| 11 Issues Facing Major League Soccer |
The following originally was published on Sept. 24, 2008, on ussoccerplayers.com and appeared in the January-February 2009 issue of Soccer Journal.
With Major League Soccer’s season turning into more about what’s not working than what is, we outline 11 issues facing the league. How important are any of them in isolation? That’s your call, but turning around all of them would stress bigger leagues with more money and personnel. It also runs counter to the story MLS would prefer to be telling, one centered on willing investor/operators and a model of sustainable growth.
1. Player Relations The gap in salaries in Major League Soccer exists somewhere between working poor and solid middle class for the bulk of players. Unlike most recent college grads, MLS players in general aren’t facing paying back student loans. However, they have no guaranteed contracts and normally are trying to keep two households – all of this while existing in a professional setting in which spending to excess is part of the job.
Major League Soccer has done nothing to right this, trying to squeeze players across their pay scale. Even those well off by MLS standards have a pretty good idea of what they’d be making from even obscure European clubs. Those stories of guys heading to the lesser lights of Europe and ending up well paid aren’t just for gossip boards.
One of the early fights for the MLS Players Union was automatic deposit on paychecks and a 401k. MLS simply didn’t bother doing even the little things that a front office worker would expect.
2. Expansion Timeline Setting aside the quality of play issues, the push for continued expansion can be as much of a negative as a positive. The League would consider it an indicator of strength that interested parties are willing to spend considerable money to join. That doesn’t say much in terms of appropriateness or business models, and that’s the part the league isn’t answering.
Why is this good for all involved? How is the league prepared to deal with the basic issues around expansion? Anything resembling a substantive answer is likely going to cost you $40 million, or wherever the expansion fee ends up.
3. Calendar To put it as simply as possible, there are too many dates for MLS clubs carrying a relatively small roster. DC United and Houston are facing two or three games a week during the month of October, and the League failed to act before this became such an obvious issue. Add in the choice to ignore the international calendar and the problem is compounded.
Yes, some teams that are openly complaining about roster size haven’t used all their available spaces. The MLS should take a moment to laugh while considering the source on those specific complaints, but the general problem remains.
4. Officiating It’s not that the officials are at such a low standard that week in and week out that they have more of an impact on results than the players. In fact, it’s nowhere near that. However, the perception is that there is an officiating issue with Major League Soccer that needs to be addressed.
5. Player Development Former LA Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit gave a very reasoned interview recently in which he talked about a few MLS issues. He mentioned the skewed player development system that, as he put it, meant he could use Galaxy resources to mold a talent only to lose him before he ever played a game for the senior side.
The response was typical, reciting MLS guidelines that are always subject to change. Though MLS has moved steadily with player development, it’s still not 100 percent with the clubs. That’s the model most countries are used too, and it would increase the pressure on the clubs to spend money and resources.
6. Soccer United Marketing A marketing company created by Major League Soccer is also the single biggest promoter of soccer events in the United States not involving Major League Soccer. Though potentially a fiscal win for the investor/operators involved, it also means that an entity responsible for promoting MLS also is promoting in a limited marketplace what should be the league’s biggest rivals.
7. Kansas City The Wizards are playing in an independent league baseball stadium while trying to make a project that includes a soccer-specific stadium a reality. Their regular attendance is physically capped at what would be a disappointment in most markets. Only San Jose is in the same situation. The Wizards aren’t likely to move out of the Kansas City region, which limits the team’s bargaining position. They can look to Frisco, Texas, Commerce City, Colo., and Bridgeview, Ill., for lessons on building at the edges of metroplexes or in under-serviced neighborhoods.
8. Canada Jingoism aside, Major League Soccer was developed to help improve the U.S. National Team program. Though it’s obvious that motivation has changed to reflect a sports league for its own sake, the effort to push north has to be considered an issue.
Let’s start with an easily dismissed point: it violates the FIFA ideal of one league per country. The exceptions are countries that can’t support their own domestic league. Though Canada has a history of joining U.S. clubs in every major team sport, it’s an issue that so many potential Canadian cities are now expansion targets. If that many are willing to buy in, why isn’t there a Canadian first division?
9. The U.S. Soccer Federation The USSF has a neat trick they play, deftly switching from pro sports front office to national governing body whenever it suits them. Unfortunately, with Major League Soccer it has a basic conflict of interest that has yet to be addressed. Namely, its president is also president of an MLS organization. Because the Federation remains the sanctioning body for MLS, there needs to be at the very least a conflict of interest statement concerning crossover personnel.
10. Europe Although it can be taken as a backward compliment that multiple teams across Europe have shown a willingness to pay for MLS squad players, the result is a belief that even marginal American talent should be over there. The inherent criticism of the MLS system is that some of these players can make more money signing with just about anyone overseas. It doesn’t take more than a handful to twist the appearance/reality distinction, and it’s not flattering to Major League Soccer.
11. FIFA MLS is on a dual course finally to get world soccer’s governing body’s attention. Lane one is expansion past 18 teams. There are much bigger leagues generating a lot more revenue that have been warned off that course. Lane two would be ignoring international match days. The initial impact is extreme both on the quality of the MLS schedule and the increased pressure on club vs. country. There’s also the general disrespect, pleading self-serving hardship that only really exists when it’s convenient.
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