| One Perspective on Maintaining a Sound Men's Professional Soccer League |
By Nicholas Skirka, Ph.D.
Introduction
Since the inception of the U.S. Major League Soccer (MLS) in 1996, the standard of play has improved. In the first five years of MLS, the level of soccer still was comparable to a semi-professional league in Europe. In the next five years, the caliber of play in MLS improved significantly, and the U.S. Men’s National Team reached the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Japan/Korea (2002). However, in the last World Cup in Germany (2006), the men’s national team failed miserably and did not advance to the second round. Invariably, when there is significant improvement in soccer, a leveling-off period ensues, and players realize that there still is a lot of work (growing pains) ahead before they can achieve consistency. There are many reasons why the U.S. Men’s National Team showed inconsistency and could not reach the final round of the World Cup.
There are some concerns worth discussion with regard to MLS:
• A major men’s professional soccer league has been arduous to sustain in the United States. After the National American Soccer League (NASL) became insolvent in 1984, there was a 12-year hiatus before another professional league, Major League Soccer, was started in 1996. It is extremely difficult to be competitive on the world stage without a professional soccer league. To have a stable major men’s professional soccer league, there would have to be a recruitment system in place to develop high-quality players. Having a major league and first division would be advantageous to player development and competitive in terms of promotion and relegation between the leagues. It also would give promising young players an opportunity to reach the highest level in soccer instead of just leveling off after high school or college. In most other countries, clubs develop their own players in youth divisions. Recently, MLS started a soccer academy approach and is requiring each team in the league to sponsor youth teams for under-15 and under-17 year olds (Robinson, 2007). In the United States, the professional soccer leagues, when in existence, have depended on recruiting amateur and collegiate players. Before 1980, most colleges hired part-time soccer coaches and this did not promote player development. Furthermore, foreign players were brought in, and this did not facilitate development of the American soccer player.
• Men’s soccer in the United States is not a major national sport. Soccer competes for fans against the more established professional sports of baseball, basketball, football and hockey, which have become successful businesses. Developing soccer into a major national sport in the United States has not been easy. The concept of beginning small (in terms of the number of teams in the league) and then expanding gradually is a good approach to laying down a sound foundation. Building small stadiums can add stability to the league. The stadiums can be (and are) used to generate money for teams by staging other events.
• American youths do not grow up with soccer as the national pastime, and they lack a genuine nexus to the game. Outside the United States, just about everyone has played soccer or has in-depth knowledge of the game. In other countries, soccer is second nature to youngsters who play in the sandlots, participate in organized youth leagues, have discussions with friends and adults about soccer and view games on television. This culture has generated an understanding of the game.
• It is improbable that a long shot will win the World Cup. Statistics indicate that countries with the strongest leagues have been the most consistent contenders because they genuinely know what is required to win. It is fairly easy to predict the favorites in the World Cup soccer tournament held every four years. There have been only seven countries who won the World Cup in the 18 times it has been played: Brazil (five times), Italy (four times), Germany (three times), Argentina and Uruguay (twice each) and England and France (once each). Subsequently, it is easy to predict that any one of these countries and several others that have been contending (Holland, Spain, Portugal, Paraguay, Mexico and Colombia) would be considered favorites in the next World Cup tournament.
• In the United States, life is diverse and youths have many career choices. Even if a young soccer player has the talent, he or she is unlikely to choose soccer because the professional leagues are not stable and secure. Realistically speaking, most parents would be content if their child received a soccer scholarship to college. They understand that it would be difficult for their child to successfully compete against players from countries where soccer is their national pastime. As a result, parents typically do not envision or encourage professional soccer as a career option for their children.
• In the past, professional soccer leagues in the United States overspent on player salaries, team expansion and stadium rentals but never made the significant investment necessary to establish a foundation for soccer to flourish and grow (Newsham, 2006). Men’s soccer has the potential to grow as a professional sport in the United States and can find its own niche, but it has had problems figuring out how to do this. Building a professional soccer league from the ground up would be the correct approach. A promising new approach is to start with small stadiums, a small number of teams in the league and modestly paid players. When specific league benchmarks are achieved, a scaffolding approach should be used to continue growth/improvement until the league stabilizes and establishes itself in regard to the rest of the soccer world. These improvements touch only upon the soccer development aspects. Next, the league would have to convince business sponsors and the media that an investment in soccer would provide market growth for them as well.
• The United States does not have a soccer tradition, nor has it developed its own style or system of play. It needs to become an integral part of the international soccer community, the sport’s history, and a significant entity in its own right. When a country plays Brazil, Germany, Italy, England or Argentina, fans understand each of the team’s soccer tradition, style or system of play. Genuine soccer fans are able to compare and contrast the soccer styles of South American and European countries. This is possible because of the evolution and integration of soccer in these continents.
• American soccer players should play in other countries to fully develop as players and learn how good the competition is abroad. Playing abroad will give them an understanding of what it takes to win a World Cup. The more experience American players have playing in other countries with foreign players, the better their chances are to compete successfully in the international arena. This type of exposure and experience for an American player is priceless. This will help to develop a worldly understanding of soccer, something that cannot be achieved by playing just domestically.
• The United States should continue to compete on the world stage in as many international tournaments as possible and not limit involvement to the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Gold Cup. Playing in “Copa America” as a country was a fantastic experience for the up-and-coming younger players (Bell, 2007a). This type of experience and exposure is invaluable because the team members played against some of the best players from South America. Additionally, MLS teams now are participating in the new “SuperLiga” tournament, which includes some of the best teams from Mexico. It stands to reason that the Americans would benefit from participating in European tournaments as well.
• The most successful and stable soccer leagues in the United States have been the youth and adult amateur leagues. According to Bell (2007a), the United States has the most registered youth soccer players in the world. Additionally, after Germany, the United States has the highest number of registered soccer players (youth and adult) in the world and the highest number of registered female players of any country. There has been little, if any, interruption of play with amateur leagues. The U.S. amateur leagues are comparable to any country’s league in the world. There are some exceptional young players in the amateur leagues in the United States and one wonders how good they would be if they lived in another country. Amateur leagues are the staple of grassroots soccer in this country. Many young players have continued to the collegiate and professional ranks from the amateur soccer leagues. As a result, it is imperative that soccer leaders figure out how to connect the amateur leagues to the semi-professional and professional leagues in order to form a viable recruiting pipeline. A demographic study of popular amateur soccer cities in the United States may be a good starting point.
• Typically, when coaching youth soccer in the United States, the coach spends more time teaching soccer skills than coaching tactics. American coaches spend a lot of time teaching soccer skills to young players who have had little genuine exposure to soccer as they have grown up. In well-established soccer countries, the proportion is reversed: the coach spends less time teaching soccer skills and more time coaching tactics because young players already have the skills and some knowledge of soccer. In many cases, foreign coaches have the advantage of being able to just toss the ball out in a scrimmage or game and then spend time discerning where players should play. The coach then selects players for the positions on the field and proceeds to teach tactics and systems of play that will be utilized in the game.
Is there a goal worth pursuing?
Is there a market share for soccer among the major professional sports of baseball, football, basketball and ice hockey? Soccer can establish its own niche in the American sports business market but only as a seasonal sport. The notion that professional soccer can overtake these major sports in national popularity is unlikely.
Each one of the major American sports has its own survival kit in terms of profit sharing, player unions and sponsors, and unlike soccer abroad none of these sports has a promotion and relegation system. Baseball was started in the United States, has its own farm system to develop talent and is expanding globally. Football and basketball also are American sports and recruit most of their players from the collegiate ranks with huge success.
There is an American football league in Canada, and the players are recruited mainly from U.S. colleges and universities. How does Canada do it? The American football league in Europe has been suspended and the Turkish (country of Turkey) football league has completed its second season. American football has been making some strides globally. Even though American football does not attract many participants it does have global spectators, sponsors and advertisers.
The professional ice hockey league began in Canada and the United States and has grown with the recruitment of players mainly from the amateur leagues in Canada. Ice hockey has a global following as well. However, none of the major sports are as global as soccer. Can the American professional soccer league learn from these major professional sports? It would be a valuable asset to learn how each one of these American major professional sports operates and thrives and to adopt some of their strategies.
How can soccer find its own niche among the American major professional sports? Can the American public consume or absorb another major professional sport? These issues should be studied in order to find a place for soccer in the American society as one of the national sports pastimes. Soccer leaders need to learn from the major American professional sports in terms of survival in the American sports market. Professional sports are a huge business; soccer leaders and advocates need to figure out how to make it worthwhile economically for everyone involved: the owners, teams, players, coaches, sponsors, advertisers and office administrators.
Lessons learned from women’s soccer
Even though the women’s professional soccer league is now defunct, the national team twice has won the World Cup and Olympics, something the men have not yet achieved. The women have been successful because of the influence of Title IX and the NCAA. There now are more NCAA women collegiate soccer teams than there are men’s. Previously, the men’s NCAA collegiate soccer tournament included 32 teams in the playoffs until the women’s teams were increased to 48 teams because of their growth in number of participants and teams. The women’s collegiate soccer teams provided all the players for the World Cup tournament and summer Olympics – this became the perfect recruiting pipeline. The women’s professional soccer league also contributed to this success until it became defunct. Women’s soccer was successful because it had collegiate soccer from which to recruit players, and no other country could duplicate this system. Moreover, in other countries, women were not really encouraged to play soccer. However, in the United States with Title IX and the perfect recruiting system, the women were able to reach great heights in soccer. Just like women’s soccer, men’s soccer needs to set up a sound recruiting system for the major professional league as well as the national team to become successful.
If the men’s professional soccer league continues to expand and grow, then perhaps each organization also can have a women’s team and play doubleheaders on Sundays. To the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the governing body of soccer, globalization of professional soccer leagues is important for not only men but also women. It would be advantageous for FIFA to restart a women’s professional soccer league in the United States because the women’s collegiate program provides a great pipeline for recruiting players. Can a women’s soccer league survive? Would it be beneficial to have men’s and women’s professional soccer? If so, how can it be accomplished?
Two approaches to building a sound men’s soccer league
There are several approaches (only two will be mentioned here) to consider in terms of sustaining a stable men’s national professional soccer league that will produce steady, incremental growth and expansion over the years. One approach is to have a major professional soccer league supported by a Division I league (perhaps United Soccer Leagues) with a promotion and relegation system, and recruit collegiate and amateur players to both professional leagues. Most colleges hire full-time soccer coaches today so recruiting college players would benefit the professional leagues.
Another approach is to have a major professional soccer league with its own youth teams, do not have Division I or a promotion and relegation system, keep the new player development league and recruit collegiate and amateur players to both leagues. The U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) already has added 10 teams to the development soccer league program (Bell, 2007a). Let’s keep in mind, the major American professional sports do not have a Division I league with a promotion and relegation system and still are very successful.
Whichever approach is used, it would be significant in making sure the men’s national team remains competitive and continues to grow with the hopes of winning a World Cup. Winning the World Cup would have a tremendous effect on American soccer in terms of gaining prestige and respect from the rest of the world. Winning the World Cup would attract entrepreneurs not only in America but also worldwide.
MLS collective approach
The MLS now operates as a single-entity and controls all aspects of running the league, including keeping the money on players sold abroad and player salaries. Recently it adopted a new rule by which the MLS will remunerate the first $400,000 of the player’s salary and the individual team will provide the balance of the compensation (Bell, 2007b). Therefore, teams now can offer higher salaries to the players, but have to pay the difference. This was made possible because the league figured out ways to increase revenues. Although this is an unusual system, it has increased player salaries without having a negative effect on the forward progress of the league. These are signs of positive growth.
In comparison, the American football league divides television revenues equally among its teams each year, approximately $25 million. This is good start-up money for each new season. The American professional baseball league has bailed out teams that were going out of business and even moved the Montreal team to Washington D.C. The American basketball professional league is financially supporting the women’s professional basketball league (WNBA) because basketball has great potential to be the next truly global sport. Obviously, it is good to incorporate profit-sharing in the league as well as a commitment to bail out teams that are not successful. These types of collective strategies can keep the league intact. The MLS should work collectively and use whatever strategies are successful in building a sound league.
Summary
The men’s major professional soccer league can learn a great deal from the American major professional sports in terms of building a successful business. What is important for the American major professional soccer league is that it begins at the ground level and works its way up. The men’s major professional soccer league should not aspire to fast growth, expansion or overspending. This approach will result in disaster as evident in past leagues. In the fast-growth business approach, the money will eventually dry up and the fans will disappear as in past years. USSF needs to understand that sports are a big business and all the stakeholders need to be successful for professional soccer to survive and thrive.
In conclusion, it’s important to continue to build a sound men’s major professional soccer league so soccer can become one of the national pastimes in the United States. Young players need this type of environment to learn the game thoroughly. It is equally important to develop a women’s professional soccer league, supported by the United States and FIFA. The American men’s soccer players should continue to play abroad and the teams should participate in tournaments so as to become a genuine member of the global soccer community. These types of experiences will aid the players in understanding what it takes to compete for a World Cup. The United States has the resources to develop both a men’s and women’s professional soccer leagues and from a business perspective needs to figure out how to do it.
References
Bell, J. (2007a). With eye on future, U.S. takes youngsters on trip to Venezuela. The New York Times (June 27): D 2.
Bell, J. (2007b). Ahead of schedule, Adu shifts career to Europe. The New York Times (August 3): D 2.
Newsham, G. (2006). Once in a lifetime. New York: Grove Press.
Robinson, J. (2007). Searching for stars, beginning at age 9. The New York Times (August 7): D 6.
|
|
| The Technical Area, NSCAA eNewsletter |
 |
|
|
 |
| Soccer Journal - Published seven times a year in print and once annually online, Soccer Journal is the Official Publication of NSCAA and is one of the few publications in the world produced exclusively for soccer coaches. learn more |
| Insurance - Members in the United States automatically receive $1 million in professional liability insurance, providing coverage for most soccer-related activities. learn more |
| Academy Programs - The benchmark of soccer coaching education is the NSCAA Coaching Academy program. learn more |
| Convention - The NSCAA Convention is "The World's Largest Annual Gathering of Soccer Coaches." Held each January learn more |
| Awards and Recognition - The NSCAA administers an outstanding awards and recognition program which includes Coach of the Year, All-America, long-term service and special recognition awards, designed to recognize excellence in soccer, academics and service to the game. learn more |
| Licensed Apparel - A full line of distinctive coaching gear sets you apart as a member of the NSCAA through our licensed apparel program with adidas. learn more |
| For more details, please proceed to the Benefits of NSCAA Membership Page |
|
|
