Yankee President Randy Levine responded harshly to comments made by Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber. Major League Soccer's commish said on Thursday, "It's incomprehensible that you watch a game, and there will be front-row seats empty," in reference to the expensive seats that remain empty at Yankee Stadium.
"We draw more people in a year than his entire league does in a year. If he ever gets Major League Soccer into the same time zone as the Yankees, we might take him seriously," Levine responded on Friday
I suppose he may mean that the MLS needs to enter the Eastern Time Zone. That way they can be in the same time zone as the Yankees. Not really sure what Levine was trying to do there.
What Levine says is ultimately true though, the Yankees do in fact outdraw the entire MLS in attendance. But Is it really necessary for the president of the New York Yankees to get into a war of words with the commissioner of the MLS? After all, the Yankees outdraw the entire MLS. Levine himself said that.
For an organization that prides itself on class and success, the Yankees seem to have forgotten the "class" part of that formula. Something feels completely wrong about Levine taking shots at America's professional soccer league, one in desperate need of support in this country. Soccer remains the most popular sport in the world, and completely unpopular in the US, as indicated by horrendous attendance.
While some may say that Garber and the MLS deserve Randy Levine's scorn, Levine simply continues the trend of blind unaccountability from the "world's strongest sports brand," as Garber referred to the Yanks as on Friday. The problem here is that Randy Levine and Lonn Trost represent precisely what makes the Yankees unlikable, as they embody the complete disconnect between the Yankees and its loyal fans. Deny it if you want, but Randy Levine firing barbs at the MLS makes the Yankees look very silly.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Comments (8)

Sort by: Date Rating Last Activity
Loading comments...
Comments by IntenseDebate
Posting anonymously.
Randy Levine Attacks MLS Commish, Makes Yanks Look Silly
2009-04-24T21:48:00-04:00
nick2slick
Levine/Trost Effect|Randy Levine attacks MLS commisioner|Yankees unlikable|
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
SEO By Profit By Search India
Lucci · 834 weeks ago
Craig Robinson · 834 weeks ago
It's a distorted comparison, for one thing, what with the huge difference in number of games.
MLB's average attendance: 32,539. MLS's average attendance: 16,460, which, incidentally, is only about 400 less than the average in the Brazilian top division. MLS will never reach the popularity of baseball, American football, basketball, or ice hockey, but with an increasing Hispanic population, it's entirely possible that one day Randy may be ready to take the MLS commissioner seriously.
Figures from Wikipedia, btw:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attendance_f...
Off topic: I went to my first baseball game of the season yesterday at Safeco Field with thoughts your reporting of the new Yankee Stadium in my mind. What a pleasure it was to be greeted with smiles by all of the stadium employees, moving between sections without hassle, and generally feeling like the money that my wife and I spent there was appreciated.
Jason · 834 weeks ago
Someguy · 833 weeks ago
Craig Robinson · 833 weeks ago
One caveat, though, is that all of the Sounders' games - bar the home opener - have been at the weekend. If one takes the home opener + weekend attendances for the Mariners, the average is 36,050. Either way, soccer comes out looking pretty good in a nation that supposedly doesn't care about it.
StadiumInsider 72p · 833 weeks ago
should be pretty good for them.