Augen said:
MLS sides average 21K, NASL is around 7K, and USL is 5K. Obviously some sides are bigger than others so could play in front of 15K or 2K depending. Looking at Jacksonville Armada Football Club they play in an 11K capacity stadium and have solid support, but looking at the table are struggling near the bottom this year. Football is growing every year, just twenty years ago the top flight was founded and struggling. Now we have three tiers that are fairly stable with far more clubs across the country than even a decade ago. I'd say right now NASL and USL have varying impact on their cities depending on other sporting competition and size of the city. If I had to guess vast majority of folks won't recognize players walking around. Also, not surprised they are interested in Florida. Seems like Europeans like the Sunshine State. |
Interesting. So on average 7000 people watching each game in the league the two players from my town will be playing in, compared with 1,800 per game here. And yet people won't recognize them when they take a stroll through town over there.
I like that the interest in football is growing in America, but I don't like that your leagues are franchise based and don't have promotion/relegation. It feels so artificial. It's a pity Australia has adopted that model too. It's much more fun when you can root for a team and watch it climb up the league system. Like right now, my team is at the top of the 2nd division and a favorite to climb up to the first division. We were so close last year.
These three tiers, are they all nation-wide? Like, our first and second tiers or divisions have 16 teams each, while our third tier has two separate divisions or "conferences", one North and one South, 14 teams each, 28 in total.
Do you follow USA football regularly? What about European leagues? And the Euro cup? The America cup?
