New MLS Commercial on ESPN...

I think Allen invited me to blog here because of these emails I've been known to send to my friends with little bits and pieces of soccer info from around the world. Most of my posts here will be of that nature, I hope you enjoy.

This morning I was watching ESPN Sports Center while eating some breakfast. One of the commercials seemed to start off as a commercial for a baseball game, which I would normally ignore. It showed some kind of "exciting" baseball play and said, "Excitement". It then showed a ripping shot on goal in a MLS match and had a check box next to the word Excitement. The box checked. The commercial went on to have a couple other baseball scenarios and then showed how the MLS game contained that attribute.

Please note, I don't know that excitement was the actual word...I can't remember the exact details. But you get the picture. ESPN is marketing directly at baseball fans, one of the first groups to trash soccer saying it is boring. The fact that baseball fans say soccer is boring is beyond me, but I applaud ESPN for targeting that group of sports fans. In my opinion, many baseball fans are sports fans first and foremost. They like baseball because they like the stats, they like sports and they grew up with the game. It would seem that since they like sports they should be able to gain some interest in soccer.

If ESPN can help convert some baseball fans into soccer and MLS fans it will be a huge step forward for the league. Let's hope it works.

In my personal quest to convert new soccer fans, baseball fans are often easy targets. They recognize that MLB is not what it used to be and soccer is an exciting worldwide sport with so many nuances that they can explore and latch onto. Go ESPN.