Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Minor League Soccer

(h/t: Mike McGuff)

The Chron's David Barron is reporting that the Houston Dynamo (Houston's Minor League Soccer franchise) has inked a deal with KHOU Channel 11 to broadcast 17 games not on KHOU itself, but on their back-door digital affiliate 11.2.

In other words they're moving from my20TV in Houston, which is a small network but over the air, to a obscure portion of the KHOU channel that's mainly known for Great Day Houston re-runs and The Dining Diva?

Judging by the comments in the Chron article MLS fans are trying to spin this as a positive. After their efforts spinning low ratings experienced on Thursday nights by ESPN2 one has to wonder if they're getting dizzy?

In a way I feel sorry for MLS fans. Soccer is a great game, I'm a huge fan of the International leagues and play at the National level, the MLS? Not so much. Rather than offering up the best soccer in the world, it's developed into a farm league where Americans can play alongside other Country's rising stars or their aging names. Which is OK, but it's nowhere near deserving of the level of hype head-in-the-sand fans heap on it.

Moves like this position the Dynamo closer to the Houston Aeros than they do the Houston Texans. The main difference being the Aeros understand their place in the Houston sports heirarchy and are content to play their games at the Rocket's pad. The Dynamo are still trying to get Oliver Luck his downtown corner office at taxpayer expense.