Filed under: MLS team values by Forbes, Uncategorized | Tags: Andrea Pirlo, Avaya Stadium, Chicago Fire, Chivas USA, Colorado Rapids, Columbus Crew, David Villa, DC United, Didier Drogba, Don Garber, ESPN, FC Dallas, Forbes magazine, Fox, Fox Sports 1, Frank Lampard, Houston Dynamo, Kaka, LAFC, Los Angeles Galaxy, Major League Soccer, Miami Fusion, Montreal Impact, NBA, NBC, NBCSN, New England Revolution, New York City FC, New York Red Bulls, NFL, NHL, Orlando City SC, Philadelphia Union, Portland Timbers, Real Salt Lake, San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders, Sporting Kansas City, Steven Gerrard, Toronto FC, Univision, Vancouver Whitecaps, WNBA
The average worth of Major League Soccer clubs reached $157 million in 2014, up 52 percent from the previous year, according to a valuation by Forbes magazine.
Topping the list were the Seattle Sounders at $245 million, while the Colorado Rapids, worth $105 million, brought up the rear. The biggest mover was DC United, whose value increased 97 percent, from $71 million in ’13 to $140 million last year. Average team worth was $103 million in 2013, nearly triple what Forbes valued the teams five years earlier.
Eight of MLS’ then-18 clubs turned a profit in 2014, led by Seattle’s $10 million. The biggest loser was the New York Red Bulls at $9 million.
2014 valuation of MLS clubs, plus revenue and operating income*:
1. Seattle Sounders — $245 million, $50 million, $10 million.
2. Los Angeles Galaxy — $240 million, $44 million, $4 million.
3. Houston Dynamo — $200 million, $26 million, $5 million.
4. Portland Timbers — $185 million, $35 million, $4 million.
5. Toronto FC — $175 million, $32 million, -$7 million.
6. Sporting Kansas City — $165 million, $29 million, $4 million.
7. Chicago Fire — $160 million, $21 million, -$6 million.
8. New England Revolution — $158 million, $25 million, $7 million.
9. FC Dallas — $148 million, $25 million, -$3 million.
10. San Jose Earthquakes — $146 million, $13 million, -$1 million.
11. Philadelphia Union — $145 million, $25 million, $2 million.
12. New York Red Bulls — $144 million, $22 million, -$9 million.
13. D.C. United — $140 million, $21 million, -$1 million.
14. Montreal Impact — $128 million, $22 million, -$3 million.
15. Vancouver Whitecaps — $125 million, $21 million, -$6 million.
16. Columbus Crew — $112 million, $18 million, -$4 million.
17. Real Salt Lake — $108 million, $17 million, $1 million.
18. Colorado Rapids — $105 million, $15 million, -$3 million.
*Operating income before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization.
Forbes cited a number of reasons for the league’s surging team valuation, including:
o Growing attendance, which through July averaged 21,000, as MLS continued to widen the gap with the NBA (17,800) and NHL (17,500) in that department. That average projects to total attendance of 7.2 million in 2015, thanks in part to the addition of new teams in New York and Orlando. The 2013 total was 6 million.
o An influx of overseas talent that picked up in 2015 with the arrival of the likes of Kaka, Andrea Pirlo, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, David Villa and Didier Drogba–a clear indication that owners are willing to spend to enhance the product on the field.
o More soccer-specific stadiums throughout MLS. The latest was San Jose’s Avaya Stadium, which opened in March, and DC United plans be in new digs by 2018. Like United, the Earthquakes’ value has doubled since ’13.
o The end of a TV deal with ESPN, NBC and Univision that paid MLS an average $30 million per year. The new deal, in which Fox replaced NBC, pays $90 million a year. Hardly NFL figures, or even NHL figures, and average viewship of 232,000 this year on Fox Sports 1 trails even the WNBA, but that represents a 65 percent improvement over NBCSN’s average audience of 141,000. [September 19]
Comment I: Total team worth of more than $2.8 billion for a league that as recently as 2002 nearly went under. No wonder there were no signs of panic when MLS Commissioner Don Garber, during his “State of the League” address in December, revealed that the league was losing more than $100 million a year.
Comment II: Being part of MLS is still far from being a license to print money, but no wonder the owners of LAFC, which won’t begin play until 2018, paid a league-record expansion fee of $110 million to try to succeed where it predecessor, the ill-fated Chivas USA, failed. By comparison, the Miami Fusion, one of the league’s first two expansion teams, paid $20 million in 1997 to join MLS.
Filed under: Klinsmann, Uncategorized | Tags: 2014 World Cup, Boca Raton, Clint Dempsey, commissioner, Don Garber, Florida, Honduras, Juergen Klinsmann, Landon Donovan, Major Soccer League, Michael Bradley, national team coach, national technical director, Sunil Gulati, Toronto FC, U.S. National Team, U.S. Soccer
Major League Soccer Commissioner Dan Garber fired a broadside at U.S. National Team coach Juergen Klinsmann, accusing him of comments damaging to his league and the sport in this country.
Garber summoned the media to rip Klinsmann for comments made two days earlier in which he said Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley hurt their international careers by returning from Europe to play for MLS clubs. The commissioner also said Klinsmann’s decision to leave Landon Donovan, the face of MLS, off his 2014 World Cup squad was “inexcusable.”
Said Klinsmann on Monday, the day before the USA’s friendly with Honduras in Boca Raton: “I made clear with Clint’s move back and Michael’s move back that it’s going to be very difficult to keep the same level that they experienced at the places where they were. It’s just reality. It’s just being honest.”
Garber fired back the day after the 1-1 draw in Florida: “Juergen’s comments are very, very detrimental to the league, to the sport of soccer in North America, detrimental to everything we’re trying to do. Not only that, I think they’re wrong.
“To have a national team coach saying that signing with our league is not going to be good for their careers, and not good for their prospects with the national team, is incredibly damaging to our league.
“I will do anything and everything to defend our league, our players and our owners. I don’t believe anyone is above the sport, and I believe everyone has to be accountable for their behavior.” [October 15]
Comment: They both need to shut up.
But, of course, they can’t. Klinsmann will continue to be asked point-blank about this player and that, and Garber has to protect his product.
Klinsmann was only telling the truth. To grow, anyone in the U.S. player pool needs to play for a club at the highest level possible, and that’s in Europe, not MLS, provided it’s in the top division of a top soccer-playing nation. Garber’s reaction–writing angry letters to Klinsmann and U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati and publicly blasting the national team coach/national technical director in a hastily arranged press teleconference–made him look peevish and unprofessional.
However, Klinsmann has to face the fact that any U.S. player, no matter how talented, is taking a risk in signing with a European club. A player has to play, and if he’s shelved by injury or a drop in performance or a coach who thinks little of American players (there’s plenty of those), he’s regressing and probably should have remained in MLS, where he’d be considered a star. (That description fits a player like Bradley, who left Roma for Toronto FC and a healthy pay increase after the Italian club brought in several new players, threatening the midfielder’s playing time.) These guys have to think of their career as a whole, and they’re not on the level of Klinsmann, who in his day would have started, and starred, for any powerhouse club in Europe.
Garber needs to rein it in, skate past this ongoing issue and resume talking up MLS’s strengths, which are a tremendous fan experience unique to American sports and a level of talent that will entertain all but the Euro-snobs. If he continues to have a beef with Klinsmann, Garber sits on the U.S. Soccer board, the body that serves as Klinsmann’s boss, and he can air his disagreements behind closed doors with the people who matter when it comes to the fellow at the helm of the men’s national teams program. As for Klinsmann, he needs to become a better diplomat without losing his credibility with a press and public that is growing increasingly sophisticated and demanding. Either that or hope that MLS both improves on the field and stops making itself an increasingly attractive choice for top American players faced with a difficult career decision.
Filed under: Landon Donovan, Uncategorized | Tags: 1994 World Cup, 2014 World Cup, 2018 World Cup in Russia, Alejandro Bedoya, Aron Johannsson, Aston Villa, AZ Alkmaar, Azerbaijan, Bayern Munich, Besiktas, Bob Gansler, Brad Davis, Brad Evans, Brad Guzan, Chris Wondolowski, Clarence Goodson, Clint Dempsey, DaMarcus Beasley, DeAndre Yedlin, England, Eric Cantona, Everton, Fabian Johnson, FC Nurnberg, France, Geoff Cameron, Germany, Ghana, Graham Zusi, Group of Death, Hertha Berlin, Hoffenheim, Holland, Houston Dynamo, Jermaine Jones, Joe Corona, John Brooks, Jozy Altidore, Juergen Klinsmann, Julian Green, Kyle Beckerman, Landon Donovan, Landycakes, Los Angeles Galaxy, Major League Soccer, Mat Besler, Maurice Edu, Mexico, Michael Bradley, Michael Parkhurst, Mix Diskerud, Nantes, Nick Rimando, Nigeria, Norway, Omar Gonzalez, Portugal, Puebla, Real Salt Lake, Rosenborg, San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders, Sporting Kansas City, Stanford University, Stoke City, Sunderland, Terence Boyd, Tim Howard, Timmy Chandler, Toronto FC, Turkey, U.S. National Team
Juergen Klinsmann, the coach hired to shake up the U.S. National Team, dropped the biggest bombshell of his controversial tenure by announcing a 23-man World Cup squad that does not include all-time U.S. scoring leader Landon Donovan, a player considered the best ever produced by this country.
Klinsmann had until June 2 to reveal his final roster, but with his preliminary squad still training at Stanford University ahead of final World Cup tune-ups against Azerbaijan (May 27), Turkey (June 1) and Nigeria (June 7), he pulled the trigger, sending home Brad Evans, Clarence Goodson, Maurice Edu, Michael Parkhurst, Joe Corona, Terence Boyd, and the man considered the face of American soccer.
The final 23 headed to Brasil ’14:
Goalkeepers — Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England), Tim Howard (Everton, England), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake, MLS);
Defenders — DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla, Mexico), Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City, MLS), John Brooks (Hertha Berlin, Germany), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City, England), Timmy Chandler (FC Nurnberg, Germany), Omar Gonzalez (Los Angeles Galaxy, MLS), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim, Germany), DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle Sounders, MLS);
Midfielders — Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake, MLS), Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes, France), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC, MLS), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo, MLS), Mix Diskerud (Rosenborg, Norway), Julian Green (Bayern Munich, Germany), Jermaine Jones (Besiktas, Turkey), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City);
Forwards — Jozy Altidore (Sunderland, England), Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders, MLS), Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar, Holland), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes, MLS). [May 22]
Comment: This isn’t on a par with the decision to leave Eric Cantona off the roster of what would become 1998 World Cup champion France, but by American standards, it’s close. And, on the face of it, a completely unnecessary gamble.
In a perfect world, Klinsy’s grateful selection of players melds in Brazil and beats Ghana, upsets Portugal and walks arm-in-arm with Group “G” favorite Germany into the round of 16.
But in this imperfect world of Klinsmann’s own making, the U.S. could be tied late with Ghana or trailing Portugal or Germany by a goal, and standing at the halfway line, ready to ride to the rescue, will be Wondolowski or the 18-year-old Green (total international experience: one half hour), not the guy who’s scored 57 career goals, including five in his 12 World Cup matches (all U.S. records). In short, by omitting Donovan and assembling a team that includes Yedlin, Brooks, Gonzalez and 15 other players with no World Cup experience, Klinsmann, the coach whose aim is to motivate his players by making them uncomfortable, has succeeded in leaving everyone unsettled, including fans who, over the years, have derided Donovan with the nickname “Landycakes.”
Klinsmann described the decision as a matter of 23 players being better than the 32-year-old forward/midfielder: “… I just think the other guys right now are a little bit ahead of him.” Perhaps it’s true. But in soccer, player selection can be a very subjective thing. Perhaps the coach is still holding a grudge against Donovan for his well-publicized sabbatical in late 2012 and early 2013 that caused him to miss the USA’s first matches of the final round of World Cup qualifiers.
Whatever the reason, Klinsmann has created a potential nightmare for himself. Some have speculated that he has concluded that getting out of the so-called “Group of Death” is impossible and it’s best to blood young players like Yedlin (total U.S. minutes played: 34) in Brazil in preparation for the 2018 World Cup. But this isn’t the 1990 World Cup all over again, where then-coach Bob Gansler, looking to the ’94 World Cup the U.S. would host, threw a team averaging 23 years of age to the wolves. Three and out is no longer acceptable under any circumstances.
If the U.S. somehow advances out of Group “G” next month, Klinsmann is a bloody genius. But if the U.S. crashes, Klinsmann will be hounded by the spectre of Donovan and what might have been. And that will cast doubt on every decision he makes–whether risky or mundane–from now through Russia ’18.
Filed under: Steve Cherundolo, World Cup tickets hot in U.S. | Tags: ABC, Al Michaels, Algeria, Andriy Yarmolenko, Anthony Brooks, AS Roma, Bayern Munich, Brad Evans, Brasil '14, British, Bundesliga, Clint Dempsey, Crimea, Croatia, Cyprus, DaMarcus Beasley, English Premier League, ESPN, ESPN2, Geoff Cameron, German National Team, Germany, Hannover 96, Ian Darke, Italy, Jozy Altidore, Juergen Klinsmann, Kharkiv, Landon Donovan, Larnaca, Los Angeles Galaxy, Marko Devic, Martin Tyler, Matt Besler, Michael Bradley, MLS, Nike, Oguchi Onyewu, Omar Gonzalez, Papadopoulos Stadium, Philipp Lahm, Puebla, Russia, Seattle Sounders, South Africa '10, Spain, Sporting Kansas City, Steve Cherundolo, Stoke City, The Magic Dwarf, Toronto FC, U.S. National Team, U.S. Soccer, Ukraine, World Cup
A highly motivated Ukraine turned a friendly into a mini-clinic as it defeated the World Cup-bound U.S. National Team, 2-0, in Larnaca, Cyprus.
Andriy Yarmolenko scored 12 minutes into the game and Marko Devic iced the victory with a 68th-minute goal. On each strike, the Ukrainians took advantage of a shaky American defense anchored by center backs Anthony Brooks and Oguchi Onyewu.
The match, originally scheduled for Kharkiv, was moved 600 miles to Cyprus’ Papadopoulos Stadium days after the Russian military intervention in Crimea. Only 1,573 spectators were on hand for the hastily relocated game, many of them Ukrainian expatriates who broke into chants of “No war in Ukraine!” after the final whistle. [March 5]
Comment I: Clint Dempsey did not score against Ukraine, nor did a slumping Jozy Altidore; Landon Donovan, preparing for the Los Angeles Galaxy’s MLS opener three days later, wasn’t even there, nor was playmaker Michael Bradley, who recently moved from AS Roma to Toronto FC. Nevertheless, after the USA’s shutout loss, the most indispensable man of the night proved to be another no-show, right fullback Steve Cherundolo.
Coach Juergen Klinsmann’s back four figures to be Stoke City’s Geoff Cameron–or Brad Evans of the Seattle Sounders–plus the Galaxy’s Omar Gonzales and Matt Besler of Sporting Kansas City and the veteran DaMarcus Beasley of Puebla, who has revived his international career as a left back. But despite Beasley’s 114 caps, the back line will sorely miss the experience and steadying influence of the 34-year-old Cherundolo, whose ongoing knee problems make his appearance at a third World Cup a long-shot. Cherundolo has 87 caps to the combined 30 of Gonzalez and Besler, but he brings much more than just a wise old head.
Without the feisty, reliable, attack-minded Cherundolo, Klinsmann is without the player who’d most closely resemble the right back at his disposal if he was still coach of Germany–Philipp Lahm. Cherundolo, of course, is not quite in Lahm’s league, figuratively speaking, although both play in the German Bundesliga. While Cherundolo usually captains perennial also-ran Hannover 96, Lahm, a member of the 2006 and 2010 All-World Cup teams, captains both European champion Bayern Munich and the German National Team. Nevertheless, Cherundolo is as important to his team as Lahm is to his. At 5-foot-7, Lahm is known as “The Magic Dwarf.” Without the 5-6 Cherundolo, Klinsmann will be missing his own magic dwarf.
Comment II: The Ukraine-U.S. match and several other friendlies–many of them World Cup tune-ups for one or both sides–were played March 5, which marked the 100-day countdown to the kickoff of Brasil ’14. What ESPN2 viewers of that game and the Italy-Spain game that followed were not subjected to was what they would’ve seen four years ago at the same point ahead of South Africa ’10: promos touting ABC/ESPN/ESPN2’s upcoming World Cup coverage featuring the play-by-play talents of Martin Tyler.
Ian Darke, whose call of Donovan’s last-gasp goal for the U.S. against Algeria four years ago is now part of American soccer lore, has replaced Tyler as the lead commentator for ABC/ESPN’s coverage in Brazil. Darke will be the play-by-play man for the June 12 Brazil-Croatia tournament opener, all U.S. matches, the final July 13, and other games.
British viewers in this country might miss Tyler, who we are given to believe is to soccer across the Pond what Al Michaels is to major sports here. But American viewers will find Darke a significant upgrade–if they haven’t already over the last four years with his TV calls here of MLS, U.S. National Team and English Premier League games. Tyler has proven to be urbane, witty, knowledegable, and–unlike Darke–understated to a fault. Unfortunately, the end result is play-by-play that is very easy to tune out if the game Tyler is calling isn’t exactly, well, scintillating. Tyler describing “a thoughtful, probing ball down the left flank,” is not unlike a visit to the doctor’s office, where Dr. Tyler, the proctologist, is carrying on a pleasant, soothing, benign conversation with his patient while the patient isn’t really concentrating on this pleasant, soothing, benign chat.
“So, how are we today? Any complaints?”
“Well, actually, I ….”
“Yes, of course. Now, shall we try to breath normally? This portion will take but a minute ….”
Comment III: At the Ukraine match, the U.S. sported Nike’s newest stab at designing a national team jersey. Gone were the welcomed horizontal red-and-white striped shirts that all but shouted “USA,” replaced by something straight out of the bleach bucket: a white shirt with single red pinstripes on the sleeves and collar, plus the U.S. Soccer logo, not the classic, old-fashioned stars-and-stripes shield the players sported during the 2013 USSF centennial season.
http://www.ussoccer.com/news/mens-national-team/2014/03/140303-new-kit.aspx
The collar is quite alright–a soccer jersey without a collar looks more like a glorified T-shirt. But Nike’s end result is a boring jersey more suited for playing golf or tennis or lounging about. And maybe that’s what the marketing geniuses at Nike had in mind all along when it comes to replica jersey sales.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Atlanta, Chivas USA, Deep South, Detroit, Don Garber, English Premier League, German Bundesliga, Icarus, Italian Serie A, Kansas City, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, Minneapolis, NBA, New York City FC, NFL, NHL, North American Soccer League, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Sacramento, Spanish La Liga, Toronto FC
Major League Soccer will expand to 24 teams by 2020.
League Commissioner Don Garber made that announcement during a TV interview at halftime of his league’s all-star game in Kansas City. It comes on the heels of the addition of New York City FC for the 2015 season, which was believed to cap the number of MLS teams at 20. The goal of two dozen teams opens the door for hopefuls such as Orlando, Detroit, Atlanta, Sacramento, Oklahoma City and Minneapolis, whose representatives have been trying to woo MLS in recent months.
“As MLS enters a period of accelerated growth, the addition of new teams will allow us to expand our geographic coverage, grow our fan base and help us achieve our vision of being among the best leagues in the world by 2022,” said Garber. [July 31]
Comment: Sheer folly.
Without promotion/relegation–and there will never be promotion/relegation involving MLS–even the idea of 20 teams, let alone 24, is ridiculous.
Twenty-four teams would make MLS the world’s biggest top-flight soccer circuit. Impressive distinction. But there are reasons why leagues with pro/rel in soccer-mad countries–the Italian Serie A, Spain’s La Liga, the English Premier League, the German Bundesliga 1, the Brasileiro Serie A, etc.–limit membership to 18 or 20 clubs.
Never mind the questionable potential or track records of the possible MLS markets being discussed. Just go with the numbers. Twenty-four teams? That means that if each team magically takes turns winning an MLS Cup, the fans in an exemplary market like Portland, where the Timbers are on a 45-game home sellout streak, will have to wait more than a generation between league championships. Throw in a mini-dynasty by a team from a glamorous market like (gulp) Oklahoma City or Sacramento and the wait is even longer. Meanwhile, without promotion/relegation, troubled teams like Chivas USA and Toronto FC, with 10 or more opponents ahead of them in the conference standings, can continue to stink up the bottom of the league into perpetuity while their dwindling, hopeless fan bases look on.
So how does Garber adequately cover two enormous countries while keeping fans of losing teams engaged? He can’t continue to expand the playoffs–he already throws around playoff berths like penny candy. He should leave things, then, at an already bloated 20. And if he must restore MLS’s presence in the Deep South, he should convince the league’s biggest problem child, Chivas USA, to arrange a move to Atlanta or even Orlando (even though Florida has proven to be the black hole of pro soccer over the past three decades). Moving a team may be seen as a sign of weakness, but it’s the magic formula used for ages by Major League Baseball, the NFL, NBA and NHL whenever there’s a need to leverage a new stadium or favorable ownership change–or simply scare former fans into showing up again.
It is hoped that Garber and the MLS Board of Governors come to the realization that their league doesn’t have to be anywhere close to the NFL (32 teams), Major League Baseball (30), the NBA (30) or the NHL (30) in membership to be considered major league. Heck, the NHL was considered major league back in the mid-1960s when it had six teams; it earned that distinction by presenting a major league product. But if Garber is hell-bent on expanding to two dozen teams, he should have one last look at the U.S. soccer history books. The last soccer league here to grow to 24 was another without promotion/relegation, the North American Soccer League, in 1978. Within two years, three weak sisters went belly up, and the panic was on. Within six years, there were seven left.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 2012 MLS Cup, Australia, Beckham Rule, David Beckham, DC United, Glasgow Celtic, Home Depot Center, Houston Dynamo, Landon Donovan, Los Angeles Galaxy, Major League Soccer, MLS Commissioner Don Garber, Montreal, NBA, NHL, Philip Anschutz, Queens Park Rangers, The Beckham Experiment, Thierry Henry, Toronto FC
David Beckham closed out his Major League Soccer career in triumph as the Los Angeles Galaxy defeated the Houston Dynamo, 3-1, at the Home Depot Center in the 2012 MLS Cup, making defending champion Los Angeles the second club, after DC United, to capture four league titles.
Beckham has not revealed his next move, although he has been linked to clubs ranging from Queens Park Rangers in his native England and Glasgow Celtic to teams in Australia. A clause in his current contract gives him the opportunity to become part-owner of an MLS club. [December 1]
Comment: Beckham exited the championship game in stoppage time to chants of “Thank-you, Beck-ham!” by Galaxy fans, a far cry from the first half of his stay. He arrived in 2007 as damaged goods and started just two matches in his first season. The Galaxy lost on a regular basis. He alienated captain Landon Donovan and other teammates. He managed to get himself loaned to AC Milan in a cynical and vain attempt to keep alive his England career.
It was all chronicled in the 2009 book, “The Beckham Experiment”–which appears to have been premature by at least three years.
Much has been made in the media of Beckham’s 5 1/2-year stay since he announced his MLS retirement a couple of weeks ago. In 2006 BC (Before Beckham), MLS had 12 clubs, the latest of which, Toronto FC, paid $10 million for the right to lose money. Average attendance was a stagnant 15,504 (2.97 million total) and only four of the league’s stadiums were designed for soccer. This year, Montreal, having paid $40 million, became the league’s 19th club. The San Jose Earthquakes broke ground on MLS’s 15th soccer-specific stadium. Average attendance was 18,807 (6.07 million total)–better than the NBA and NHL for the third straight year. Each team has a youth academy, up from zero in ’06, and thanks to the so-called “Beckham Rule,” there are 31 star players scattered throughout a previously faceless MLS whose pay, in effect, doesn’t count against a team’s miserly-but-sensible salary cap.
Is it all Beckham’s doing? Commissioner Don Garber, in his state of the league address five days before the game, went so far as to say, “I don’t think anybody would doubt that he has over delivered …. There’s arguably not a soccer fan on this planet that doesn’t know the L.A. Galaxy and Major League Soccer, and David played a significant role in making that happen.”
So how much credit does Beckham deserve? The truth, of course, lies somewhere in between. Clearly, there’s no one like him–think a superstar like Thierry Henry, playing in the nation’s biggest market, could have had the same impact on his own? What Beckham did–thanks to his splash, flash and the Beckham Rule that was necessary to make his arrival possible–was to show fans, the media, potential investors and corporate America that MLS was through treading water after 10 modestly successful seasons and finally meant business. Mere survival was no longer an option.
Beckham will be missed. No sane person ever expected him to lift soccer in the U.S. to the same plane as gridiron football, baseball and basketball, and he didn’t. He merely moved the ball forward, his customary 35 yards at a time, and on so many fronts soccer now eclipses ice hockey as North America’s fourth-most popular team sport.
What remains for the immediate future is what Beckham left on the field at the Home Depot Center: a cup final between two clubs owned by the same man, Philip Anschutz. As Becks departs, that sort of arrangement remains a necessity in an MLS still at the toddler stage.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Chicago Fire, ESPN, FC Dallas, Fiorentina, Italian Serie A, Major League Soccer, MLS Commissioner Don Garber, MLS Cup, Montreal Impact, NBC, New England Revolution, New York Red Bulls, North American Soccer League, Philadelphia Union, Toronto FC, Univision
This Saturday, Major League Soccer will kick off its 17th season, tying it with the old North American Soccer League (1968-84) as the country’s longest tenured national pro soccer league. With the addition of its 19th club, the expansion Montreal Impact, the league will play 323 regular-season games, 17 more than in 2011. The climactic MLS Cup is scheduled for Saturday, December 1, making this the league’s longest campaign in its history. And for the first time, every match will be televised, thanks to ESPN, Univision, new partner NBC and various Canadian networks. [March 7]
Comment: Another set of milestones for a league that a dozen years ago was in danger of falling flat on its back, but for those who care about what goes on down on the field, perhaps we’ll see some improvement in the standings, where wins and losses are in danger of being surpassed by ties, draws and deadlocks.
Last season, with 18 MLS teams each playing 34 regular-season games for a total of 306, a whopping 106 of those matches ended in a tie. That’s 34.6 percent, or more than a third. The New York Red Bulls and Chicago Fire registered 16 draws apiece, breaking the record of 14 set the previous season by FC Dallas. Toronto FC and the Philadelphia Union were next at 15, and another nine teams posted 10 draws or more. In fact, 11 teams finished with more ties than victories, including all those who made up the bottom nine.
Is there a trend in place? In 2010, in a 16-team MLS, only three clubs hit double digits in ties, and just one club, the New England Revolution (5-16-13), had more ties than wins. Teams each played 30 games that year and they racked up 58 draws–24.1 percent of all results.
To a disdainful general American public, soccer and ties are almost synonymous. But compare MLS with the Italy, the land where, as popular perception would have it, the scoreless tie was invented, and games are so tight, oftentimes so negative, that the players walk onto the field hoping for that one, blissful penalty-kick call. Yet in 2010-2011, Serie A’s 20 clubs, each playing 38 matches, had 97 ties in 380 games–25.5 percent, just more than a quarter of all results. Half of the teams tied at least 10 games, led by Fiorentina, with 16.
“We’re not going to eliminate ties from Major League Soccer, but we have way too many ties and way too many zero-zero ties,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber told the Newark Star-Ledger in July, as the draws were piling up at an alarming rate. “What could we do as a league to make it more valuable for a club to play to win every game as opposed to playing for just a point? We’re looking at what those initiatives could be. And that is a league initiative.”
[For the record, Commissioner, of those 106 ties last year, 27 were scoreless.]
What’s troubling here is that not only has MLS not taken concrete steps to reverse the trend (meaningful player bonuses for victories, perhaps?), it has offered little in the way of explanation beyond praising its parity and competitiveness.
MLS is catching up with the rest of the world when it comes to intimate stadiums and boisterous followings, thus creating in many cities the home-field advantage factor that was so missing in the league’s first decade. As a result, however, is MLS also becoming yet another league in which teams are more than happy to escape most road games with a single point? If that’s the case, it’s all the more reason for the league to take the necessary steps to foster a climate in which those large, loud and loyal followers go home happy on a more regular basis.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 2022 World Cup, AOL Fanhouse, Baltimore, Chicago Fire, Commissioner Don Garber, FIFA, FIFA Executive Committee, Major League Soccer, National Soccer Coaches Association of America, New England Revolution, Qatar, Toronto FC
Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber said his league will not shift to a late-summer-to-mid-spring schedule that predominates in the Northern Hemisphere.
Garber had offered to get MLS, which plays from March to November, in line with most major European leagues in an effort to sway FIFA prior to its vote last month on the host of the 2022 World Cup. The U.S. bid, however, finished second to Qatar, and Garber apparently has since pulled his offer off the table.
“We’ll revisit the whole decision on moving our schedule,” Garber told AOL Fanhouse at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention in Baltimore. “Right now I think I think the whole schedule thing is certainly up in the air. Right now FIFA is talking about a winter World Cup [in Qatar], so maybe the season we have is right. I think we’ll probably take a deep breath and put that concept on the back burner.” [January 13]
Comment: Whew.
That’s the sound of that deep breath as Garber drops his ill-considered sop to a FIFA Executive Committee that was bound and determined to reject the USA’s bid in favor of Qatar’s.
Europe can play matches in snow, sleet, freezing rain, and slog through, but MLS isn’t that strong, yet.
Perhaps the hearty fans of the Chicago Fire or New England Revolution or Toronto FC would turn out, a few thousand strong, for a match in January, but give the league’s fair-weather clubs a cold drizzle and the attendance there would be in the hundreds. That’s not something the league–still trying to match the average attendance of 17,000 it pulled in during its inaugural season in 1996–needs.