Knight: Time to rethink MLS

[Vicenç]

Knight: Time to rethink MLS

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... 0829100613


Knight: Time to rethink MLS

Ben Knight, August 29, 2008 at 10:06 AM EDT

There's been an interesting convergence of stories on the MLS front this past couple of days. Losses in the CONCACAF Champions Cup here, player-transfer controversies there.

There was always going to come a day when the unique way this league does business was going to have to be rethought. That day is coming sooner than commissioner Don Garber ever expected.

Various news items:

* The New England Revolution drop their first-leg CONCACAF qualifier, losing 2-1 away to Joe Public of Trinidad.
* Chivas USA get dumped in their CONCACAF opener, 2-0 at Tauro FC of Panama.
* USL-1 sides do better. Montreal dusts Real Esteli of Nicaragua 1-0 at the House of Cheese, while Puerto Rico Islanders gut out a 1-1 draw with Costa Rican contenders LD Alajeulense.
* Toronto FC is only allowed to spend $500,000 on players from the $3-million-plus they bagged on Maurice Edu's transfer to Glasgow Rangers.
* MLS blocks New York Energy Drink from paying $200,000 for Atlanta Silverbacks' youthful Senegalese striker Macoumba Kandji.

This last story, though seemingly small and straw-like, may leave Garber's camel with a badly broken back. Huddle up folks, it's time to have a little chat.

Major League Soccer is a single-owner entity. The league owns all the teams – and all player contracts. It enforces tight spending restrictions, both in the form of a salary cap and veto power over player acquisitions. This is not unique, by the way. The National Lacrosse League started this way, but threw it out a decade ago.

The basic theory is simple – protect the league economically. MLS, in its present form, cannot turn into the Wild West money-spending wingless, rudderless jumbo jet the old NASL became, just before it pancaked itself to death back in the '80s.

With almost all teams either playing in or planning small, soccer-specific stadiums, the league is cementing itself into a modest economic future, counting on its financial checks and balances to keep spending under tight control.

Ah, but there comes a day when little MLS must leave the protective feathering of Garber's loving nest, and compete – on its own – against a ravenous global soccer world of rich, remorseless predators. That day, I humbly submit, is now.

The product on the field is stagnating, and the rest of the world is circling the smell.

In the case of Toronto FC: GM Mo Johnston is accumulating young talent at a prodigious rate. TFC's roster is bursting with talented under-23s ready to bloom into valuable soccer properties. He's doing this, knowing full well most will be gone to bigger clubs before they reach their full potential. As it is, he's got lots of trade leverage – plenty of players other teams are interested in.

Except: Maurice Edu departs to Rangers for $5.75-million. But the league owns the contract, so they get the money. Two-thirds is ear-marked for the team, but – as mentioned above – only half a mil can be spent on talent. Okay, the rest might turn into a grass field at BMO – but what happens if speedy young gadget-back Marvell Wynne follows Edu out the bank vault door? That's gotta be another couple of million – but how many grass fields can one team build?

Sooner or later, Mo Johnston is going to make Toronto FC filthy, filthy rich. But the thing they most desperately need – prime, established on-field talent – is the one thing they won't be allowed to buy.

Now, the New York/Atlanta thing. Small club Atlanta owns potentially big talent Kandji, and NY needs him bad – especially after losing U.S. international Jozy Altidore in a $10-million sell-off earlier in the season. Atlanta wants $200,000 – and people, that is a modest, modest request on the global scale.

But it's too rich for Garber. The MLS biz-trust does not want any of its teams to pay that much money for any player in the lower leagues. The deal has reportedly been blocked.

There's no guarantee, of course, that Kandji can fly in MLS. But he's exactly the kind of player you take a chance on after you've sold a star, and the price is agreeable to both teams. Anywhere else on the footballing planet, that's a deal.

Now, let's get this out on the field.

Okay, David Beckham – but almost all of that money was corporate endorsements and outside deals. New York is moving into a tiny stadium in Jersey. The Cosmos are never coming back.

We're left with a modest little league of teams that are not allowed to make their own deals. Okay, they won't bankrupt themselves and the league will survive, but where are the players going to come from?

Right now, every single MLS roster is a multi-horned compromise of age, birthplace and finance. You're seeing players who fit into spreadsheets first, and the starting lineup second. And now that MLS is entering the international arena in the CONCACAF Champions Cup – well, two early away losses aren't going to convince anyone they're overmatched, but they are clearly not playing the same game as their opponents.

Heck, USL-1 sides have kicked over the MLS apple cart repeatedly in head-to-head cup competitions all season. Toronto FC simply could not overcome Montreal and Vancouver in the Voyaguers Cup.

The reasons for the MLS financial restrictions are sound. But their time has come – and is sailing away from the dock forever. The huge challenge now? Find a way to let these teams be competitive in the world market – even with small stadiums and severely pinched revenues.

If you're going to play with the world, boys, the rules have to be the same everywhere. And since the rest of the world neither wants nor needs to change, the question is clear:

Is this a soccer league, or an MBA business-school exercise? Mo Johnston needs an answer on this one – before the phone rings for Marvell Wynne.

Onward!

Oh! – Thanks to everyone who responded so generously to my open invitation for undiscovered soccer writers to come hang out in the On Soccer comments section. Great start – and let's keep this going!

[kurosawa]

Great analysis of the situation.

[Bxl Boy]

If you're going to play with the world, boys, the rules have to be the same everywhere.

That's it !

[penz]

If you're going to play with the world, boys, the rules have to be the same everywhere.

That's it !

Yup.
But at the same time, when you tell Americans that they should be playing wtith the world, you have to be careful, because they're gonna go think Barcelona and Man U. In this case, MLS should be feeding off lower leagues, like in Eastern Europe or Central America, and even USL (like that Kandji move), get the talent there, bring it up to the International level and make money selling them to Rangers, Hamburg and what not...

Instead, they're buying semi-retired glories of the past. That's the best way to lose money...

[Lonewolf75]

From Montreal


50 millions dollards to enter the MLS , it's crazy ! And the worst is if the Montreal impact join them , they will become the property of the franchise and need to follow their stupid rules !They will loose their independance ! I prefer the European System , whose each team are there own company ! In Italy or France , the "Calcio" or "Le Championnat" never ask en entry fee but they give some help and money for Montreal enter in their league !

Lonewolf75