Jason Cronkhite owns Ziga Zoga – a serious footballers community for people who want to make a difference in and through football. He represented ZZ at the SuperDraft and this is a small segment of his coverage of the event for ZZ.
Yeah, yeah its been a week since the draft but I wanted to add some perspective to what has not been discussed as much about MLS and the SuperDraft. Being my third year out to the draft, this was the most exciting for me on a few levels.
For one thing, it was exciting to see the young fans out vicariously supporting their clubs. Many were loud, opinionated and sporting their club kit like true football fans do throughout the rest of the world. Yes, America is a young footballing country but, its youth is the future and I see the popularity shifting. Although, the sport still has a ways to go to catch up with the rest of the world, the future is looking bright.
Two, the media presence this year was the largest I’ve seen and MLS had to limit media credentials which is a good sign (or not depending on how you look at). More people wanting to talk about the league and its players is a good thing.
Three, club rivalries are really blossoming! Lots-ah smack everywhere, especially in the pubs, and good healthy smack for the most part.
Four, the Commissioner — Don Garber — gave a state of the league address that touched on the passionate supporter atmosphere that’s taking shape in multiple markets. He talked about expansion markets and the increased investor and fan interest across the world and country. Discussion was also had about TV deals, increased sponsorship interest and soccer specific stadiums.
Five, we’re growing our own talent and raising high level exposure earlier than we have before and that’s important for International competitiveness. As big as the US is, it needs to show much better on the world stage and the young talent coming into MLS will certainly help.
For those of you who have not been to the MLS Draft, it takes place along side the NSCAA Coaches Convention, which is America’s largest and one of the world’s largest soccer conventions. It’s a great place to network and meet-up with like minded folk from all over the world — a great time!
So, who was drafted? Well, you can check out the full list here and if you’d like to see some of the videos we got check’em out here (6 total):
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