North America's Soccer Hotspots Revealed Ahead Of MLS Cup Final

WREXHAM, Wales - Dec. 7, 2017 - PRLog -- With Western Conference winners and defending champions Seattle Sounders facing a road-trip this weekend to Eastern Conference victors Toronto FC battle for the biggest trophy in North American professional soccer in the MLS Cup Final, Net World Sports has ranked the locations that buy the most of its FORZA soccer goals, balls, soccer nets, and other practice or field equipment.

This Saturday's [9 December] championship match-up is a repeat of the 2016 clash between the same two franchises, which saw the Sounders win soccer's 'Superbowl' thanks to a 5-4 shoot-out triumph, following a 0-0 tie in the game at Toronto's BMO Field stadium. However, neither city features too prominently in the locations where Net World Sports customers have placed the most soccer equipment orders since the start of the MLS regular season in March.

Toronto would just make it into the FORZA Soccer Standings of the Top 10 USA and Canada Cities in 9th position, and would also scrape into the firm's alternative Eastern conference play-offs in 6th and final place. In 15th place overall, Seattle misses out on the top 10 but would still make the post-season cut, with cities based in the east making up the majority of the overall list.

Unsurprisingly it's New York City that tops the overall power ranking, with soccer-crazy fans from the Big Apple placing twice as many orders as 2nd-placed Los Angeles. Big sporting cities Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia make up the top five.

Miami (11th), Detroit (13th), and Baltimore (14th) are the best-performing locations that don't currently host one of the 22 Major League Soccer franchises, and would all feature in an 'alternative' MLS Eastern Conference, while Phoenix (19th overall) would be added to the MLS Western Conference if the standings were calculated purely on soccer sales. Out of the cities that do host a professional MLS franchise, it's Portland, Oregon – home of the Timbers – that finishes rock bottom of the rankings, below Columbus, Ohio and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Toronto is comfortably top of the standings for orders from Canadian cities, with the capital of Ontario finishing ahead of Montreal and Calgary. Despite being the home city of MLS franchise the Whitecaps, Vancouver is only the 6th best Canadian city overall.

It was a closer contest ranking the US states that buy the most Net World Sports FORZA soccer equipment. California, the home of two MLS franchises the Los Angeles Galaxy and the San Jose Earthquakes, just bested New York state and Texas in a tight top three, with Florida (4th) and New Jersey (5th) making up a top five which was heavily dominated by states from the east of the USA.

Unsurprisingly Ontario is the Canadian province with by far the most sales, with its large cities such as Toronto, Ottawa, and Hamilton ensuring top spot for the 'Heartland Province', ahead of British Columbia, Quebec, Alberta, and Nova Scotia.

Chris Owens, Communications Manager for Net World Sports, commented: "With the MLS season building up to its championship game this weekend and the holiday season just around the corner, soccer sales on our www.networldsports.com and www.networldsports.ca websites are definitely on the rise.

"Our FORZA soccer goals are hitting the target both with kids out in their backyard recreating the MLS skills of stars like Sebastian Giovinco and Diego Valeri, as well as schools, colleges, and clubs aiming to finish top of their standings too."

Net World Sports soccer selection includes the complete range of FORZA goalposts, from PVC backyard goals for kids, through to premium aluminum match and practice goals in a range of sizes, which feature on the English Football Association – the world-renowned FA – list of approved products. FORZA equipment also covers soccer balls, goalkeeper gloves, soccer nets, backstop netting, field equipment like corner flags and team benches, and gameday gear including coaching boards.

Editor's notes:

Power rankings are based on all orders placed on Net World Sports' USA and Canada websites from 1 March to 30 November 2017 which included at least one item of FORZA soccer equipment.

The FORZA Soccer Standings – Top 10 USA & Canada Cities

1.          New York City, NY

2.          Los Angeles, CA

3.          Boston, MA

4.          Chicago, IL

5.          Philadelphia, PA

6.          San Jose, CA

7.          Atlanta, GA

8.          Houston, TX

9.          Toronto, ON

10.        Washington, DC

FORZA Soccer Alternative 'MLS Eastern Conference'

1.          New York City, NY

2.          Boston, MA

3.          Chicago, IL

4.          Philadelphia, PA

5.          Atlanta, GA

6.          Toronto, ON

7.          Washington DC

8.          Miami, FL

9.          Orlando, FL

10.        Detroit, MI

11.        Baltimore, MD

FORZA Soccer Alternative 'MLS Western Conference'

1.          Los Angeles, CA

2.          San Jose, CA

3.          Houston, TX

4.          Dallas, TX

5.          Seattle, WA

6.          Minneapolis, MN

7.          Denver, CO

8.          Phoenix, AZ

9.          Salt Lake City, UT

10.        Kansas City, MO

11.        Vancouver, BC

The FORZA Soccer Standings – Top 10 States In The USA

1.          California

2.          New York

3.          Texas

4.          Florida

5.          New Jersey

6.          Pennsylvania

7.          Massachusetts

8.          North Carolina

9.          Illinois

10.        Michigan

The FORZA Top 5 Soccer Cities In Canada

1.          Toronto, ON

2.          Montreal, QC

3.          Calgary, AB

4.          Edmonton, AB

5.          Ottawa, ON

The FORZA Top 5 Soccer Provinces In Canada

1.          Ontario

2.          British Columbia

3.          Quebec

4.          Alberta

5.          Nova Scotia