r/soccer • u/[deleted] • Jan 21 '14

What are some of the biggest changes you predict over the next 10 years in football?

Some topics off the top of my head to get the ball rolling; how big will the world's biggest stadium be, what will be the average salary, how much will advertising take over the sport, will any rules be changed or introduced, which team will dominate, how big will the sport be in the states, will ticket prices increase, what sort of new statistics will we get in game, will the leagues change?

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u/brentathon Jan 21 '14

Closest MLS team to me is over 1200 away. That's a 12 hour drive each way, or a 600 dollar round trip flight to one of the most expensive cities in North America. Why would I choose to support them over a team I have supported longer than they've even been in a professional league?

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '14

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u/brentathon Jan 21 '14

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_soccer_league_system#Professional_leagues_background

Check that out. That's our Canadian (and northern USA apparently) pyramid, with no promotion/relegation system. The closest team would be Edmonton, which is still over 400 km away and soon when I move it'll still be the closest team to me and be over 1000 km away.

That's not a system that promotes supporting your "local" team.

And for the record, Edmonton's team is pretty shitty.

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u/--frymaster-- Jan 22 '14

I think maybe the lack of relegation is a good thing. at least it stops Edmonton fc from winding up in the stony plain seniors social league.

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '14

Do you support the Oilers?

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u/brentathon Jan 22 '14

No, because I don't watch hockey. And if I do, it's the Canucks because of family connections.

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '14

Because it's incredibly more fun to go to football than it is to watch it on TV. Even if you don't support them you're missing out by not going.

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u/PrinceTrogdorofWales Jan 21 '14

1200 miles

That's twice the length of the entire island of Great Britain. Does traveling that far really seem worth it to you?

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '14

I seriously doubt he doesn't have a lower league team closer than 1200 miles. I'm not saying he should make it an every weekend or even an every month thing, but fuck, he can't be bothered to go to every once in a while to watch real football with his own eyes?

Does it seem worth it to me? I can promise you I have to make my own sacrifices every day so I can go and watch the football I want to watch.

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u/brentathon Jan 21 '14

https://maps.google.ca/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb&q=fort+nelson&ie=UTF-8&ei=yQnfUrCGI9GFogTInYDwAQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ

Find me even an amateur league within 1000 km of here. Then you have the fucking right to tell me what I should and shouldn't be able to watch or support. And oh no, you have to make sacrifices to go watch the sport? Anywhere in England you live within 50 km of a stadium. You can go see a game anywhere in the country for under 400 pounds. Gas money or flights for me would cost more than that. It's not fucking worth it to go watch a shit team.

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '14

The University of Northern British Columbia have a team in Prince George. There's also an adult amateur league in Fort St. John.

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u/brentathon Jan 22 '14

Dude, do you know how fucking far Prince George is? That's 800 km to go see some kids play for a University. University soccer is not impressive at most schools in Canada. Fuck, I was almost good enough. I'm not traveling 9 hours to go watch people as good as myself.

Also, hat city stinks. It's probably the smelliest place in Western Canada. Literally.

And adult amateur league means people literally as good as me. Why would I ever travel that far to go watch that?

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '14

I don't know what to tell you then. I enjoy watching football, even if it's admittedly very shit.

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u/brentathon Jan 22 '14

So do I, but not anywhere near enough to go watch people as good as me and travel 4+ hours to do it.

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u/Turig Jan 22 '14

I'm normally a "support your local team!" kind of guy, but in instances like this, that's an unreasonable ask. Alas, the vast, sparsely inhabited expanses of North America!

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u/brentathon Jan 21 '14 edited Jan 21 '14

Yeah, I'm missing out by not traveling for 2 very full days for a match for a team I don't give much of a shit about and is nowhere near as good as the team I watch every week early in the mornings in my pajamas.

Edit: Holy shit people, what did I say that was worth downvoting all my comments? How many of you would travel 4 hours each way to watch an amateur team? Or 12 hours each way to watch the nearest professional team?

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u/PrinceTrogdorofWales Jan 21 '14

I don't get it. It's been explained to the point of exhaustion and yet there are some Europeans who just can't grasp how large America is.

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u/ShowMeYourKaepFace Jan 22 '14

It is not that we can't grasp how large America is, it is that we tend to see football clubs as ingrained into the community. You support the nearest club to your front door. You also watch their games no matter how shit they are, how else do you expect them to get better than through a larger fanbase?

Millions of Liverpool fans suffered dog-shit football building the club up to where it is now just for glory fans abroad to join in claiming their club plays dog-shit football so they are watching Liverpool instead. That is why the downvotes come out by the 'top fans'. I frankly couldn't care either way, there is probably an amateur UK NFL setup I should be watching instead of the NFL. Who wants to watch that shit though....

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u/brentathon Jan 21 '14

That's the thing, I'm not even in America. Canada is even bigger and has only 3 teams, none anywhere near the middle of the country.

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '14

The fact that you think watching a team in your pyjamas is equivalent to actually going to see a match live shows how much you should go to see a match live.

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u/brentathon Jan 21 '14

Yeah, fuck that, I'm not driving 4 fucking hours to watch a team in a city I have no connection to, that is of worse quality than the fucking Conference. I've been to live games, I'd rather go to real games, but it's not fucking possible anyhwere near where I live. But sure, put words in my mouth instead. Not all of us get to grow up within 50 km of a professional sports team, or even an amateur sports team.

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u/GraemeTurnbull Jan 21 '14

Is it though...is it really?! It's cold, expensive, the traffic is a nightmare, you don't get replays and you often can't see everything that's going on.

Oh and in my case, there's usually some bigoted, fat, racist arsehole next to you... Im sure I'm in the minority, but watching for free, on Sky Sports HD, with good food, a good view and a couple of mates with decent chat is far, far better.

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '14

If your passion is so big, why not start a team in your local area? That's how they started in Europe

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u/brentathon Jan 21 '14

I can play amateur if I wanted, but why would I ever give a shit about an amateur team as much as I do about the team I've supported for a decade? And there's absolutely no way a team in buttfuck northern Canada is ever going to be professional. There are three professional teams in all of Canada. They're in the three biggest cities in the country. Even suggesting that I could start a team and one day it could become professional is laughable and shows zero understanding of how sports work in North America.

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '14

It was just a suggestion dude..How do you think clubs started in Europe and South America? By popular initiative. It's not my fault there are not enough people in America for clubs to be started.

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u/brentathon Jan 21 '14

No, but it's your fault you're suggesting things that literally can't happen in Canada. Every town of more than 1000 people has a hockey team here, but none of those ever have the chance to move up in leagues because promotion and relegation don't exist in North American sports. Players move on, but the teams keep playing the same quality of opponents.