DC United is massive in metro area and created a soccer culture. I’m vactioning right now in Florida and found that DC United is a brand name down here. The English league by comparison is only followed in a very specific subgroup because of lack of access to FSC and Setanta. Kartik forgot to mention the weekly spanish broadcast on Univision of MLS games whicfh reaches that Latin audience he described as well as offering another option if you have cable or even old fashioned doggy ears!

One other point the MLS fan base and the EPL fans overlap but are two very different markets.

As you bring up the quality between the leagues I think it is important to mention that the gap is much smaller than most people believe. “MLS Sucks”, is the comment when you ever menion the league. But as the years goe by more and more people are realizing that it doesnt, and assuming that it keeps improving this is the only possible thing that can happen.

As it stands now the All star team(who practice only once before playing) beat teams such as Chelsea, and other decorated european teams. Regardless of being in the preseason that is an acomplishment, if the league sucked as much as most people say then that team would be getting blown out 5-0 at least.

The national team is in the top 20 in the world, and its chances at beating a team such as england are very reasonable.

A perfect example of this is south americans, I find in general they respect the league far more than europeons. The reason is that they see US soccer teams come up against theres all the time. They realize that for the most part it is pretty even. They have been exposed to the league through international competitions and recognize it for what it is. Europeons by contrast have not seen much of the league and stick to the stereotypical “americans suck at soccer”.

For instance exchange students from mexico come up to me and say” Lets go to an MLS game” I want to see one while I am here. Europeons who have not been exposed to the league only make snide comments.

As time goes by people can only learn more and more about it and see the quality for themselves. As they do they will respect the league and have no problem choosing it over the EPL.

Ignorance is the main factor keeping EPL interest alive today. The other factor is being from europe, but as the generations go by the conection to europe will be less and less. The connection to the US will be more and more. The quality of the US league will go up.

As I see it interst can only go down.