MLS Half-Assed Attempt at Change (Why we are going in the wrong Direction Part I)
By: David | April 2nd, 2007Well I hope you enjoyed your weekend, as we are now getting into the last week prior to the MLS season. Only a few more days till the opening kick and the beginning of what should be an exciting MLS season.
Today, as you know or might not know, Don Garber announced his initiatives for the league. And that is where our troubles begin.
Entitled the “Game First” initiatives, Commissioner Garber has set forth some milestones and working-points for the MLS to reach for. He has determined that these initiatives well help to further structure the league and address some key issues that had been deemed problematic by both fans and officials. The initiatives had been broken down into six categories (Players, Access, Game Presentation, Competition Format, Officiating and Strategic Relationships) each being an important component of the League’s existence.
The first category, being players, seems to be the most important of the “Game First” initiatives and the most problematic. The article notes that through, “Extensive research conducted by MLS showed that soccer fans want more international stars…” The commissioner has formulated a list of international players that have been recently acquired by MLS teams and an indication of broadening their recruiting power:
* David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy) (31)
* Jim Brennan (Toronto FC) (29)
* Roberto Brown (Colorado Rapids) (29)
* Conor Casey (Toronto FC) (25)
* Luciano Emilio (D.C. United) (29)
* Fred (D.C. United) (27)
* Maykel Galindo (Chivas USA) (26)
* Yherland MacDonald (Colorado Rapids) (20)
* Claudio Reyna (New York Red Bulls) (33) - American
* Carl Robinson (Toronto FC) (30)
* Robbie Rogers (Columbus) (19) - American
* Luis Tejada (Real Salt Lake) (25)
* Juan Carlos Toja (FC Dallas) (21)
* Andy Welsh (Toronto FC) (23)
I have put in parentheses the ages of the “international” players that have been selected, as well as noting that two of the players were American born. Of the international players that have been highlighted, only three are 20 or younger, whereas the other players have been playing soccer for quite some time. Another interesting comparison is the caliber of player that has listed, as only a few of them are well known, but mainly in soccer circles.
Understandably, the Designated Player spots still have not been used by all the teams, however, these players that were mentioned (save for Beckham) will not put people in the seats. Nice effort to gain more international players, when the majority of energy, money and time is spent on purchasing a player that had been benched by both his team and country managers.
Although there is mention that the transfer fees will now be reinvested into the league, there is such a stranglehold upon the players that the possibility of transfer is met with numerous roadblocks. Instead of trying to reinvest the transfer fees and placing so much emphasis on “international” players, why not pay your own players instead of slave wages. The majority of talent that exists within the league is getting pennies compared to their international counterparts and as such, it is putting a massive strain upon these players.
There is no mention within these new initiatives to increase the player’s wages or accept a Player’s union. Rather the effort is used to hire new scouts for South America and create “world-wide” databases. If you cannot pay your own players and help cultivate the talent within your own country, how do you expect to “scout” for international talent? How do you expect to keep your own players?
What is mentioned is the Youth Development programs that have been started:
The Youth Development program allows for teams that invest in player development to reap competitive rewards for their efforts. Players who are part of an MLS club’s Youth Development program for at least 24 months become eligible to sign directly with that team instead of entering the MLS SuperDraft.
That is at least a start and something that should have been looked at during the initial start-up of the league. As you can see some of the initiatives have been created so as to help the league, however, this is not enough. The “Game First” initiatives are no more than just a band-aid and are issues that should have been addressed years ago.
I will be posting Part II later today or tomorrow.
Category: Team News
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Comments
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The development program is the balls and you’re completely right in that if they had gone in that direction 10 years ago AND paid their players when they become interesting to Euro leagues, MLS might be a fairly strong league by now. Revisionist, sure, but that model makes a helluva lot more sense than what was being followed.
Posted from
United States
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Good call David.
If the league wants to make people go to soccer games, let them go if they want to, don’t push all this strategic relationship bullshit on people who just want to watch a game.Posted from
Canada -
You’ll probably touch upon this in the next post but I think the reduction of playoff teams is a step in the right direction. A single table and no playoffs is where I’d like to see the league go so your description of “half assed” is apt.
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United States -
Yeah, I can’t believe what the minimum salary is… truly pathetic. If you make the league minimum salary (which at least a couple of people on each team do), you can’t possibly support yourself unless you have a real job… and how can you expect to play professional soccer when you have a 9-5 job!?!?
Posted from
United States -
Easy - get a side job selling peanuts during the game. These guys have feet, they can probably kick a bag of peanuts up 20 rows.
Posted from
United States -
Yes, it will truly be a great day for American soccer when the young players in our national professional league will be able to throw away that paper hat and quit that 40-hour-a-week burger job. Or at least stop collecting welfare. I wonder why Europeans mock us so much about this sport?
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United States -
See this is what I am talking about, the fact that we have a league and cannot pay for our players is something that should be troubling. What I don’t understand is why, after 10 years of existence, is there no Player’s Union to help fight for the player’s rights. Understandably, getting a union would most likely lead to a substantial increase in salary, however, it would give the player a voice. At the moment, the player is just a part of the MLS (quite like the problem baseball had years ago).
Even more troubling is the lack of media response or recognition of the potential for a player’s union. When searching google, all I could find were articles from 2000 and 2003, after that there is no mention of it. If the MLS is trying to legitimize itself, it has to remember that it cannot exist without the players. It would seem that this something that the Commissioner is forgetting, or ignoring.
Going to the MLS site there is two indications of the union existing once on April 17, 2003 and the other time on November 11, 2004 claiming that a collective bargaining agreement was created to last through 2009. However, one must question this as the CBA has not helped out.
With regards to the comments about players working other jobs, it would be interesting to see how many of the players really do have other jobs. How much time do the players have to work other jobs as they spend a large portion of their day training?
I know a lot of what I have brought is quite negative, but like Bob pointed out there are still positives which I will note in my next post.
Posted from
United States -
Actually, does anyone know of documented #s regarding each/any team’s profitability? Even after all these years are there any teams that turn a profit? My worry with unionizing is that the MLB (and NHL) salary imbalances would re-occur but in a league that would not even come close to being able to support increases in pay.
I can see higher paydays if attendance and (more importantly) TV contract revenues shot up, but right now if I was anyone other than a budding star, I’d have to consider myself lucky to be making even 50k playing soccer in America.
Posted from
United States -
By the way, if there was a prize for “post of the week” this one would get my vote. Great topic and write-up, David!
Posted from
United States -
Thanks Clint!! And yes, that is the one negative that could occur with unionizing the league, you would have the salary imbalances that have plagued the other sports. That however, is something that might be worth going for. As with the payday, players like Jonathan Bornstein and Hercules Gomez are the ones that are the quintessential points of underpaid players. Yes, I know Bornstein was a fourth round pick, but if he is not compensated then that is a sad representation. Gomez, is a player (though on the gals) has constantly proven that he is worth more then the “minimum wage” he is paid. He is not the only player, as there are countless others. I would have to agree with what you said about the attendance playing a major factor, as a large portion of team revenue comes from that.
What is always interesting is to look at articles from the past, for example like this Wash. Post article from a year ago talking about the potential strength of the MLS:
http://www.washtimes.com/sports/20060511-120809-9655r.htm
I will look into the profitability of the teams as it is something that would be fascinating to see. One thing I think everyone should check out is what D is doing at the DCenters and his fan driven initiative:
http://dcunitedblog.blogspot.com/
http://fanguide.soccerblogs.net/page/Main_Page/As he mentioned in one of his other posts, it is up to the fans to really make a difference. The bloggers are going to have an impact upon the grassroots of MLS.
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United States -
There is a players union, although its not very active online or easy to find information about. The league and the union have a CBA in place through 2009, IIRC
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DE1DF143AF93BA25757C0A9659C8B63
Posted from
United States -
Again spot on David! The responses are great, no one is ripping each other and that is a testament to you and your group. One comment to MLS, the commissioner and the owners, maybe your answer is Kobe.
Posted from
United States
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