina; you can't just get in your car and take the train to one of their matches, most likely you'll have to make it a very expensive vacation. 

MLS started out with ten clubs, eight of these clubs still exist today, certain clubs do like to make it a focal point, that they've been around; "Since '96. These clubs were; Colorado Rapids, Columbus Crew, D.C. United, Dallas Burn (currently FC Dallas), Kansas City Wiz, yes this was their original name (currently Sporting Kansas City), Los Angeles Galaxy, New England Revolution, New York/New Jersey MetroStars (currently New York Red Bulls), San Jose Clash (became the San Jose Earthquakes, then moved to Houston and are currently the Houston Dynamo), and Tampa Bay Mutiny (dissolved in 2002). All these clubs started out playing in football stadiums, that were huge that were able to fill up to 100'000 people, now most of the MLS currently 27 clubs with 2 more clubs to come into the league in the future have soccer specific stadiums. Also as you can see most of the clubs had very bright and very 90s type of jerseys. D.C. United was to me the only club with a classic looking soccer jersey, in fact they still have close to the same logo, colors, name, and jersey concept. 
 

As mentioned when MLS started most of the clubs played in giant football stadiums, such as the Galaxy played in the Rose Bowl, a stadium at the time that could fit close to 100'000 people, the Galaxy would get crowds of 15'000-25'000 fans on a average, which at the time for soccer in America, were decent size crowds, but when teams like them along with most of the other clubs getting 20'000 people in stadiums that fit 75'000 people it looked sad, oh yeah most of the time the football lines were still on the field. I remember watching these games on TV, and it was just looked so sad to see these pretty much empty stadiums, hosting soccer matches. 

The first few seasons, the league also did not play traditional rules, of soccer. For one the clock for each half clocked down from 45 for each half, yes it's true, but that only lasted 3 years. Another very radical change they had, which was a way to try to bring new fans to the game, at the time, I understood why they did this, I believe the MLS was trying to bring new fans to the game of soccer, and one of the biggest complaints on why people did not like soccer was because there are to many ties, especially 0-0 ties. During the first few seasons, if the match ended in a tie, they would do a shootout, but even this was not a traditional shootout. The offensive player would take the ball around 10 yards outside the box and dribble in and try to score. This was done for the first 3 season, until they went to a 10 minute golden goal for a few years, which honestly I found exciting, and during the 2002 season it seemed like Carlos Ruiz, would score a golden goal match for the Galaxy, eventually, MLS would adopt to FIFA rules, a clock that went up, and if it was tied after 90 minutes, the game ended in a tie.

The first MLS match I ever attended was on May 6, 2000 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, it was the LA Galaxy hosting the Kansas City Wizards, the match ended in a 0-0, tie. The best part of the game, was where my fiends and I sat, we were in line to buy tickets (at this time especially games at the Rose Bowl, you could walk up and always get good seats). We were in line when someone who worked for the Galaxy front office and asked us if we had tickets, we replied; "No", he gave us tickets right pretty much on the field that came with free food and drinks, and then we met the team after the game, I shock hands with Cobi Jones (I remember thinking, man he has small hands). Throughout MLS this was very common, due to the fact that clubs played in huge stadiums and they really wanted to see the league and the sport grow, teams would give local youth soccer leagues large amounts of free tickets, those early MLS years were so different to what the league is like now.

One thing MLS did that brought in fans, was bringing, some exciting international players such as; Jorge Campos, Eric Wynalda, Cobi Jones, Alexi Lalas, Tony Meola, Marcelo Balboa, and one of the most pure, best passers of all time Carlos Valerrama. As someone who watched the '94 and '98 World Cups it was very exciting to see these players in person. Valderrama was a player every time he came to town, I made sure to see him play, I saw him play for the Miami, Fusion, Tampa Bay Mutiny, and Colorado Rapids.

Well I went a little too in depth of the beginning of the league than I had intended. Since '96, we have so pretty much every team have a soccer specific stadium, for some reason the New England Revolution, one of the original clubs still share a stadium with a football team, and they only average a little over 16'000 fans a game. Seattle plays in the same stadium as a NFL team, yet they average over 40'000 fans a game. Also NYCFC plays in a baseball stadium (Yankee Stadium), I would love to see NYCFC get a soccer stadium and bring in a big name player, maybe Messi, they could be huge, if they could get a soccer stadium in New York City. But as a MLS fan I love seeing how many teams have these amazing soccer stadiums, just look at what a soccer stadium has done for Kansas City, they went from a club that had some of the worse attendance in to league, to a team with an awesome fan base that sells out pretty much every match. Also speaking of stadiums, it's amazing to see the passion and support we see with so many clubs in MLS. Portland and Seattle I believe started supporter culture in MLS, Seattle and Portland have some amazing supporter groups, who chant for 90 plus minutes, along with giving us some amazing tifos. You have supporters in cities like Columbus, who were on the brink of losing their club to Austin, but the Columbus Crew, supporter groups united and kept their club in their city, got a new stadium, and for the icing on the cake the club won the MLS Cup in 2020. Also you have Atlanta, who have a huge fan base, and keep that stadium loud and passionate. And of course there's the 3252, in Los Angeles. When I use to go to games back in the late 90s and early 2000s I never thought I'd see so many great passionate supporter groups in MLS, and now we do.

I couldn't write a MLS article without mentioning David Beckham, Beckham in my opinion (yes I understand I may get hate from some fellow LAFC), I believe Beckham saved the league. The MLS was about to fold, before he came. Where ever Beckham and the Galaxy played they would sell out, people were actually watching MLS. There have been many writings on the affect Beckham had on MLS, so you can find those. David Beckham is currently one of the owners of one the newest franchises in MLS; Inter Miami CF, he truly has a huge impact on the growth of MLS.

Before this blog gets too long, I just have to mention how MLS has become a developmental league, instead of a retirement which it was for many years. MLS has been developing many young players who are going on to play for big clubs in Europe. A great example of this is; Alphonso Davies who started his pro career, in MLS with the Vancouver Whitecaps, who has gone on to play the biggest, best club in Germany and Champions League winner Bayern Munich. MLS has been seeing a great number of young South American players coming to MLS, and then going to play for big clubs overseas, Miguel Almiron, had great success in Atlanta and is now playing for Newcastle United. I think we are going to see a lot more young MLS players being sold, to big leagues like; English Premier League, Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and Spanish Primera. MLS has come such a long way since the birth of the league, and I believe it's just going to become bigger and better. In closing us MLS fans truly are the misfits of American sports fans. Whenever I tell people I love MLS here are the responses I usually get... "MLS? Do you sell homes? Are you looking to buy a home?" "I only watch European "football", MLS is for old players". "Soccer is for losers, I like real football!" "Who cares about soccer?" All I have to say to all of that is that; "I love MLS it's the league that I can easily support, it's the league that I can go watch live and in person, it's the league that has given me a whole new family and friends." It doesn't matter what club you support (even the Galaxy), we are all truly the outcasts and misfits of American sports fans, we are the most disrespected sports fans, because we love a sport that is made fun of in this country and a league, that by most soccer fans, is a joke. But for those of who love our MLS clubs, we are even more passionate and our love our clubs even more because of the way we are perceived. So to all my fellow MLS fans; lets keep that passion and love alive, and not be silent, represent your clubs, every where you go.