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Are Portlanders losing interest in the Timbers in favor of EPL and La Liga?

EPL Bar Viewing

Going to the Providence Park or watching EPL in a bar?

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Besides food carts, superior coffee, microbrews, and the obsessive cult of recycling, Portland is renowned for its legions of passionate and knowledgeable soccer fans. Their soccer needs are readily filled by the local team, the Timbers. Timbers supporters have set the example for MLS: the stadium is constantly sold out, the choreography is beautiful, and the chants clever and continuous. No need for artificial 'defense, defense' chants around here. A Timbers game has even become a destination for out-of-towners and foreign soccer lovers.

While in many other parts of the country, soccer followers resort to rooting for teams that play several thousands of miles away, cheering at Chelsea goals, wearing United scarves, Arsenal jerseys, and trying their best scouser accents, Portlanders can enjoy the real soccer experience right in their backyard.

But is all of this changing?

If we dig a little deeper, we can notice a potentially worrying trend. Soccer aficionados in Portland appear to be shifting their interest from the local Timbers to international soccer, particularly turning to the English Premier League and the Spanish Liga.

As a measure of general interest, we can look at data on overall Google searches, using Google Trends, and restrict our attention to searches originating in the Portland area. In the first graph, we can compare search data for the Timbers with the equivalent numbers for major EPL teams, such as Manchester United, Chelsea, and Arsenal, as well as for the Premier League. In the second, we compare the Timbers to the dominant Spanish teams, Barcelona and Real Madrid. As the graphs show, the Portland Timbers didn't suffer much competition, in terms of attention, in the years after their founding and in the inaugural MLS seasons. Starting from the summer of 2013, however, there is a clear breakpoint in interest: attention in the Timbers has vanished a bit, but, more strikingly, EPL and Liga teams have started generating substantially more interest. They now dominate the Timbers in terms of interest, and they appear to remain on a still increasing trajectory.

The same is true if we consider whole leagues, rather than specific teams (still limiting searches to the Portland area): MLS has been slightly more popular than EPL between 2011 and 2013, and definitely more popular than La Liga, but the relationships changed in the middle of 2013. Since then, the EPL and La Liga generate a level of interest that is often ten times of more the order of magnitude generated by MLS.

The timing of the surge in interest on international soccer matches well with the NBC TV deal to broadcast EPL matches. The argument typically given for interest in the EPL, is that soccer fans, given the choice, often decide to follow those leagues that are perceived to provide the best entertainment value and that can showcase the most skilled players. On the other hand, the fans' experience is different: it is not as linked to the community as sharing the passion for a local team, and it is way more passive, depending on TV viewing more than active participation in a stadium.

Maybe, all it takes for the Timbers to remain the hottest ticket in town is to start winning consistently. Would anybody really trade an MLS cup in Portland for another Manchester title?

Finally, it would be nice to know how much reality there is in those data. Are these trends consistent with your experience? Is watching EPL in a bar, at least in part, replacing following the Timbers in the stadium?

This FanPost was written by a Stumptown Footy community member and does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the site or its staff.

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