(Editorial) – The 2015 MLS Cup Final is set – the young Columbus Crew have turned potential into performance this season. They finished second in the Eastern Conference with 53 points. The Black and Gold went on to defeat the Montreal Impact (read: Fighting Didier Drogba’s) and the Supporter’s Shield winning New York Red Bulls.
MLS Cup Viewership: 2015 Will Not Attract Casual Fans
The Crew will host the Portland Timbers, who have epitomized peaking at the right time for a playoff run. Caleb Porter’s side finished the regular season with three straight wins and boasted the second best road record in MLS. They went on to win an epic playoff shootout against Sporting KC. Portland then defeated the Vancouver Whitecaps and FC Dallas without home field advantage in the second leg.
The 2015 MLS Cup Final features without question the best teams of this year’s playoffs. It features two teams peaking at the right time and playing attractive attacking soccer. Stylistically, this is one of the best match ups the league and the fans could have hoped for. An MLS junkie is salivating at watching these two teams go at it for a star above the crest.
From a marketability and ratings perspective, it’s one of the worst match ups. This year’s final will likely tank in trying to get the casual MLS fan, casual American soccer fan, and the Euro Snob to tune in.
MLS Cup viewership and TV ratings have largely been a function of the markets of the two teams participating in the final. Columbus and Portland aren’t large markets in the United States. While Portland doesn’t have a large population, the presence of soccer and the Timbers in Soccer City USA does provide a boost.
The league executives probably would have preferred to have the game be in Portland. The Timbers Army would have been an excellent showcase for the final and the ticket revenue would have been massive. It is encouraging to see that Mapfre Stadium is already sold out for Sunday’s match.
It’s expected the game will draw huge numbers in Portland; the game should also do well in Columbus. It might help that Ohio State is not playing in the Big Ten Championship, so the people of Columbus could be looking for other plans for the weekend that would include watching MLS Cup.
Outside of those two markets and the regular MLS viewers nationwide, this game probably won’t draw much attention.
The 2013 final was very similar to this year’s match up. Sporting KC hosted Real Salt Lake. Two small market teams with good close-knit fan bases. Two different but very entertaining playing styles. No big European DPs or poster-boy USMNT stars (Matt Besler and Graham Zusi had yet to play in a World Cup or sign DP contracts at the time).
That final drew about half a million English language viewers, an all time low for MLS Cup viewership.
Contrast that with 2014, when the LA Galaxy hosted the New England Revolution. Boston and Los Angeles are big sports markets. The Revs had Jermaine Jones, who had just played a fabulous World Cup. The Galaxy had Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan, who was playing his last game as a professional. That match drew almost two million viewers (Spanish and English language combined).
Of the six most viewed MLS Cups, four of them involved the LA Galaxy (and thus the LA market). Three involved the Houston Dynamo. Houston is the third most populated cities in the U.S. and has one of the larger Hispanic populations of MLS markets.
Of these six games, Landon Donovan was involved in four. David Beckham played in two. None of the top 15 highest paid players in MLS are in the final this year. The two most significant international stars in this match up are Federico Higuain and Liam Ridgewell. At no disrespect to them, “Gonzalo Higuain’s brother takes on former midtable EPL centerback” doesn’t have a nice ring to it.
History shows that while Sunday’s final will be dynamic, the lack of a big market team or recognizable players will make it less appealing to a casual fan, and it’s a damn shame. 2013 was a great final, more exciting than 2014 for a neutral if you ask me. Sunday’s game should be ridiculous and entertaining.
If you’re going to watch the game, call a few friends who are casual soccer fans. Convince them to join you at the bar or at home. They don’t need to know who the Timbers Army is invading or if a Kei Kamara has guacamole on it. If they like watching soccer, they will enjoy watching this game.
And if your friends would rather rewatch Norwich-Watford, find some new friends and invite them instead.
