I doubt it ever matters. It's an afternoon out, often with your children, I suppose you shout for the team which uses your ground.
A lot of American ideas and customs are anathema to me, and I suspect many others.

I saw the same bbc article and thought LOL.

In general i think the american culture is fake and artificial across the board, and that extends to sports. Look at MK dons/wimbledon reaction compared to the teams moving in US. or should i say “franchises”. Literally they are spelling it out for us that they arent even a real team

I guess Americans are more used to teams changing their homes, and given the size of the country, it's more likely that you will support you local team. I think with the culture there, it's actually something they are more 'into', supporting the team that they are from etc.

Whereas here, whilst we of course have local fans for clubs, they tend to be a bit more widespread.

Perhaps the fact they don't really have relegation in a lot of sports, makes it easier to simple support your home team through thick or thin.

A lot support their college teams and to be fair those teams do have a lot of history and culture.

Baseball, NFL and Basketball also have rich history over there.

The “sacker” clubs need to stick around to really build support. The parents getting into is one thing but the culture will eventually be driven by the children attending now and becoming adults later - what feels manufactured now will be natural in 10 to 20 years as these children will have been supporting that side their whole lives.

Basically they have to start somewhere

I've been to a few loons games because my lad used to play for them. TBF the loon is the state bird of Minnesota so a natural choice.

The atmosphere at the games is absolutely brilliant BTW. The wonderwall works albeit the MLS pays for the 'actors' in the ultra section as they do for all clubs. Sell out every game in a right sized ground. Great food options. Airport scanners, empty pockets & search for everyone on entry - could do with that here (Glasgow). Behind the scenes the club is a bit of a mess but hey, that's not unique.

You can slag off the MLS but remember many attempts failed to establish 'saccer' in the USA and it is firmly established now. The franchise model is not perfect in some ways but better in others. Ignore the draft thing that's just a bit of fun. Eventually, US clubs will compete with the best. Might take 50 years but the infrastructure and wealth is there. Way more viable than facking Saudi.

A similar thing happened here with my AFL club the Sydney Swans. Until the 80s they were the South Melbourne Swans, set up in 1873 and obviously based in Melbourne. For financial reasons they moved ‘franchises’ to Sydney and thus became one of the first non Victorian AFL clubs (maybe the first?).

The fan base now is as rabid as any PL team gets and I guess it took new generations to be born as fans who never saw them as a Melbourne club to fully be embraced here even though Sydney is an NRL town (imagine two sports as popular as the Premier league in England - one based in London *sport A* and one based in Manchester *sport B* ) and that’s how hard it is to break into the others territory.

* the club pays to support the ultras, not the MLS directly.

Also, whether they are copying ultra behaviour or not, and you can argue that UK teams are copying Euro ultra culture, every team has them over there right down to 4th tier and even some college teams that get decent crowds though that is an exception.

Having seen lots of those outfits up close they are full of crackpots, loners, losers that have found something new to attach themselves to. If it stops them shooting schoolkids it can;t be a bad thing.

Minnesota then posted a picture of a banner from the game that read: "History over hype, culture over cash", with the words "hype and cash" highlighted in pink.

Beckham, again commented on the post, writing: "Respect over everything."

I like basketball and watch the NBA. What amuses me when watching their sports is the fans. Most of them go to the games for fun and not to support their teams. You would see fans dancing during breaks even when their own teams are losing. Too many breaks, too much singing and dancing, eating, and little passion. Fake fans and noise. I hate all of that.

9 years is quite a long history for America tbf.

Might be worth posting on the MK Dons board.

comment by 20 LAMCAM 6 (U18537)
posted 4 hours, 5 minutes ago
I like basketball and watch the NBA. What amuses me when watching their sports is the fans. Most of them go to the games for fun and not to support their teams. You would see fans dancing during breaks even when their own teams are losing. Too many breaks, too much singing and dancing, eating, and little passion. Fake fans and noise. I hate all of that.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I got taken to a MLB game in Houston a few years ago. Baseball is a really boring sport (to the uninitiated) but I found it a very interesting cultural experience. Food sold and consumed in great volume throughout. People attend with friends / family and spend the whole time chatting, with half an eye on the game. Houston got humiliated by the visiting team but everyone filed out of the arena, still chatting away cheerfully.

Great insights, Silver. I didn't know about the paid actors generating the ultra experience. Coming from a different tradition, the inauthenticity would put me off massively. It's all a bit pro-wrestling. But if lots of genuine fans are genuinely buying into it, I guess that does answer my question about how you go from zero history to lecturing other franchises about culture in less than a decade.

On the loon (aka basically a duck), yeah, I read the relevant local connection. It does make sense. I was just making the point that it was the result of a branding brainstorming session run by the franchise owner, not an organic, bottle-up thing.

The franchise thing is really interesting. Usually a lead participant but I've seen a dozen main players typically drawn from local businessmen. Real estate always plays a part but also prominent are hospitality, construction and the lead sponsor. In MNUFC case Target based in Minneapolis was obvious.

USA is brilliant at infrastructure. Stadiums thrown up and / or multi-use or re-purposed at will. Training facilities for 3rd tier teams with 30-40 floodlit grass pitches even though they're only used for grassroots a few nights. Partnerships with health facilities so there are specialists on site along with cryo, heat, gym, medical scans at the snap of a finger - way ahead of UK. No messing about with x-ray, go straight for MRI. Players don't need to look for accommodation it is part of the package and usually serviced with more gym, pool, food - provided by some of the real estate partners. All very organised.

Player appearances written to contracts, often paid, often linked to the franchise partners but also expectation to represent the city. Altruistic.

Most stadia adjacent to a mall sharing the parking most needed at night when most games are and when mall traffic has gone - smart - and free!. The security is omnipresent. Always a healthy police presence on top of the scanners etc. Only bags allowed are 12x6x6 inches clear plastic. First time Mrs Silver had to ditch a handbag in the bin because it was a few inches over. No mitigation for being foreign not knowing the rules.

Silver