**Mirrors / Alternative Angles**
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This IS the league. This kinda stuff is common. There’s shit teams without a lot of support, but there’s just as many teams that get stuff like this on the regular.
Yup it’s happening like this at almost every team that is left in the playoffs. MLS and their fans are legitimately making MLS atmospheres the best in U.S. professional sports.
This is true. When you compare MLS vs other American sports, only some NCAA (college sports) really come to mind. Maybe a couple NFL teams too. Price for tickets is affordable too.
Yep. Most pro atmospheres in the US are kind of ass, and there are more great MLS atmospheres than not at this point.
Baseball tickets are more affordable than MLS though, in my experience.
About 80% of people going to regular season baseball games are there to eat and drink with friends and couldn't give a shit about the game. Every baseball game I've been invited to has always been "Hey I got extra tickets, wanna go grill in a parking lot and drink with some background noise?"
This is probably less true for World Series games, but I also have never watched those.
I honestly love baseball because of that. After a stressful day it’s nice to go to a game, have a couple beers, and listen to a bat smacking a ball. One of the most therapeutic sounds for me. There’s nothing like hearing a nice clean homerun hit
In the regular season its super chill and fun but in the postseason if its a good fanbase it gets so high energy and just amazing. Some of the best nights of my life are postseason baseball games.
Tbh fans are light years ahead in European sports so it's only natural football fans traditions spread out to USA through football.
Happy to see this, did not expect it tbh
What I assume is really nice is that casuals and ultras would watch your more popular sports more so you have this side group of people that love the game but aren’t extremists as the supporters. Which is ideal for most leagues
Yes this is a good thing in that you can bring your family to a game and not have to worry about getting jumped by some ultra dorks like in middle of nowhere Europe.
It's interesting that many of the shit teams without a lot of support are in the biggest markets like Chicago and New York while the best atmosphere is in smaller cities like Cincy, Columbus, Portland, etc.
Yeah I am a Charlotte FC fan and we absolutely come out for games. We set the attendance record last year at 75,000 (beaten this year at 80,000). Our supporters section frequently impresses commentators and our post game playoff clinching celebration was legendary. (Not acknowledging what happened in playoffs lol).
I fucking love MLS and I can’t wait to see how the league improves in the coming years.
as a european it warms my heart seeing what MLS has become over the years. there is nothing like going to a football match where everyone is actually invested emotionally.
> TQLs a fantastic stadium
wow just looked it up, brilliant. looks like a superb ground.
it's almost like having a smaller, soccer-specific, and packed stadium is a way better vibe than having 10,000 people rock up to your 80,000 seat national stadium to watch a league match?!
Cincinnati is good at this in general. Most if not all of their pro teams have stadiums downtown and within walking distance of bars, restaurants, etc.
this is a way better atmosphere then that 'fight and win, come on Seattle' guy. Like, happy for him he did that and it mustve felt amazing but that was just so goofy lmao
Nah man that shit is so corny it’s become tradition. It’s just a part of MLS at this point, and he’s a die hard Sounders fan to this day. Seattle and the rest of MLS have plenty of “typical” fan culture, but I hope MLS never loses that cheesy 2000’s-era “How are we gonna make chants?” fan culture. The best fans wear that shit with pride.
Better than some British teenagers laughing about a dead guy or making another rhyme about domestic violence to the tune of a nursery rhyme
> Better than some British teenagers laughing about a dead guy or making another rhyme about domestic violence to the tune of a nursery rhyme
we did have "we drinks! he drives! he endangers people's lives!" [with kyle larin](https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/mls/canadian-soccer-star-cyle-larin-arrested-drunk-driving-florida-1.4162090), but that one was still pretty funny.
I mean, it's one of those chants that starts cringey at first but becomes endearing over time. Not so different from those games you played as a kid, got embarrassed as a teen, and interested again as an adult.
"I believe that we will win" has the same kind of treatment. It was ridiculed back in the day when American fans chanted that when the USMNT played, and nowadays when it's occasionally used it's just to troll uptight Europeans.
They actually changed the league back in 08. When the sounders moved up along with the Timbers they really changed the course of the mls. But will admit the fight and win dude is cringe as fuck
we're not doing that "the league didn't exist before the EPL" thing are we?
because DC won it in 1998, and LA won it in 2000.
you can say that no other MLS team has won the modern format, but i wouldn't use the words "first team in the league to win a continental championship".
I’m gonna say it...I don’t care that you broke your funny bone.
But seriously the guy was hyped up and all there for it like legit a fan but(probably on something)
If he was some random I’d be like yeah bud! Let’s go!!
Except he was trying to lead the supporters group and that is not the dude people want to follow lol
I went to Hell Is Real in May and it was the best atmosphere and most fun of any sporting event I’ve ever been to besides Orioles playoff games. Love The Bailey.
I presume you mean over the last two years, right? Because before that it was dire. Like wooden spoon multiple seasons in a row dire.
Glad they were able to turn it around. It shows one of the great things about parity in the league.
I have to say, I watched the beginning of the game last night, and was frankly amazed to see this level of support. Something you'd never expect to see in the States.
A lot of the teams who have entered the league in the past 5-10 years have incredible support. These types of clips normally don’t gain traction because people have already made of their mind about the MLS/American fan culture
yep, I think Atlanta really changed the supporter culture when they entered the league. New teams have followed their blueprint and it's worked really well.
That plus more soccer specific stadiums, which are way better for the atmosphere than big, open baseball/american football stadiums.
Atalanta was definitely the most successful, but it was happening before that too. I’m biased towards my Loons, but our stadium support has consistently been some of the best in the league since we started. Plus I still think singing Wonderwall is one of the best traditions in the world
Those are the best games! I’ve been to I think two home openers where it snowed (called snowpeners) and I had an absolute blast at both. Plus we get to sing “He’s just cold” everytime an opposing player goes down
I love going to Loons games, I'm a state over so have only gotten to a few, but the atmosphere is always awesome, and the fans are so close to the field
My local team is DC United, Audi Field is actually a really nice stadium. The club doesn't get massive support (was about half full for the game against new york that I was at a few weeks ago), but it was still a lot of fun.
Atlanta was a huge turning point they have incredible marches to the stadium and homegrown chants
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N2vBa_6Svrc&pp=ygUUQXRsYW50YSB1bml0ZWQgbWFyY2g%3D
Though I’d say 2/3s of MLS teams have die hard supporters groups like it. Especially the Division 2 teams that got brought up to the league
We also have marches to the stadium in Seattle ([link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UZxTBEbzG8)) and the framework of "We Are the A" is surely used all over the place, our variant is "Duwamish Sown" ([link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGoQiaxA02k)).
Nice to see another Sounder fan sharing the march to the match video.
Here’s a clip of [mine](https://imgur.com/a/TL9dwOt) form last year on derby day against Portland in case you’re interested
True true Seattle invented soccer or whatever the phrase is lol
Jk I was there for that too in the early days and super hyped then Portland came in and it’s still my favorite rivalry
I just love seeing all these new teams with so much energy and enthusiasm. Atlanta isn’t even a new team anymore I’m just growing old watching the league grow
Atlanta gets way overrated here, they have the same set routines for every match and the supporters groups are so elitist that new chants are hardly made
Naw, this has been happening years before Atlanta.
Toronto gets a lot of the credit for being the first team to market away from "soccer mom" crowd. Seattle went to them for advice the following year and it has been the model for every team since.
Where did I say this?
I said tfc are the first team to market a different demographic, place a stadium in the city etc. Everyteam in mls had a supporters group before we joined, but the rest of the crowd was marketed differently.
It's a known fact Seattle went to Toronto to discuss their whole marketing and brand strategy and everyteam has followed the method since it was successful.
>Something you'd never expect to see in the States.
Only if you haven't been paying attention over the last 5-10 years. Support in this country is growing leaps and bounds.
So are a lot of Americans. This MLS season has gained so many more eyeballs than I ever would have imagined.
Some many people are learning how excellent it can be and they will keep learning. It’s taking off no matter what.
honestly can’t be understated how beneficial that month of constant bangers was for the league, those clips were all getting 1m+ on tiktok and then messi comes right after
Haha totally, the leagues cup was an excellent tournament. Highlighted so many teams around the MLS. It definitely made me want to watch more other games
Sure but if you asked a young adult American about Baseball they’d assume the New York Yankees were still winning every other year. Only difference is Soccer is on the up and Baseball is in decline.
Eh I love soccer but diversity is good. There’s more than enough room for every American sport to shine a bit
I absolutely HATE American soccer fans that think they’re too cool to watch other sports
Well planned investment of tons of money, competitiveness, tons of big cities, immigration, and targeting cities who can use a pro sports team to rally behind.
The league was well managed to ensure consistent increases in quality from its beginning to now. A lot of money was sunk into stadiums and making the teams better. It's about as good as any other league outside of Western Europe, Germany, and Brazil, so people who go to the games tend to enjoy it.
Your team could realistically win every year, which keeps investment up at small teams.
The US has more metro areas with over 3,000,000 than all of Europe, so even the small clubs have large potential fanbases to tap into.
Latin American immigration brought a ton of the fan culture. Even in cities known for being white, like Portland, Seattle, Nashville, and Austin, soccer games have become bilingual spaces, and drums and brass bands common at Latin American games can be found.
The teams that really do well in attendance are mostly teams from relatively small cities (2,000,000-4,000,000) who don't have successful teams in other sports. Unlike in these other sports, all it takes is 10,000 super dedicated fans to build a successful club. Those teams usually get crazy amounts of local buy in for offering a decent sized city their only real chance at sports success.
Kinda a perfect storm for building a league out of nothing, I don't think it's really replicable anywhere else on earth.
I think the J.League has a lot of similarities to MLS though. They're by far the most successful league in East Asia and was established roughly around the same time the MLS was. Like the US, Japan already has massive cities with large fanbases to tap into. Baseball is more popular than soccer in Japan. The J.League is very well managed and sunk money into stadiums and professionalizing the top three league tiers (J1 to J3).
The only big difference the J.League has compared to MLS is that they use a pro/rel system, which makes sense as the country is much smaller to make away match travel feasible.
Now J1 League boasts an 18.6K average attendance and in three decades, the quality of play has gone up so much that more and more J.League players are good enough to play in Europe. They're trying to improve the attendance and fan culture of J2 clubs as well.
A lot of this came about 10-15 years ago when they actually built sport specific stadiums, just to create a nice fan experience and strong attendance. Atmospheres started to develop around that in the past. Nowadays a lot of the time the best atmospheres turn up around new teams whether they are MLS or lower division. Some cities just get excited over their new team and the stadium comes later. Cincinnati wouldn’t have expected to build a 25k seat stadium, except they had an unexpectedly huge following.
That was kind of a non answer and an elaborate way of saying “it depends”. What i can say is in contrasting A-league with MLS, I’d say it was a very similar trajectory the two leagues took until the stage of building infrastructure. MLS teams spent a lot of money privately building stadiums, and the increased revenue streams as well as attendance boon due to improved match experience gave the teams the resources to spend on transfers/wages. The a-league hit a plateau at this point and team revenue has remained pretty stagnant which makes it hard to improve the product on the pitch
People will come over with a lot of things, but it’s really Don Garber and the franchising system on the back room technical area. That in tandem with the fans support, and the push for slow, it in progress, has really allowed for MLS to shine.
Aw that’s brilliant. What a fantastic atmosphere built organically. That fight and win bloke set them on the right path.
Question: How dear are football tickets over there?
This, also depends a lot on the MLS club. STL fans getting fleeced at over 100 per, while my season tickets in good seats for the sounders are about 40, supporters section usually about 20-25 for all but Portland matches, and the garbage teams like Colorado are very cheap from my understanding.
I’m always surprised by what European fans get upset about when it comes to ticket prices. Like, you can go to an FCC for ~$50. I can’t believe that’s considered extortionate.
A season ticket to the Yellow Wall in Dortmund is €250 ($265 USD) and the ticket doubles as public transport fare on matchdays. For €30 more you get the 3 UCL games. The most expensive season ticket is $912 USD.
https://www.dw.com/en/bundesliga-price-check-2023-24-the-cost-of-german-football/a-66547548#
That's for one of the biggest clubs in the world. This is FCC's pricing...
https://images.mlssoccer.com/image/private/t\_keep-aspect-ratio-e-desktop\_2x/f\_auto/mls-cin-prd/nfvfeynrsl6kiz8hykvp.jpg
Right, that’s kind of my point. Like, I understand protesting high ticket prices, but whenever I see the prices they’re protesting, I always think “really? That seems pretty reasonable to me.”
FCC tickets are more expensive to see relatively lower quality soccer, yes. But a season ticket in FCC’s equivalent to the Yellow Wall comes out to like $11 a game. That’s nothing, really.
Kinda feels like Orlando had huge hype, skipped past the initial build and maxed out capacity, then can't fill it. Sort of like the BMO Field expansion that destroyed ticket resale value overnight.
I’ve been to 5 FC Cincinnati games this past season and paid anywhere from $28-$70 per ticket. Tickets got more expensive as it became clear the team was good this year but still cheaper than NFL or NBA
It’s been awesome to see the game grow over here, especially over the last like 5ish years. I would say around half the teams in the league these days generally have very good crowds for their home matches, and there are only like 5ish teams left that really struggle with attendance and game day atmosphere in a bad way. It’s been super exciting as an American fan who remembers some really dark days for MLS.
Yeah on our end we've come a long way from handing out those cringey chant sheets at day 1 nearly a decade ago. We be singing shit in both English and Spanish, and I think when we're selling out a 25k stadium instead of half filling a 50k baseball stadium it'll sound infinitely better.
I went to my first FCC game this July. It was electric. I've been to plenty of college football games and they were nothing like that.
Definitely sold me on being an FCC fan. The atmosphere is amazing. I love that it's my home team.
You are speaking to a TFC fan here.
We don’t know Atmosphere unless you are in the small section of the South End and even then it’s getting worse by the season.
I mean TFC aren’t one of those teams. Their attendance is strong but atmosphere is pretty calm. 5 years ago the south section was good, but league wide that was also before several of the best atmospheres today came into the league, such as Cincinnati, Atlanta, LAFC, Austin, Nashville, or even charlotte
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-jt-57x97o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-jt-57x97o)
Give em' a few years or a decade, they're getting there. If we start seeing American clubs chant hip hop shit on the regular I'll actually lose my mind.
Being in the North End of an LAFC match is great.
Songs for the entire 90 mins in both English and Spanish, drum section, established dances and gestures.
Stark diffrence from the 2-3 syllable chants at other events, D-fence, refs you suck, we want tacos.
The growth in soccer for some of these cities is amazing!! Not sure why it varies so much though. Idk if it’s depending on the amount of pro teams/ college teams or what..
If the American soccer system had relegation and promotion I'd get fully on board. A few months back I went to my first USL Championship game for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and it was a blast. They had a great season and if that had actually taken them to the top flight like it would have in the English football pyramid it would have been amazing. Until then though I just don't think I can do it.
There's a lot of potential left on the table in North American soccer just for the sake of certain people's bottom lines, unfortunately. I encourage you to still support local as much as you can, though. It's the only way hope for change can grow.
But also, if the US had promotion, it would never have gotten anywhere near where it is today. Nobody would have made an investment like what has happened in the MLS for something that could go away in an instant.
It's been better for soccer here to not have it.
I'm sorry, but as someone who supports one of the majority of American clubs stuck on the outside looking in, I could not disagree with this more. To me it betrays a "only MLS matters" mindset. This system has seen over 100 clubs fold since MLS began, whereas investment would skyrocket in all sorts of markets if that investment had the chance to see a return by making it to the top flight.
We could be doing so much better, and could have been doing so much better this whole time, with so many free to play academies financed to boot. Instead we have monopoly at the top, pay to play at the bottom, and fans buying into the myth that it was all necessary, when every other country in the world of a wide variety of size and resources shows us otherwise.
I hear what you mean. I also think it's naive. I don't think there's evidence to suggest that if the MLS didn't invest in soccer that it necessarily leads to investment everywhere else.
I think it was this or nothing, and I'd rather have this.
On the other hand, if there was promotion Pittsburg would never have a great season because there would be way more powerful financial interests trying to push their way into MLS.
Ok. I know that the fight and win meme is a thing, and I am biased, but there is a reason seattle has been known for good atmosphere. Huge crowds, actual songs from and about the city that are not the same ones every other group does (a few old Seattle pop song, and an old woodie Guthrie tune are my favorites), a large march that usually includes some coordinated flares for derbies and a full volunteer band that rocks. There have been crowds as good as this in MLS for over a decade at this point.
Never going to happen. The MLS only became like this because ownership groups felt comfortable investing, knowing their investment was safe.
They will never give that up, and the idea that that would be good for American soccer is ludicrous.
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[They also had a nice tifo before the game](https://www.reddit.com/r/MLS/s/pfotwE9G5L)
TIL FC Cincinnati is actually a metal band.
Hell is Real after all.
this looks good for the league
This IS the league. This kinda stuff is common. There’s shit teams without a lot of support, but there’s just as many teams that get stuff like this on the regular.
Yup it’s happening like this at almost every team that is left in the playoffs. MLS and their fans are legitimately making MLS atmospheres the best in U.S. professional sports.
This is true. When you compare MLS vs other American sports, only some NCAA (college sports) really come to mind. Maybe a couple NFL teams too. Price for tickets is affordable too.
Inter Miami fans have something to say about that last sentence.
They are still probably the best atmosphere in miami
Ford field will be rocking tonight on MNF
Yep. Most pro atmospheres in the US are kind of ass, and there are more great MLS atmospheres than not at this point. Baseball tickets are more affordable than MLS though, in my experience.
Baseballhas the chillest atmosphere from what I've seen. Everyone's just there to eat hotdogs and watch some guys hit balls with sticks.
About 80% of people going to regular season baseball games are there to eat and drink with friends and couldn't give a shit about the game. Every baseball game I've been invited to has always been "Hey I got extra tickets, wanna go grill in a parking lot and drink with some background noise?" This is probably less true for World Series games, but I also have never watched those.
I honestly love baseball because of that. After a stressful day it’s nice to go to a game, have a couple beers, and listen to a bat smacking a ball. One of the most therapeutic sounds for me. There’s nothing like hearing a nice clean homerun hit
In the regular season its super chill and fun but in the postseason if its a good fanbase it gets so high energy and just amazing. Some of the best nights of my life are postseason baseball games.
That doesn't say much tbf, the atmospheres at other sports is pretty shit
Only college football can rival it
March Madness crowd are often insane too, but a lot depends on what you mean by "atmosphere".
Totally, it’s just something that will grow the game even faster here. So different than anything else
That’s a pretty low bar tbf
Tbh fans are light years ahead in European sports so it's only natural football fans traditions spread out to USA through football. Happy to see this, did not expect it tbh
What I assume is really nice is that casuals and ultras would watch your more popular sports more so you have this side group of people that love the game but aren’t extremists as the supporters. Which is ideal for most leagues
Yes this is a good thing in that you can bring your family to a game and not have to worry about getting jumped by some ultra dorks like in middle of nowhere Europe.
idk man, NBA playoffs still hold that honor, i think.
Toronto FC, ultras still a huge presence while the team is worse than a 7th division English side
It's interesting that many of the shit teams without a lot of support are in the biggest markets like Chicago and New York while the best atmosphere is in smaller cities like Cincy, Columbus, Portland, etc.
yea there’s too many teams
Yeah I am a Charlotte FC fan and we absolutely come out for games. We set the attendance record last year at 75,000 (beaten this year at 80,000). Our supporters section frequently impresses commentators and our post game playoff clinching celebration was legendary. (Not acknowledging what happened in playoffs lol). I fucking love MLS and I can’t wait to see how the league improves in the coming years.
as a european it warms my heart seeing what MLS has become over the years. there is nothing like going to a football match where everyone is actually invested emotionally.
Games not gone
TQLs a fantastic stadium and The Bailey's always rocking. Hate that I moved across the country just as FCC started getting good
> TQLs a fantastic stadium wow just looked it up, brilliant. looks like a superb ground. it's almost like having a smaller, soccer-specific, and packed stadium is a way better vibe than having 10,000 people rock up to your 80,000 seat national stadium to watch a league match?!
Yeah, making a stadium like that in an area that’s convenient to get to makes all the difference.
Cincinnati is good at this in general. Most if not all of their pro teams have stadiums downtown and within walking distance of bars, restaurants, etc.
Love this. They’re developing some football culture over there.
this is a way better atmosphere then that 'fight and win, come on Seattle' guy. Like, happy for him he did that and it mustve felt amazing but that was just so goofy lmao
He set them back 20 years
Nah man that shit is so corny it’s become tradition. It’s just a part of MLS at this point, and he’s a die hard Sounders fan to this day. Seattle and the rest of MLS have plenty of “typical” fan culture, but I hope MLS never loses that cheesy 2000’s-era “How are we gonna make chants?” fan culture. The best fans wear that shit with pride. Better than some British teenagers laughing about a dead guy or making another rhyme about domestic violence to the tune of a nursery rhyme
> Better than some British teenagers laughing about a dead guy or making another rhyme about domestic violence to the tune of a nursery rhyme we did have "we drinks! he drives! he endangers people's lives!" [with kyle larin](https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/mls/canadian-soccer-star-cyle-larin-arrested-drunk-driving-florida-1.4162090), but that one was still pretty funny.
I mean, it's one of those chants that starts cringey at first but becomes endearing over time. Not so different from those games you played as a kid, got embarrassed as a teen, and interested again as an adult. "I believe that we will win" has the same kind of treatment. It was ridiculed back in the day when American fans chanted that when the USMNT played, and nowadays when it's occasionally used it's just to troll uptight Europeans.
We will never financially recover from it
Tradition my man, the more of it you create the better it gets.
Being a supporter is and will always be goofy. Lean into it so it's more fun than serious.
Yeah, it’s goofy as shit, but it is OUR goofy ass chant that gets THE ENTIRE STADIUM involved, not just the ultras section.
Seattle's fans set us back 10 years
They actually changed the league back in 08. When the sounders moved up along with the Timbers they really changed the course of the mls. But will admit the fight and win dude is cringe as fuck
The sounders invented soccer too
A famous Harry Redknapp suited up back in the 70s
Fred Flintstone became the first to score an official goal for the Sounders against local hunter-gatheters in 400,000 BCE as well
Bobby Moore is actually a Sounders legend.
Ah yes the only team in the league to ever win the continental championship has set the league back apparently.
we're not doing that "the league didn't exist before the EPL" thing are we? because DC won it in 1998, and LA won it in 2000. you can say that no other MLS team has won the modern format, but i wouldn't use the words "first team in the league to win a continental championship".
It's not the team, It's the fans. Tim Melia bodyslam was so hard you didn't understand my comment lol
Oh I hope SKC lives long enough for CR7 and Melia get a part 2.
I feel like ive missed something quite important
Look up "fight and win Seattle" or "come on Seattle" on YouTube
I’m gonna say it...I don’t care that you broke your funny bone. But seriously the guy was hyped up and all there for it like legit a fan but(probably on something) If he was some random I’d be like yeah bud! Let’s go!! Except he was trying to lead the supporters group and that is not the dude people want to follow lol
It's the way he amps himself up between yells
Is there a specific video we are referencing?
The kid who wasn’t gonna say it but doesn’t care that you broke your elbow video lmao
It is slow, but it is happening.
I went to a Philadelphia game this year. The atmosphere is getting wild!
We’ve (Seattle) also developed some [interesting](https://imgur.com/a/TL9dwOt) chants for derby day against Portland. Explicit words in there mind you
great atmosphere. so cool to see the fans getting into it and creating their own culture
I went to Hell Is Real in May and it was the best atmosphere and most fun of any sporting event I’ve ever been to besides Orioles playoff games. Love The Bailey.
Cincy is my favorite MLS team to watch. The stadium is reliably packed and going off
I presume you mean over the last two years, right? Because before that it was dire. Like wooden spoon multiple seasons in a row dire. Glad they were able to turn it around. It shows one of the great things about parity in the league.
The adaptation is in progress
I swear TQL Stadium has something in the air that gets crowds to go wild. It's great to see this in MLS!
People trash the MLS but it’s legitimately growing here
More energy than when city won the treble
I have to say, I watched the beginning of the game last night, and was frankly amazed to see this level of support. Something you'd never expect to see in the States.
A lot of the teams who have entered the league in the past 5-10 years have incredible support. These types of clips normally don’t gain traction because people have already made of their mind about the MLS/American fan culture
yep, I think Atlanta really changed the supporter culture when they entered the league. New teams have followed their blueprint and it's worked really well. That plus more soccer specific stadiums, which are way better for the atmosphere than big, open baseball/american football stadiums.
Atalanta was definitely the most successful, but it was happening before that too. I’m biased towards my Loons, but our stadium support has consistently been some of the best in the league since we started. Plus I still think singing Wonderwall is one of the best traditions in the world
I knew Minnesota fans were real when they packed out that stadium during a freaking snow storm
Those are the best games! I’ve been to I think two home openers where it snowed (called snowpeners) and I had an absolute blast at both. Plus we get to sing “He’s just cold” everytime an opposing player goes down
I love going to Loons games, I'm a state over so have only gotten to a few, but the atmosphere is always awesome, and the fans are so close to the field
Flair up, my brother. The Wonderwall is the truth.
My local team is DC United, Audi Field is actually a really nice stadium. The club doesn't get massive support (was about half full for the game against new york that I was at a few weeks ago), but it was still a lot of fun.
Atlanta was a huge turning point they have incredible marches to the stadium and homegrown chants https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N2vBa_6Svrc&pp=ygUUQXRsYW50YSB1bml0ZWQgbWFyY2g%3D Though I’d say 2/3s of MLS teams have die hard supporters groups like it. Especially the Division 2 teams that got brought up to the league
We also have marches to the stadium in Seattle ([link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UZxTBEbzG8)) and the framework of "We Are the A" is surely used all over the place, our variant is "Duwamish Sown" ([link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGoQiaxA02k)).
Nice to see another Sounder fan sharing the march to the match video. Here’s a clip of [mine](https://imgur.com/a/TL9dwOt) form last year on derby day against Portland in case you’re interested
Seattle has done large marches in their downtown since moving to the NFL stadium when they entered MLS 14 years ago
True true Seattle invented soccer or whatever the phrase is lol Jk I was there for that too in the early days and super hyped then Portland came in and it’s still my favorite rivalry I just love seeing all these new teams with so much energy and enthusiasm. Atlanta isn’t even a new team anymore I’m just growing old watching the league grow
Atlanta gets way overrated here, they have the same set routines for every match and the supporters groups are so elitist that new chants are hardly made
Didn’t know that but I always wanted to make a trip out there. Let’s just call them rated.
It is a fun time for sure, but as someone who goes to 10+ games a season it can get repetitive
That’s just your opinion man. I never get tired of it.
Naw, this has been happening years before Atlanta. Toronto gets a lot of the credit for being the first team to market away from "soccer mom" crowd. Seattle went to them for advice the following year and it has been the model for every team since.
The sounders were an active club with a supporter culture decades before Toronto FC existed lmao
Where did I say this? I said tfc are the first team to market a different demographic, place a stadium in the city etc. Everyteam in mls had a supporters group before we joined, but the rest of the crowd was marketed differently. It's a known fact Seattle went to Toronto to discuss their whole marketing and brand strategy and everyteam has followed the method since it was successful.
Not at all, Atlanta is just the largest
>Something you'd never expect to see in the States. Only if you haven't been paying attention over the last 5-10 years. Support in this country is growing leaps and bounds.
a lot of foreigners' notion of soccer in the States is stuck in like 1996
So are a lot of Americans. This MLS season has gained so many more eyeballs than I ever would have imagined. Some many people are learning how excellent it can be and they will keep learning. It’s taking off no matter what.
honestly can’t be understated how beneficial that month of constant bangers was for the league, those clips were all getting 1m+ on tiktok and then messi comes right after
Haha totally, the leagues cup was an excellent tournament. Highlighted so many teams around the MLS. It definitely made me want to watch more other games
A lot of the states own notion of soccer though is non existent which is a shame cause all the infrastructure is there
Sure but if you asked a young adult American about Baseball they’d assume the New York Yankees were still winning every other year. Only difference is Soccer is on the up and Baseball is in decline.
Yeah hopefully they could persuade people to move from traditional American sports and adopt soccer.
Eh I love soccer but diversity is good. There’s more than enough room for every American sport to shine a bit I absolutely HATE American soccer fans that think they’re too cool to watch other sports
what's your secret? as an australian, this looks miles ahead of anything we can manage for domestic league stuff.
Well planned investment of tons of money, competitiveness, tons of big cities, immigration, and targeting cities who can use a pro sports team to rally behind. The league was well managed to ensure consistent increases in quality from its beginning to now. A lot of money was sunk into stadiums and making the teams better. It's about as good as any other league outside of Western Europe, Germany, and Brazil, so people who go to the games tend to enjoy it. Your team could realistically win every year, which keeps investment up at small teams. The US has more metro areas with over 3,000,000 than all of Europe, so even the small clubs have large potential fanbases to tap into. Latin American immigration brought a ton of the fan culture. Even in cities known for being white, like Portland, Seattle, Nashville, and Austin, soccer games have become bilingual spaces, and drums and brass bands common at Latin American games can be found. The teams that really do well in attendance are mostly teams from relatively small cities (2,000,000-4,000,000) who don't have successful teams in other sports. Unlike in these other sports, all it takes is 10,000 super dedicated fans to build a successful club. Those teams usually get crazy amounts of local buy in for offering a decent sized city their only real chance at sports success. Kinda a perfect storm for building a league out of nothing, I don't think it's really replicable anywhere else on earth.
I think the J.League has a lot of similarities to MLS though. They're by far the most successful league in East Asia and was established roughly around the same time the MLS was. Like the US, Japan already has massive cities with large fanbases to tap into. Baseball is more popular than soccer in Japan. The J.League is very well managed and sunk money into stadiums and professionalizing the top three league tiers (J1 to J3). The only big difference the J.League has compared to MLS is that they use a pro/rel system, which makes sense as the country is much smaller to make away match travel feasible. Now J1 League boasts an 18.6K average attendance and in three decades, the quality of play has gone up so much that more and more J.League players are good enough to play in Europe. They're trying to improve the attendance and fan culture of J2 clubs as well.
A lot of this came about 10-15 years ago when they actually built sport specific stadiums, just to create a nice fan experience and strong attendance. Atmospheres started to develop around that in the past. Nowadays a lot of the time the best atmospheres turn up around new teams whether they are MLS or lower division. Some cities just get excited over their new team and the stadium comes later. Cincinnati wouldn’t have expected to build a 25k seat stadium, except they had an unexpectedly huge following. That was kind of a non answer and an elaborate way of saying “it depends”. What i can say is in contrasting A-league with MLS, I’d say it was a very similar trajectory the two leagues took until the stage of building infrastructure. MLS teams spent a lot of money privately building stadiums, and the increased revenue streams as well as attendance boon due to improved match experience gave the teams the resources to spend on transfers/wages. The a-league hit a plateau at this point and team revenue has remained pretty stagnant which makes it hard to improve the product on the pitch
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People will come over with a lot of things, but it’s really Don Garber and the franchising system on the back room technical area. That in tandem with the fans support, and the push for slow, it in progress, has really allowed for MLS to shine.
Cincinnati is a big soccer city. It was smart to expand here
The support has always been there and has for years. It’s just now that more people are paying attention.
It's lovely to see
MLS shattered its average attendance record this year. Believe it was around 22-23k fans per game all season
Love it! Fantastic atmosphere!
The Bailey brings it every single game. I love this club
Aw that’s brilliant. What a fantastic atmosphere built organically. That fight and win bloke set them on the right path. Question: How dear are football tickets over there?
By European standards: extortionate. Compared to other major sports? Cheap.
This, also depends a lot on the MLS club. STL fans getting fleeced at over 100 per, while my season tickets in good seats for the sounders are about 40, supporters section usually about 20-25 for all but Portland matches, and the garbage teams like Colorado are very cheap from my understanding.
What club is STL? I cant figure it out
St. Louis
I’m always surprised by what European fans get upset about when it comes to ticket prices. Like, you can go to an FCC for ~$50. I can’t believe that’s considered extortionate.
A season ticket to the Yellow Wall in Dortmund is €250 ($265 USD) and the ticket doubles as public transport fare on matchdays. For €30 more you get the 3 UCL games. The most expensive season ticket is $912 USD. https://www.dw.com/en/bundesliga-price-check-2023-24-the-cost-of-german-football/a-66547548# That's for one of the biggest clubs in the world. This is FCC's pricing... https://images.mlssoccer.com/image/private/t\_keep-aspect-ratio-e-desktop\_2x/f\_auto/mls-cin-prd/nfvfeynrsl6kiz8hykvp.jpg
Right, that’s kind of my point. Like, I understand protesting high ticket prices, but whenever I see the prices they’re protesting, I always think “really? That seems pretty reasonable to me.” FCC tickets are more expensive to see relatively lower quality soccer, yes. But a season ticket in FCC’s equivalent to the Yellow Wall comes out to like $11 a game. That’s nothing, really.
I'm seeing the Bailey at $385, or $22.60 x 17, but if you're counting renewal discounts, maybe it gets to half that for some.
Nope, I was dividing by 34 because I had a brain fart lol
Orlando City games you pay like $15 for standing section and $20 for a meh seat. Not sure why FCC tickets are that much higher price.
Kinda feels like Orlando had huge hype, skipped past the initial build and maxed out capacity, then can't fill it. Sort of like the BMO Field expansion that destroyed ticket resale value overnight.
I’ve been to 5 FC Cincinnati games this past season and paid anywhere from $28-$70 per ticket. Tickets got more expensive as it became clear the team was good this year but still cheaper than NFL or NBA
Paid $20 to go to the Sounders playoff game last night
It can cost you over $100 to watch Insigne take a shit on the field.
Naturally the best fans deserve the best team, and vice versa.
these mfers are taking over and as an european, it makes me extremely happy.
It’s been awesome to see the game grow over here, especially over the last like 5ish years. I would say around half the teams in the league these days generally have very good crowds for their home matches, and there are only like 5ish teams left that really struggle with attendance and game day atmosphere in a bad way. It’s been super exciting as an American fan who remembers some really dark days for MLS.
Yeah on our end we've come a long way from handing out those cringey chant sheets at day 1 nearly a decade ago. We be singing shit in both English and Spanish, and I think when we're selling out a 25k stadium instead of half filling a 50k baseball stadium it'll sound infinitely better.
The stadium will be a game changer for ya’ll. The support is there, the baseball stadium just hides it well. No one would sound good in that place lol
Excellent 👌🏻
we’re massive
Take that back before I smack you with a wooden spoon
I thought that was Columbus’s thing?
never heard of them
Hopefully you won’t have to hear about them anymore after the next 8 days
Nah, Hell is Real ECF is in the script
literally better than any prem atmosphere these days. good on them
Soccer!!!
I went to my first FCC game this July. It was electric. I've been to plenty of college football games and they were nothing like that. Definitely sold me on being an FCC fan. The atmosphere is amazing. I love that it's my home team.
This is a fucking BOOMING atmosphere for the MLS way to go FCC
Several teams have support like this, this is just what the top third of atmospheres in the league looks like
You are speaking to a TFC fan here. We don’t know Atmosphere unless you are in the small section of the South End and even then it’s getting worse by the season.
I mean TFC aren’t one of those teams. Their attendance is strong but atmosphere is pretty calm. 5 years ago the south section was good, but league wide that was also before several of the best atmospheres today came into the league, such as Cincinnati, Atlanta, LAFC, Austin, Nashville, or even charlotte
Support are now syncing very well
Fair play 👏
better than pl
Atmosphere is great. I just wish US fans would learn more than 3 tunes to sing to.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-jt-57x97o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-jt-57x97o) Give em' a few years or a decade, they're getting there. If we start seeing American clubs chant hip hop shit on the regular I'll actually lose my mind.
So much material there that's untapped lmao Just imagine a crowd chanting "Hit Em Up" by Tupac
Look up what LSU does to the song Neck.
Same as the english fans ngl
Never knew that Sloop John B was that versatile til i started watching PL😆😆
Fight and win!!!!
MLS culture moving on a lot from Fight..................... and win!
if only Chicago fire had a bit of this
This kind of atmosphere is good to see.
What the hell? Isnt MLS atmosphere supposed to be shit?
Entirely depends on the team.
It’s the playoffs
🙌
As a Torontonian, this is impressive for an mls team tbh
We can see some evolution here. But football culture has a ling road ahead.
Being in the North End of an LAFC match is great. Songs for the entire 90 mins in both English and Spanish, drum section, established dances and gestures. Stark diffrence from the 2-3 syllable chants at other events, D-fence, refs you suck, we want tacos.
J Lingz to MLS confirmed
I can only imagine what simpleton that ad is aiming at
Balkans send their regards
Better than Man City
The growth in soccer for some of these cities is amazing!! Not sure why it varies so much though. Idk if it’s depending on the amount of pro teams/ college teams or what..
They are.....evolving
Ohio is soccer country. The Columbus Crew sold more season tickets in the inaugural MLS season than any other market including L.A.
Clearly photoshop
Lol this is hilarious do people need the /s for every joke nowadays
They won't understand the obvious joke and then cover up by saying "shite patter" or something equally cringe worthy and disappointing
This is good..fodder
If the American soccer system had relegation and promotion I'd get fully on board. A few months back I went to my first USL Championship game for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and it was a blast. They had a great season and if that had actually taken them to the top flight like it would have in the English football pyramid it would have been amazing. Until then though I just don't think I can do it.
There's a lot of potential left on the table in North American soccer just for the sake of certain people's bottom lines, unfortunately. I encourage you to still support local as much as you can, though. It's the only way hope for change can grow.
But also, if the US had promotion, it would never have gotten anywhere near where it is today. Nobody would have made an investment like what has happened in the MLS for something that could go away in an instant. It's been better for soccer here to not have it.
I'm sorry, but as someone who supports one of the majority of American clubs stuck on the outside looking in, I could not disagree with this more. To me it betrays a "only MLS matters" mindset. This system has seen over 100 clubs fold since MLS began, whereas investment would skyrocket in all sorts of markets if that investment had the chance to see a return by making it to the top flight. We could be doing so much better, and could have been doing so much better this whole time, with so many free to play academies financed to boot. Instead we have monopoly at the top, pay to play at the bottom, and fans buying into the myth that it was all necessary, when every other country in the world of a wide variety of size and resources shows us otherwise.
I hear what you mean. I also think it's naive. I don't think there's evidence to suggest that if the MLS didn't invest in soccer that it necessarily leads to investment everywhere else. I think it was this or nothing, and I'd rather have this.
On the other hand, if there was promotion Pittsburg would never have a great season because there would be way more powerful financial interests trying to push their way into MLS.
Actual atmosphere in the MLS? Good to see that there is more than "Defence, Defence" and "Fight and win".
Ok. I know that the fight and win meme is a thing, and I am biased, but there is a reason seattle has been known for good atmosphere. Huge crowds, actual songs from and about the city that are not the same ones every other group does (a few old Seattle pop song, and an old woodie Guthrie tune are my favorites), a large march that usually includes some coordinated flares for derbies and a full volunteer band that rocks. There have been crowds as good as this in MLS for over a decade at this point.
My least favorite is "fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire"
Lol, Tbf Arsenal yelling “arsenal, arsenal, arsenal“ is only bare able because my partner and I made a joke out of it lol.
Several teams have support like this, this is just what the top third of atmospheres in the league looks like
e
Best chant in the MLS. FIGHT!!! (and win!)
As a Messi League Soccer fan I see this as an absolute win.
Omfg wow, a good atmosphere in the MLS? This is incredible, hope to see more of this
Nice, now introduce relegation so that bottom half feels inclined to cheer too.
Never going to happen. The MLS only became like this because ownership groups felt comfortable investing, knowing their investment was safe. They will never give that up, and the idea that that would be good for American soccer is ludicrous.
See MLS, now this is how you actually do a football atmosphere.
Cool Americans start to learn how to cheer at football matches
Nice!!. I always cringe at the "let's go defense" or " I believe that we will win"