Is MLS for sale ?

[Bxl Boy]

Source : http://www.90soccer.com/cgi-bin/datacgi ... alrecord=9 &&ar=721


The race to become the 16th MLS Franchise has long been thought to be a two city race between Philadelphia and St. Louis. But Miami has recently thrown their hat into the ring, and things are starting to get interesting.

Major League Soccer is looking to expand to 16 teams by the 2010 season. Hints have been dropped that the league would like to get to 18 teams by as early as 2012, though no official word from the league offices on that number has been released.

13 teams participated in the 2007 season, with San Jose already set to join the fray in 2008. Last month Seattle was granted an expansion team expected to begin play in 2009.

That leaves just one spot open before the 2010 deadline arrives. The league has long said that a viable local ownership group with deep pockets, a soccer specific stadium (or a commitment to build one) and a strong soccer market were the three main keys to winning an expansion team.

The addition of Seattle to the league proved one thing; the only key that matters is deep pockets, and that MLS Commissioner Don Garber and the league can be bought.

The ownership group in Seattle has long said that it has no intention of building a stadium for their team. Instead they will play in Qwest field, home to the Seattle Seahawks. The stadium itself seats over 67,000, which is more than triple the average size of soccer specific stadiums already in existence or being built. Even if Seattle were to lead the league in attendance, the stadium would still be two thirds empty creating a lousy atmosphere and embarrassingly empty looking stadium for nationally broadcast games.

Playing on artificial turf with football lines painted on the field is a horrible step backwards as well, making the league look minor league by the standards of the rest of the world. Couple that with the fact that any soccer team playing in Qwest field will be a second tenant and will have to build their schedule around the Seahawks and it all spells a step in the wrong direction for a league that has made leaps and bounds forward the past few years.

So why did Seattle get an expansion franchise? The answer is simple; Paul Allen’s money. The Microsoft mega-billionaire signed on as an investor, and his wallet was just too good to pass up on for Garber.

None of this is saying that Seattle is a bad fit for soccer. But the fact remains that Garber was willing to change his stance on soccer specific stadiums and make an exception in the case of the Seattle franchise. That raises questions over what other exceptions might be made.

Miami has made up a sizable staggered start in the expansion race against Philadelphia and St. Louis in what seems like one step. The city council has approved $50 million dollars in public funding to build a soccer stadium on the site of the soon to be demolished Orange Bowl. Supposedly there is a mystery investor(s) set to bring a team back to Florida, but as of yet they are unknown. Still, there has been enough happening behind the scenes to suddenly have Miami mentioned in the same breath as the two front-runners for the 16th MLS team.

So why isn’t MLS making an exception in the cases of Philadelphia or St. Louis? Philadelphia has a known ownership group with deep pockets, however a stadium financing deal is being held up in the State legislature. A team could begin play in Lincoln Financial Field, home to the Philadelphia Eagles, which would be an exact replica of the model in Seattle. The catch is, while the Philadelphia ownership group has deep pockets, they aren’t Microsoft deep, so exceptions aren’t likely to be made.

St. Louis has the exact opposite problem. Funding for a stadium has already been approved. Bulldozers are standing by waiting to begin construction, but the ownership group just isn’t strong enough to make the league commit. It all comes back to money, meaning that any city with a filthy rich resident that wants a MLS team is a potential expansion city.

For a fledgling league, and at just 12 years old MLS is an adolescent in the US professional sports landscape, having a financially rock solid group of investors is vital to short term success. However money doesn’t buy success. Just ask AEG, David Beckham and the LA Galaxy about that. All the money in the world doesn’t mean very much when the league is structured to allow a team to buy just one superstar player. Long-term success will be determined by the leagues ability to put a quality product on the field that is also aesthetically pleasing. Playing in football stadiums is not the answer, and ensuring the league is trapped in massive stadiums it can never hope to fill is certainly a step backwards.

Thank the soccer gods that a stadium deal has been approved in Kansas City. It was embarrassing as a soccer fan and a supporter of MLS to watch games played at Arrowhead. A few thousand fans in a sea of empty red seats was all the ammunition that soccer haters in this country needed to say that soccer will never survive in the USA. The football lines on the field tell all the soccer Eurosnobs that only watch the leagues in Europe that they don’t need to pay attention to MLS because the league is content to be a second rate league.

Stadiums being built for Real Salt Lake and Red Bull New York are steps in the right direction. A stadium deal being approved for Kansas City offers hope. We can only hope that for future expansion, the league doesn’t just bow down to the almighty dollar and abandon its principles like they did for Seattle.